9. Language Development Flashcards

1
Q

Bilingualism

A

Speaking two languages proficiently

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2
Q

Black English

A

A dialect of American English, characterized by some special rules of pronunciation and syntax, used mostly (but not exclusively) by members of the African American community

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3
Q

Bound morphemes

A

Morphemes that cannot stand alone but are attached to free morphemes, such as the word endings -ed and -ing in English

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4
Q

Broca’s area

A

An area of the frontal region of the brain, typically in the left hemisphere, associated with speech production

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5
Q

Child-directed speech

A

The specialized register of speech adults and older children use when talking to infants and young children

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6
Q

Cognitive self-guidance system

A

In Vygotsky’s theory, the use of private speech to guide problem-solving behavior

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7
Q

Collective monologues

A

Egocentric exchanges between two or more children with participants talking with one another but not necessarily to one another, such that what one child says has little to do with the comments of the other

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8
Q

Communicative competence

A

Mastery of five aspects of language: semantics, syntax, morphology, phonology, and pragmatics

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9
Q

Creoles

A

Languages that develop when children transform the pidgin of their parents to a grammatically more complex ‘‘true’’ language

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10
Q

Egocentric (or private) speech

A

Children’s speech that is apparently produced for the self and not directed to others

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11
Q

Fast mapping

A

The ability to learn new words based on very little input

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12
Q

Free morphemes

A

Morphemes that can stand alone as a word, such as dog, chase, or happy

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13
Q

Grammar center

A

An area in the frontal lobe that is specifically related to processing grammatical information

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14
Q

Holophrases (holophrastic speech)

A

Children’s use of one-word sentences

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15
Q

Infant-directed speech

A

The specialized register of speech adults and older children use when talking specifically to infants

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16
Q

Inner speech

A

In Vygotsky’s theory, the covert language used to guide thought

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17
Q

Language acquisition device (LAD)

A

In Chomsky’s theory, the hypothetical construct possessed by all humans at birth enabling them to acquire language

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18
Q

Language acquisition support system (LASS)

A

The idea proposed by Bruner that adults and older children have learning devices that interact with children’s language acquisition devices (LAD)

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19
Q

Less-is-more hypothesis

A

Newport’s hypothesis that the cognitive limitations of infants and young children may serve to simplify the body of language they process, thus making it easier to learn the complicated syntactical system of any human language

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20
Q

Lexical constraints

A

Constraints that facilitate word learning in young children by limiting the possible interpretations that an utterance is likely to have. See also whole-object assumption, taxonomic assumption, and mutual exclusivity assumption

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21
Q

Lexicon

A

The words that a child knows, or vocabulary

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22
Q

Mean length of utterance (MLU)

A

A measure of language development defined by the average number of meaningful language units (root words and endings) a child uses at any one time

23
Q

Metacommunication

A

Knowledge of the adequacy of one’s own communication abilities

24
Q

Morphemes

A

Meaningful language units. See also bound morphemes, free morphemes

25
Q

Morphology

A

In the study of language development, the knowledge of word formation

26
Q

Mutual exclusivity assumption

A

A type of lexical constraint in which children believe that different words refer to different things

27
Q

Nativist theories (of language acquisition)

A

Theories that propose that children are born with a broad theory of language that they modify in accordance with the speech they hear growing up: contrast with social-interactionist theories

28
Q

Overextensions

A

In the study of language development, the stretching of a familiar word beyond its correct meaning, for example, calling all four-legged mammals doggie

29
Q

Overregularization

A

In the study of language development, the tendency to apply rules to words when they are not appropriate, for example, runned, foots, mices

30
Q

Phonemic awareness

A

The knowledge that words consist of separable sounds; contrast with phonological recoding

31
Q

Phonology

A

In language acquisition, the knowledge of how words are pronounced

32
Q

Pidgins

A

Structurally simple communication systems that arise when people who share no common language come into constant contact

33
Q

Pragmatics

A

In the study of language development, knowledge about how language can be adjusted to fit different circumstances

34
Q

Private (or egocentric) speech

A

Children’s speech apparently for self and not directed to others

35
Q

Productive vocabulary

A

The language a child can actually produce, or speak; contrast with receptive vocabulary

36
Q

Receptive vocabulary

A

The language that a child can understand; contrast with productive vocabulary

37
Q

Semantics

A

In language acquisition, knowledge of the meaning of words and sentences

38
Q

Semilingualism

A

Underdeveloped language, typically when one has acquired two or more languages and there are deficiencies in both languages

39
Q

Sequential bilingualism

A

A situation in which children learn a second language after mastering the first

40
Q

Simultaneous bilingualism

A

A situation in which children are exposed from birth to two languages

41
Q

Social-interactionist theories (of language acquisition)

A

The position that children’s domain-general social-cognitive abilities and the social environment play a central role in language development; contrast with nativist perspective

42
Q

Speech register

A

A distinct style of speaking used only in specific contexts (for example, when talking to children or talking in school)

43
Q

Statistical learning

A

In language learning, a domain-general mechanism in which infants essentially keep track of how often different syllables follow one another and use this information to determine which sound sequences are meaningful (that is, are words) and which are not

44
Q

Surface structure

A

In Chomsky’s theory, the actual words of a sentence, derived from the deep structure

45
Q

Syntactic bootstrapping

A

In learning the meaning of words, the idea that the grammatical form of speech may give children important clues for guessing what a word means

46
Q

Syntax

A

In language acquisition, the knowledge of how words are put together to form grammatical sentences

47
Q

Taxonomic assumption

A

A type of lexical constraint in which children assume that words refer to things that are similar

48
Q

Telegraphic speech

A

Children’s economical use of words, including only high-information words that are most important in conveying meaning

49
Q

Thirty million word gap

A

Difference in the number of words children from high-income versus low-income families hear by age 3

50
Q

Underextensions

A

Incorrectly restricting the use of a term (for example, believing that only one’s pet, Fido, deserves the label dog)

51
Q

Universal grammar

A

In nativist theories of language acquisition, the innate grammar that characterizes all human language

52
Q

Wernicke’s area

A

A region of the brain located in the cortex of the temporal lobe, typically in the left hemisphere, associated with comprehension of language

53
Q

Whole-object assumption

A

A type of lexical constraint in which children assume when hearing a word that it refers to the whole object and not to some part of the object

54
Q

Word spurt

A

The rapid increase in word (mostly nouns) learning that occurs at about 18 months of age