(8) Language Development Flashcards
What is Communication?
not necessarily verbal, can be facial expressions and body language
What is Language?
communication system, has combined units
What is Expressive language?
production
What is Receptive language?
comprehension
What is Phonology?
sound and the rules by which they are combined, prosody, intonation, tone, stress, rhythm
What is Semantics?
Word meanings and word combinations, vocabulary and beyond
What is Grammar?
Morphology – root words, prefixes and suffixes, parts of words which change the meaning e.g., grammatical markers –ed, Syntax – rules that govern how words are combined to make sentences
What is Pragmatics?
Appropriate and effective communication, social use of language, using language in contextually appropriate ways, nonliteral meaning, the way we use language
Skinner and Bandura believed…
- Language is learnt
- Imitation and reinforcement
- However, children don’t hear all of the language that they produce
What does (Pinker, 1994) believe?
Reinforcement for incorrect as well as correct utterances
What did Chomsky believe?
- Nativist approach: language is innate, species specific
- Focus on grammar
What is a Language acquisition device (LAD)? (Chomsky)
innate system that allows child to produce and comprehend grammatically consistent sentences
What is a LASS: language acquisition support system?
A collection of strategies and tactics that environment influences, initially, a child’s parents or caregivers, provide to the language-learning child
What does a LAD include?
- LAD contains universal grammar, rules common to all languages
- Children acquire grammar spontaneously and with limited exposure to language
What evidence is there for nativism?
- Children learn language quickly and well
- Children learn language even when input is limited (deaf children)
- There is a time when children are biologically predisposed to learn language (critical period)
- The brain: is specialised for language, younger children recover better to brain damage
How can deaf children communicate?
In the absence of systematic sign language input, children spontaneously develop communication systems with vocabulary and syntax
What are Pidgins?
creoles parents to children (Bikerton, 2008)
-Simplified language, mixture of two or more simplified languages
What are Creole?
stable natural language, develops from a pidgin and becomes a friend language for children
What evidence is there for the critical period and language?
- Genie never acquired normal language
- Neglected at childhood
- Minimal exposure to language but did learn language
What is a Broca?
grammatical processing and speech production (area in the brain)
What is a Wernicke?
lexical comprehension (area in the brain)
What are language functions associated with?
Language functions more associated with left and right hemisphere
What is left-localisation associated with?
Left-localisation is associated with effective language processing but it is not necessary
Can animals acquire language?
With training in sign language or artificial language (visual symbols) animals can acquire vocabulary: chimpanzees, orangutans, gorillas, parrots, dolphins
What are the key evaluation points to Chomsky?
- Grammar innately determined? This is inconsistent with the learning and experimentation that we see as children develop e.g. errors that children make suggest that learning occurs and is gradual, not just switched on
- Ignores the quality of the language input
- Doesn’t consider pragmatic or social influences on language development
What is the social interactionist approach?
- Drive to understand/communicate and rich language environment combine to learning language
- Therefore, social competency and language experiences shape development
How can infants perceive speech before words?
Infant methods (head turn, novelty, familiarity)
What is a Phoneme?
- smallest sound unit that can signal a change in meaning e.g. ‘pa’ vs ‘ba’
- Phonemes are different across different languages
When does an infant coo?
Cooing – 2 months, vowel sounds
When does an infant babble?
Babbling – 6 months: consonant vowel, universal timing, range expands
What is Joint attention?
children and adult attending to the same object, often with labels/language, important for language and social development
What is proto-imperative?
getting someone else to do something (e.g., give me that)
What is Proto-declarative?
bring object to others attention
What is Under extensions?
too narrow, e.g. only calling your own cat a cat
What are Over extensions?
too broad, e.g. calling all men ‘dad’
What is Expansion?
a technique adults use in speaking to young children in which they imitate and expand or add to a child’s statement
What is Recasting?
a technique adults use in speaking to young children in which they render a child’s incomplete sentence in a more grammatical form
What is a Holophrase?
a single word that appears to represent a complete thought
What is Telegraphic speech?
two-word utterances that include only the words essential to convey the speaker’s intent
What factors can effect language development?
- Adult feedback
- Quality of interactions/input (Weizman & Snow, 2001)
- SES and shared book reading (Tamis-LeMondaet al., 2006)
- Ability to understand intentions (cf. theory of mind)
- Nature of the language to be learned: English has a very large vocabulary with lots of similar words (cf. learning to read)
What is an overregularisation?
- Overregularisation errors (e.g., Marcus et al., 1992)
- Applying rules without appropriate exceptions
- E.g., past tense “breaked”, plural “foots”
How can you use language effectively in social contexts?
- Eye contact
- Turn taking
- Developing the conversation e.g. turnabout (requesting more information)
- Shading: initiating change in topic gradually
- Understanding of speaker intention (theory of mind)
