5-language

Regular

Language is governed by the rules of grammar

Arbitrary

Lack of resemblance between sounds of words and the meaning

Onomatopoeia

An exception where the sounds of the word is associated with its meaning

Productive

Limitless ways to connect words and actions in novel combinations to convey meaning

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

Language influences our thoughts and the way we perceive the world+ Don’t have words for something = cant identify/differentiate it

Morphemes

The smallest unit of sound that contains information

Phonemes

The smallest unit of sound in speech

Transparent orthographies

Given letter will always make the same sound

Syntax (grammar)

The rules that govern how words in a sentence are put together

Semantics

The meaning of the word and the ability to understand its context

Cooing

begin cooing at around 12 weeks, making sounds that combine consonants with 'oo' and 'ah' sounds.

Speech segmentation

Ability in infants that predicts expressive vocabulary use in childhood

Universal phoneme sensitivity

The ability of infants to discriminate between any sounds they're tested on

Perceptual narrowing

The process where one loses the ability to distinguish between contrasts in sounds not used in one's native language

Conditioned head-turn procedure

A method used to test infants' ability to discriminate between different sounds

Infant directed speech

Higher pitch and exaggerated changes in pitch and rhythm when talking to infants. 6-7-month-olds discriminate between different vowel sounds

Broca's Area

Left frontal lobe area responsible for production of language, cannot speak

Weirnicke's area

Left temporal lobe area responsible for language comprehension, can speak a sentence but it makes no sence

Holophrastic phrase

Using a single word to indicate the meaning of an entire sentence

Naming explosion

Rapid increase in vocabulary between 18-24 months

Fast mapping

Learning the meaning of a word after only 1 or 2 encounters

Receptive vocabulary

Words that children can understand but may not yet speak

Expressive vocabulary

Words that children can actually speak

Extension

Using a word too broadly/less in level of meaning or syntax

Underextension

Using a general term for a specific object only

Telegraphic speech

Using short phrases that contain only crucial information

Regularization

applying gramatical rule too much/little

Genie case study

Demonstrates how lack of social interaction leads to an inability to develop language skills

Innate mechanism theory

Humans have an innate predisposition for exposure to language

Language acquisition device

An innate mechanism in humans that helps language develop rapidly according to universal rules. proposed by Noam Chomsky.

Social learning theory

Children learn language through imitation and operant conditioning. underextension and overextension is evidence against this theory

Interactionist theories

Both nature and nurture are needed to explain language development

Animal communication

Relied on the use of instrumental conditioning techniques

Right hemisphere

Taboo words activate negative emotions

Basal ganglia

Activated when swearing

Amygdala

Activated when hearing others swear

Tourette's syndrome

Tics for uncontrollable swearing caused by overactivation of the basal ganglia

1. The supernatural

Content of swearing related to religious themes like "damn" or "hell"

2. Body effluvia and organs

Swearing related to disgust, e.g. "shit", "piss",

3. Disease

death, and sickness, Swearing evokes fear or negative emotions, e.g. "a pox on you"

4. Sexuality

Swearing related to exploitation or jealousy, e.g. "f*ck", "screw", "dick"

5. Family/heritage

General insults against family members, e.g. "your mama's so…"

Hate speech

Words that denounce someone as bad or "other" based on their group

Euphemism

Avoids thinking about how awful something is, e.g. "generic = waste whereas medical = stool"

Dysphemism

Intends to make you think about how awful something is, e.g. "shit"

Emphatic swearing

Swearing used for emphasis and emotional charge

Cathartic swearing

Swearing used for psychological relief

Rage circuit theory

Sudden angry noise when injured triggers aggressive language system

Pragmatics

The skills that allow children to communicate appropriately and effectively in a social situation, such as taking turns during a conversation.

Rule-Governed

The infinite combinations of symbols are constrained by the rules of each language. For example, each oral language has its own set of rules about which phonemes can occur in succession.

What is the correct timeline of language development milestones in infants?

Makes cooing sounds, turns head toward voices, imitates sounds, babbles

criteria for true language

language is

1. regular

2. arbitrary

3. productive

Evidence of Sapir-whorf hypothesis

Piraha tribe:
- only have 3 counting words: 1, 2, many
- in experiment, they could easily match a specific number objects correlating to 1 or 2 objects
- difficult to match the same number for values >2

Evidence against Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

cultures that lack specific words to differentiate relatives, like uncle and aunt vs mothers brother and fathers brother, can still understand the diffs bw these individuals

can every morpheme stand alone as a word?

