Chapter 9: Language Flashcards
what is language
a system that relates sounds (or gestures) to meaning
4 components to language
1) Has arbitrary units, therefore symbolic
2) Structured and meaningful
3) Shows displacement- can communicate events distant in time/space (not just here/now)
4) Characterized by generativity—can produce infinite number of utterance from languages vocabulary provided follows the structure
5 elements involved in spoken languages
1) phonology
2) morphology
3) semantics
4) syntax
5) pragmatics
what is phonology
sounds of a language (~200 different sounds use in all known spoken languages)
- English structured from about 45
what are semantics
study of words and their meanings
what is syntax
rules that specify how words are combined in sentences
what are pragmatics
communicative functions of language and the rules that lead to effective communication
infants younger than 6 months learning language
do not need to experience speech sounds in their environment to be able to discriminate them
- They aren’t accustomed to a certain language yet
what are phonemes?
are sounds that are the building blocks of language, unique sounds that can be joined to create words (consonant + vowel sounds), can distinguish sounds as early as 1-month old
young babies hearing phonemes
can hear phonemes that are not in their language
what is Infant-directed speech
may help children learn language—adults speak slowly and with exaggerated changes in pitch and loudness (aka motherese)
- Children pay attention to stressed syllables
what is a cochlear implant
device picks up speech sounds and converts them to electrical impulses that stimulate nerve cells in the ear
benefits of cochlear implants
- Show to promote language acquisition in deaf children
- Children deaf from birth receive cochlear implants, spoken language skills end up better than those without implants
- After receiving implants, deaf children acquire spoken language at same rate as children with normal hearing
first steps to speech at 2 months
cooing (vowel-like sounds)
first steps to speech at 6 months
babbling (speech-like sound that has no meaning), at this age pay more attention to content words than to function words
- precursor to real speech
- similar to adults, babies while babbling open mouth wider on right side reflecting left hemisphere control of language and muscle movements of right side
first steps to speech 8-11 months
babbling includes intonation (rising/falling pitch)
- babies brought up by English-speaking parents have both declarative and question patterns of intonation in babbling
- appearance of intonation in babbling indicates strong link between perception and production of speech
what do babies first words appear?
around first birthday
infants babbling is influenced by…
speech they hear
one of biggest challenges for infants is identifying….
identifying recurring patterns of sounds—words
Understanding words as symbols
- infants understand that words are symbols (something that stands for something else)
- gestures are symbols that children start to use around the time they begin to talk (first bday)
what is naming explosion?
learn new words much more rapidly than before (~18 months)
learn 10 or more words each week
what is fast mapping?
learning word meanings so rapidly that they child can’t be considering all possible meanings for new word
4 ways rapid word learning occurs
1) joint attention
2) constraints on word names
3) sentence cues
4) cognitive growth
Joint attention
rapid word learning
toddlers touch or look at object often parents/adults will label it for them, parents will simplify by using one word
- Parents label objects, children rely on adults behaviour to interpret words they hear
- When adults label unfamiliar object, young children more likely to assume that the label is the objects name when adults show signs that they are referring to the object by looking or pointing while labelling
what are constraints on word names
rapid word learning
- if an unfamiliar word is heard in the presence of objects that already have names and objects that do not, the word refers to one of the objects that does not have a name. Discovered simple rules help children match words with correct referent
- name refers to whole object
- object has name already and another name presented, new name= subcategory
- word applied consistently to only one of similar category members is proper noun (e.g. one dinosaur called dino= name)
sentence cues
rapid word learning
words they already know in a sentence helps learn new words and understand the meaning of the sentence/word
cognitive growth
rapid word learning
as children’s thinking becomes more sophisticated, they start to have goals and intentions, language becomes a means to express goals and achieve them
Shape-Bias Theory of Word Learning
General rule: objects with same shape have the same name, children are then able to realize that paying attention to shape is an easy way to learn names
- Shape plays a central role in learning words, infants/young children spontaneously pay attention to object’s shape, use this bias to learn words
2 types of naming errors
under-extensions
overextensions
what are under-extensions
NAMING ERROR
- defining a word too narrowly
E.g: using word “car” to refer only to the family car, and “ball” to refer only to one favourite toy ball
- learn word dog and think it only applies to their dog, and meet new dog and don’t know what it is
what are overextensions?
NAMING ERROR
- defining word too broadly
- more common in word production
E.g. use “Car” to also refer to buses/trucks, or “doggie” to refer to all 4-legged animals
Wide range in vocabulary development largely accounted for by: (2)
1) childs language environment
2) phonological memory
what is phonological memory?
the ability to remember speech sounds briefly
2 types of learning styles
1) referential style
2) expressive style