chapter 9 language education and work

Phonemes

• Basic units of sound that can change the meaning of a word

• Languages also specify how phonemes can be combined

• Smallest unit of speech. Tap/Tag/Tan (pgn).

morphemes

Basic units of meaning that exist in a word/ a base/ or root. (Re-place can not be further divided)

Syntax

Systematic rules for forming sentences (a sentence - subject + verb + direct object formula). John plays with a ball.

pragmatics

Rules for specifying how language is used appropriately in different social contexts/how human language is used in social interactions.

prosody

• How the sounds are produced

• Melody of speech because it includes pitch or intonation

universal grammar

System of common rules and properties for learning any of the world’s languages

language acquisition device

• Areas of the brain that:

  • Sift through language

  • Apply the universal rules

  • Begin tailoring the system to the specifics of the language spoken in the young child’s environment

nativist perspective

• Poverty of the stimulus

  • Environmental stimulus of language input is too impoverished to support the linguistic output that we see emerge

• Young children learn native language with ease but struggle later to learn second language

• Capacity for acquiring language has a genetic basis

word segmentationAbility to detect a target word in a stream of speech

• Demonstrated by seven-and-a-half monthsInteractionist perspective

• Children’s biologically-based competencies and language environment interact to shape course of language development

• Similar view as Piaget, Vygotsky

• Differences in perspectives

word segmentation

• Ability to detect a target word in a stream of speech

• Demonstrated by seven-and-a-half months

cooing

• Repeating vowel-like sounds (laughter and vowels sounds-signals baby is happy and content)

• Six to eight weeks of age

Produce consonant sounds

• 3-4 months of age

• A consonant (B,C) is a sound made with your mouth fairly closed. A vowel (A,O) is a speech sound made with your mouth fairly open, the nucleus of a spoken syllable. 

babbling

• 4-6 months of age

• Repeating consonant-vowel combinations such as “baba”

holophrases

• Single word often conveys an entire sentence’s worth of meaning

• Infant’s first word spoken around one year of age

• First 50 words consist of common nouns representing objects and people

overextension

A child uses the word doggie to refer to all four-legged animals

under extension

A child uses the word doggie to refer only to golden retriever like the family pet

Telegraphic speech

Early combinations of two, three, or more words  (the most central words, carrying the highest level of information, are spoken)

Functional grammar

Emphasizes the semantic relationships among words, the meanings being expressed, and the functions served by sentences

fixed mindset

• Believe abilities and talent are fixed or static

• Little reason to put forth great effort on a task

growth mindset

• Believe abilities and talent are malleable

• Motivated to put forth effort