Chapter 8

Question 1

Active construction of a Grammar theory

Answer 1

Theory of language acquisition that says that children acquire a language by inventing rules of grammar based on the speech around them.

Question 2

Attention getters

Answer 2

Word or phrase used to initiate an address to children.

Question 3

Attention holders

Answer 3

A tactic used to maintain children’s attention for extended amounts of time.

Question 4

Articulatory gestures

Answer 4

A movement of a speech organ in the production of speech, for example, the movement of the velum for the production of a nasal consonant.

Question 5

Babble

Answer 5

A phase in child language acquisition during which the child produces meaningless sequences of consonants and vowels. Generally, begins around the age of six months.

Question 6

Critical period

Answer 6

Age span, usually described as lasting from birth to the onset of puberty, during which children must have exposure to language and must build the critical brain structures necessary in order to gain native speakers competence in a language.

Question 7

Conditioned Head

Answer 7

Turn Procedure- Experimental technique usually used with infants between five and eighteen months with two phases: conditioning and testing.

Question 8

Canonical babbling

Answer 8

The continuous repetition of sequences of vowels and consonants like [mamma] by infants; also called repeated babbling.

Question 9

Complexive concept

Answer 9

A term used in the study of child language acquisition. A group of items that a child refers to with a single word for which it is not possible to single out any one unifying property.

Question 10

Child directed speech

Answer 10

Speech used by parents or caregivers when communicating with youth children or infants. In many Western societies, child- directed speech is slow and high-pitched and has many repetitions, simplified syntax, exaggerated intonation, and a simple and concrete vocabulary.

Question 11

Conversational turns

Answer 11

The contribution to a conversation made by one speaker from the time that she takes the floor from another speaker to the time that she passes the floor on to another speaker.

Question 12

Code-switching

Answer 12

Using words or structural elements from more than one language within the same conversation.

Question 13

Connectionist theories

Answer 13

Theory of language acquisition that claims that children learn language through neural connections in the brain. A child develops such connections through exposure to language and by using language.

Question 14

Deictic expressions

Answer 14

Word or expression that takes its meaning relative to the time place, and speaker of the utterance.

Question 15

Feral child

Answer 15

Child who grew up I the wild without care by human adults, often with animals.

Question 16

Foreign accent

Answer 16

An accent that is marked by the phonology of another language or other languages that are more familiar to the speaker.

Question 17

Fossilization

Answer 17

Process through which forms from a speaker’s non-native language usage become fixed and do not change, even after years of instruction.

Question 18

Holophrastic stage

Answer 18

Stage in first-language acquisition during which children can produce only one word at a time.

Question 19

Homesign

Answer 19

A rudimentary visual-gestural communication system that is developed and used by deaf children and their families when a signed language is not made available for their communication.

Question 20

High Amplitude Sucking

Answer 20

Experimental technique use to study sound discrimination in infants from birth to about six months.

Question 21

Innate

Answer 21

Determined by factors present by birth.

Question 22

Innateness hypothesis

Answer 22

A hypothesis that humans are genetically predisposed to learn and use language.

Question 23

Imitation theory

Answer 23

Theory of language acquisition that claims that children acquire language by listening to the speech around them and reproducing what they hear.

Question 24

Infant directed speech

Answer 24

Speech used by parents or caregivers when communicating with youth children or infants. In many Western societies, child- directed speech is slow and high-pitched and has many repetitions, simplified syntax, exaggerated intonation, and a simple and concrete vocabulary.

Question 25

Linguistic universals

Answer 25

Property believed to be held I common by all natural languages.

Question 26

Multilingual

Answer 26

The state of commanding three or more languages; having linguistic competence in three or more languages.

Question 27

Neglected child

Answer 27

A child who is neglected by caretakers, often resulting in significantly lower exposure to language as a child.

Question 28

Overgeneralization

Answer 28

• In the study of child language acquisition, a relationship between child and adult application of rules relative to certain context: a process in which children extend the application of linguistic rules to contexts beyond those in the adult language.

Question 29

Overextension

Answer 29

In the study of child language acquisition, a relationship between child and adult perception of word meaning: the child’s application of a given word has a wider range than the application of the same word in adult language.

Question 30

Relational term

Answer 30

• Type of relationship between adjective and noun reference where the reference of the adjective is determined relative to the noun reference.

Question 31

Reinforcement theory

Answer 31

Theory of language acquisition that says that children learn to speak like adults because they are praised, rewarded, or otherwise reinforce when they use the right forms and are corrected when they use the wrong ones.

Question 32

Second-language acquisition-

Answer 32

Acquisition of a second language as a teenager or adult.

Question 33

Sequential Bilingualism

Answer 33

Bilingualism in which the second language is acquired as a young child.

Question 34

Simultaneous Bilingualism

Answer 34

Bilingualism in which both languages are acquired from infancy.

Question 35

Social interaction theory

Answer 35

Theory of language acquisition that claims that children acquire language through social interaction I particular with older children and adults and prompt their caregivers to supply them with the appropriate language experience they need.

Question 36

Telegraphic utterance

Answer 36

Utterance containing primarily content words.

Question 37

Underextension

Answer 37

Application of a word to a smaller set of objects than is appropriate for mature adult’s speech or the usual definition of the word.

Question 38

Universal grammar

Answer 38

Application of a word to a smaller set of objects than is appropriate for mature adult’s speech or the usual definition of the word.

Question 39

Variegated Babbling

Answer 39

Production of meaningless consonant-vowel sequences by infants.

Question 40

Voice onset time

Answer 40

The length of time between the release of a consonant and the onset of voicing, that is, when the vocal folds start vibrating.