No, some need to be added to another morpheme (indicate if plural, past present future, etc)

Babbling

Drawn out sounds of random combos, that soon progress to becoming actual words. Can sound like a real sentence bc of use of inflection and rhythm.

Language Explosion

1 1/2 - 6 years: rapid increase in vocabulary, mastery of various aspects of language; syntax complexity grows.

Newman experiment

7-12 yr olds were familiarized with a word, aiming to familiarize the word from a speech stream. when they turned 2, parents completed list of expressive vocab of same kids

result of Newman experiment

if a kid had early speech segmentation skills = strong +ve correlation w expressive vocab/larger expressive vocab. Results lead to infant screening tests to predict problems in language development + early treatment

why don't adults have universal phenome sensitivity

adults have developmental bias for phenomena discrimination that is influenced early in life

experiment using head turning

compare gps (Hindi speaking adults, 6-8 mo old infants from English speaking family, English speaking adults) on their ability to discriminate 2 dif phonemes in hindi but not English. infants almost as good as Hindi speaking at discriminating sounds.

when do infants peak and lose their universal phoneme sensitivity

peak at 6-8 months, decrease as time go on, most gone by 1 yr

what evidence supports the social learning theory

genie example

evidence against social learning theory

• Child learns to produce words -> combine words in new ways that have never been modelled and could not possible hv been reinforced (errors)

• child language too rapid + complex to only be from imitations + reinforcement

overextension

child apply a rule 2 broadly and can occur at the level of meaning/syntax (all toys=ball)

evidence for innate mech theory

1) Deaf kids that never learned sign language can spontaneously use sign as a form of comm, even following grammar rules. Sign X match parent native language

2) young infants show neurophysiological responses to the first language that they are exposed to + prefer listening to speech vs non speech sounds

Bees waggle dance

waggle phase(direction and distance of food) + return phase = comm food location to other bees

animal communication con

don't follow all three rules of language

Washoe the monkey

- taught sign language
- could sign complex requests, but X systematic grammar
- Regular = X, arbitrary = yes, productive = yes

sarah the chimp

- use plastic symbols 4 comm
-Used a large vocab w many symbols to answer qs
-X generate new sentences
-Regular = yes, arbitrary = yes, productive = X

Kanzi the monkey

- use lexigrams/geometric figures 4 comm
- Trainer x use instrumental conditioning, but full immersion of language (learn via observation)
-Could communicate some novel requestion
-Limited grammar
-Regular = X, arbitrary = yes, productive = yes
-Still very successful

over regularization

Syntactical error by applying a grammatical rule 2 broadly (type of overextension) (tooth vs teeth)

Foreign accent syndrome

 stroke or head injury that has damaged areas in the left hemisphere involved in motor control of speech
- developed a different accent due 2 simple changes in speech

still-face procedure

adult looks at an infant while maintaining a non-responsive, neutral facial expression. infant = distressed, hv expectation of social intern

why do girls have older kids have larger vocab

• - Dif brain maturation in gender
  - how girls interact vs boys
  - differences in the age at which girls and boys start using particular types of words.

does receptive or expressive vocab develop first?

receptive vocab

Con of bilingual kid

underdeveloped vocab
- worse in language processing + proficiency
-smaller vocab 4 each language vs native speakers

What does language allow us 2 do

pass on info/knowledge + communicate. our culture and society is a result of language

con of google translate

direct translation X always accurately convey message if you X know the language properly.

effect of culture on language

- words rep cultural shifts
- language is evidence of communities shifting from community to individual based learning
- words rep what we value!!!

why does the brain see swear words differently and where in the brain

emotional attachement/-ve emotion; right hemisphere

How does swearing and culture relate

the swear words category (1-6) provide a window into what's important int hat gp. Use swear words that hurt/are important for those cultures

pro of rage-circuit theory

- makes mammals/ppl feel better
- emotionally regulate faster by swearing = "getting out" => result in less pain 4 shorter amt of time

pro of infant-exaggerated speech

help 6-7-month-olds discriminate between different vowel sounds