1: Prelinguistic Speech Processing

Question 1

define: syntax

Answer 1

rules about how words go together

Question 2

define: semantics

Answer 2

what language means

Question 3

define: phonology

Answer 3

the small units that make up language

Question 4

define: prosody

Answer 4

The pattern of stress and intonation in a language

Question 5

define: phonemes

Answer 5

The perceptually distinct units of sound in a language that distinguish one word from another

Question 6

when is the foetal auditory system full developed?

Answer 6

last trimester

Question 7

during the last trimester what voices do babies prefer?

Answer 7

their mother’s

Question 8

can infants in the last trimester distinguish between languages with different prosody?

Answer 8

yes - eg German vs Spanish

Question 9

can infants in the last trimester distinguish between languages with similar prosody?

Answer 9

no - eg English & Dutch

Question 10

At what age can an infant distinguish between all sounds?

Answer 10

1-2 months

Question 11

At what age is there a systematic decline in ability to distinguish sounds from non target language and increase for target language?

Answer 11

7-11 months

Question 12

at what age can children segment words from their language

Answer 12

~ 7.5 months

Question 13

How does infant directed speech help children develop linguistic speech

Answer 13

Infants prefer to listen to IDS and interact with people who use IDS.
More attentive around IDS
Infants segment speech better with IDS than adult-directed speech (ADS)

Question 14

How do words act as anchors in linguistic understanding & development?

Answer 14

Highly frequent understood words help children distinguish the start and end of new words

Question 15

By what age are children sensitive to frequent first (eg the dog) or frequent final (eg dog the) languages?

Answer 15

8 months