Chapter 9 Flashcards
Semantics
The second component, involves vocabulary–the way underlying concepts are expressed in words and word combinations
Phonology
Refers to the rules governing the structure and sequence of speech sounds
Grammar
The third component of language, consists of two main parts. The syntax, and morphology
Syntax
The rules by which words are arranged into sequences
Morphology
The use of grammatical markers indicating number, tense, case, person, gender, active or passive voice,
Pragmatics
Refers to the rules for engaging in appropriate and effective communication
Language acquisition device
An innate system that permits them, once they have acquired sufficient vocabulary, to combine words into grammatically consistent, novel utterances and to understand the meaning of sentences they hear
Universal grammar
A built-in storehouse of rules common to all human languages
Broca’s area
Located in the left frontal lobe, supports grammatical processing and language production
Wernicke’s area
Located in the left temporal lobe, plays a role in comprehending word meaning
Phonemes
The smallest sound units that signal a change in meaning, such as the difference between the constant sounds in “pa” and “ba”
Categorical speech perception
This tendency to perceive as identical a range of sounds that belong to the same phenomic class
Infant-directed speech
A form of communication made up of short sentences with high-pitched, exaggerated expression, clear pronunciation, distinct pauses between speech segments, clear gestures to support verbal meanin, and repetition of new words In a variety of contexts
Babbling
Infants constantly make consonant-vowel sounds, often in long strings
Joint attention
In which the child attends to the same object or event as the caregiver
Protodeclarative
In which baby points to or touches or holds up an object while looking at others to make sure they notice.
Protoimperative
Baby gets another person to do something by reaching, pointing, and often making sounds at the same time
Comprehension
The language they understand develops ahead of production
Production
The language they use
Fast mapping
Children can connect a new word with underlying concept after only a brief encounter
Referential style
Their vocabularies consist mainly of words that refer to objects
Expressive style
Compared with referential children they initially produce many more social formulas and pronouns
Underextension
The error of applying words too narrowly
Overextension
Applying a word to a wider collection of objects and events than is appropriate
Phonological store
Permits us to retain speech-based information
Mutual exclusivity bias
The assumption that words refer to entirely separate categories
Syntactic bootstrapping
According to one proposal, preschoolers discover many word meanings by observing how words are used in syntax
Telegraphic speech
Two word utterances that focus on high-content words and omit smaller, less important ones
Grammatical morphemes
Small markers that change the meaning of sentences
Overregularization
An error in which children apply a regular morphological rule, and extend it to words that are exceptions
Semantic bootstrapping
They use word meanings to figure out sentence structure. Children might begin by grouping together words with “agent qualities” as subjects and words with “action qualities” as verbs.
Recasts
Restructuring inaccurate speech into correct form
Expansions
Elaborating on children’s speech, increasing its complexity
Turnabout
The speaker not only comments on what has just been said but also adds a request to get the partner to respond
Shading
In which the speaker initiates a change of topic gradually by modifying the focus of discussion
Illocutionary intent
What a speaker means to say, even if the form of the utterance is not perfectly consistent with it
Speech registers
Language adaptations to social expectations
Metalinguistic awareness
The ability to think about language as a system
