CH. 9: Language Development Flashcards
Language
System for communicating with others using signals that are combined according to rules of grammar and that convey meaning.
Language Components
Phonemes - sounds
Morphemes - smallest unit of meaningful language, e.g., “put’
Morphological rules - morphemes combined to form words, e.g., “puting”
Syntax - words put together to form sentences
Grammar - the syntactic rules, e.g., “every sentence must contain a noun and a verb”
Three characteristics of language development
- Children learn language at an astonishing rate.
- Children make few errors while learning to speak.
- Children’s passive mastery develops faster than does their active mastery.
Language Milestones
First words occur at age 10–12 months. 10 words > gradually becoming 10,000 words by age of five
Children generally learn nouns (concrete objects) before verbs.
Fast mapping: Fact that children can map a word onto an underlying concept after only a single exposure
Two-word speech occurs at around 24 months of age.
Telegraphic speech: Speech that is devoid of function morphemes and consists mostly of content words
As children learn grammar, they tend to overgeneralize rules.
By three years of age, children generate complete simple sentences.
By 4–5 years of age, many aspects of the language acquisition process are complete.
–aksljdgfhglfs
0–4 months
Can tell the difference between speech sounds (phonemes). Cooing, especially in response to speech.
4–6 months
Babbles consonants.
6–10 months
Understands some words and simple requests.
10–12 months
Begins to use single words.
12–18 months
Vocabulary of 30–50 words (simple nouns, adjectives, and action words).
18–24 months
Two-word phrases ordered according to syntactic rules. Vocabulary of 50–200 words. Understands rules.Telegraphic speech.
24–36 months
Vocabulary of about 1,000 words. Production of phrases and incomplete sentences.
36–60 months
Vocabulary grows to more than 10,000 words. Production of full sentences. Mastery of grammatical morphemes (such as -ed for past tense) and function words (such as the, and, but). Can form questions and negations.
Gestures precede language
Gesturing and signaling - non-verbal communication emerging around 10-12 months
For example, Deictic gestures - e.g.,Pointing. Context dependent. (this, here, you, me, there)
Emergence of Grammatical Rules
Evidence of the ease with which children acquire grammatical rules comes from some interesting errors that children make while forming sentences.
- Incorrect verb forms
- Overgeneralizations
- Examples: Overgeneralization is defined as the “application of a principle of regular change to a word that changes irregularly.”[4] Examples of overregularization in verb use include using the word comed instead of came. Examples in noun use include using the word tooths instead of teeth.
Theories of Language Development
Behaviorism - Skinner
Language Acquisition Device or Universal Grammar - Chomsky
Language Instinct - Pinker
Interactionist - Neurological, Whole brain
Theories of Language Development:
Behaviorist explanations…
Behaviorist explanations state that language is learned through operant conditioning and imitation, although:
- Parents spend little time teaching language.
- Children generate more than simply what they hear.
- The errors made cannot be explained through conditioning or imitation.
Theories of Language Development:
Nativist explanations…
Nativist explanations argue that language is innate; more evidence converges on this theory.
- Nativist theory: Language development is best explained as an innate biological capacity.
- Language acquisition device (LAD): Collection of processes that facilitate language learning and the idea of a universal grammar
Variations:
Chomsky - Language Aquisition Device
Pinker - Language Instinct
Interactionist Theory of Language Development
Nativist theories, e.g. Chomsky and his idea of a Universal Grammar, seem overly simple
Recall the plasticity of the brain and various language events in the young child.
Both biology, the L.A.D., and social interaction (hearing the speech of the mother while in the uterus) have a role to play in language development
The Language Instinct?
Steven Pinker - A Canadian psychologist.
A version of nativist similar to Chomsky
Interactionist Theories
Requires both capacity (hardware and software), nativist, and exposure, learning.
Language Is Harder to Learn After Puberty Sets In
Language acquisition possible during a restricted period of development
Becomes difficult upon reaching puberty
fMRI shows acquiring second language in early childhood results in different representation in brain than when learned later
- Between 1–5 years of age versus 9 years of age
Bilingualism and the Brain
In many parts of the world, bilingualism is the norm.
Studies show that monolingual and bilingual children do not differ in language development.
Learning a second language seems to increase the ability of the left parietal lobe to handle linguistic demands.
Language learning is easier at younger ages, preadolescence
Language Is Harder to Learn After Puberty (critical period?)
