Chapter 8: Language and Thought Flashcards
What is fast mapping?
how children map a word onto a concept by only being exposed to it once
What is cognition?
the mental processes involved in acquiring knowledge
What is overextension of speech?
When a child incorrectly uses a word to describe a wider set of objects or actions than it is ment to
eg. ball to describe anything that is round
What is underextention of speech?
When a child incorrectly uses a word to describe a narrower set of objects or actions than it is meant to
eg. doll can only refer to a single favourite doll
What is telegraphic speech?
eg “give doll” instead of please give me the doll
What are overregularizations in speech?
when grammatical rules are incorrectly generalized to irregular cases where they do not apply.
eg. the girl goed home, I ated the cookie
Do overregularizations exist in all languages?
yes
What is metalinguistic awareness?
The ability to reflect on the use of language
Being able to make puns and jokes
What age do children start appreciate irony and sarcasm?
6-8
Does learning two languages in childhood slow down language development?
no
What is acculturation?
the degree to which a person is socially and psychologically integrated into a new culture
What 3 factors contribute to acquisition of a second language?
Age: younger the better
Acculturation: greater integration into culture=faster learning
Motivation: how imp is it to someone?
True or false, languages are symbolic, semantic, generative, and structured
True
True or false, language is structured in a hierarchy, with phenomes being at the bottom, and the morphemes
True
When do children typically start vocalizing words?
around their first birthday
When does the vocabulary spurt occur?
between 18 months and 24
When do most children start to combine their words?
After their second year
True or false, according to Pinker, humans special talent for language is a species-specific trait that is the product of natural selection
True
True or false, Dunbar argues that language evolved as a device to build and maintain relationships in a growing population
True
Explain the behaviourist theory of language acquisiton
children learn language through imitation, reinforcement, and the basic principles of conditioning
Explain the nativists (chomsky) theory of language acquisiton
Chomsky
Humans have an inborn/native predisposition to develop language
Language Acquisition device theory: innate process that facilitates language learning
What does the Language Acquisition Device theory propose?
Humans have an innate process that facilitates learning of language
We’re biologically equipped to develop language
Why does Chomsky beleive that children have an innate capacity for learning language?
Because they acquire language quickly and with little effort
Do Nativist theorists think that the Nativist theory of language acquisition is universal?
Yes
Explain the interactionist theory of language acquisition, and the 3 “flavours” the theorists come in
You need biology/genetics AND social interaction to develop language
cognitive: lang. development is part of cognitive development
Social/communication: interpersonal communication is imp
Emergentist: neural circuits 4 lang. emerge gradually in resp. 2 learning
What are the 3 “flavours” of the interactionist theory of language acquisition?
Cognitive: lang. dev. is part of cognitive development/maturation
Social/Communicative: interpersonal comm. and social env.
Emergentist: Neural circuits that deal with language emerge after learning
What is linguistic relativity?
The idea that ones language determines thought
True or false, language has some impact on how people think about motion and shapes, as well as colour
True
What is the status of the linguistic relativity hypothesis?
We don’t know if the new data is sufficient to support the original “strong” version of the hypothesis or the weaker version, but the empirical support has increased dramatically in the past few years
True or false, Savage-Rumbaugh’s work suggests that animals are capable of language acquisition
True