Chapter 8 Flashcards
Active construction of a Grammar theory
Theory of language acquisition that says that children acquire a language by inventing rules of grammar based on the speech around them.
Attention getters
Word or phrase used to initiate an address to children.
Attention holders
A tactic used to maintain children’s attention for extended amounts of time.
Articulatory gestures
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.
Babble
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.
Critical period
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.
Conditioned Head
Turn Procedure- Experimental technique usually used with infants between five and eighteen months with two phases: conditioning and testing.
Canonical babbling
The continuous repetition of sequences of vowels and consonants like [mamma] by infants; also called repeated babbling.
Complexive concept
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.
Child directed speech
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.
Conversational turns
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.
Code-switching
Using words or structural elements from more than one language within the same conversation.
Connectionist theories
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.
Deictic expressions
Word or expression that takes its meaning relative to the time place, and speaker of the utterance.
Feral child
Child who grew up I the wild without care by human adults, often with animals.
Foreign accent
An accent that is marked by the phonology of another language or other languages that are more familiar to the speaker.
Fossilization
Process through which forms from a speaker’s non-native language usage become fixed and do not change, even after years of instruction.
Holophrastic stage
Stage in first-language acquisition during which children can produce only one word at a time.
Homesign
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.
High Amplitude Sucking
Experimental technique use to study sound discrimination in infants from birth to about six months.
Innate
Determined by factors present by birth.
Innateness hypothesis
A hypothesis that humans are genetically predisposed to learn and use language.
Imitation theory
Theory of language acquisition that claims that children acquire language by listening to the speech around them and reproducing what they hear.
Infant directed speech
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.
Linguistic universals
Property believed to be held I common by all natural languages.
Multilingual
The state of commanding three or more languages; having linguistic competence in three or more languages.
Neglected child
A child who is neglected by caretakers, often resulting in significantly lower exposure to language as a child.
Overgeneralization
- 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.
Overextension
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.
Relational term
- Type of relationship between adjective and noun reference where the reference of the adjective is determined relative to the noun reference.
Reinforcement theory
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.
Second-language acquisition-
Acquisition of a second language as a teenager or adult.
Sequential Bilingualism
Bilingualism in which the second language is acquired as a young child.
Simultaneous Bilingualism
Bilingualism in which both languages are acquired from infancy.
Social interaction theory
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.
Telegraphic utterance
Utterance containing primarily content words.
Underextension
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.
Universal grammar
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.
Variegated Babbling
Production of meaningless consonant-vowel sequences by infants.
Voice onset time
The length of time between the release of a consonant and the onset of voicing, that is, when the vocal folds start vibrating.
