Chapter 9: Language Development

Question 1

What is language?

Answer 1

A form of communication (spoken, written, or signed), based on a system of arbitrary symbols.

Question 2

What property does language have that allows it to produce an endless number of meaningful sentences using a finite set of words and rules?

Answer 2

Infinite Generativity

Question 3

What is phonology?

Answer 3

The sound system of a language. It includes the sounds used and the ways in which they are combined.

Question 4

What is morphology?

Answer 4

The units of meaning involved in word formation.

Question 5

What are bound morphemes?

Answer 5

Units of meaning that are not words on their own, but add meaning to words. (ie. “ed,” “ing,” “s”)

Question 6

What is syntax?

Answer 6

The ways words are combined to form comprehensible sentences and phrases.

Question 7

What is semantics?

Answer 7

The meanings of words and sentences.

Question 8

What is pragmatics?

Answer 8

The appropriate use of language in different contexts.

Question 9

What are rules of discourse?

Answer 9

Expectations for using language.

Question 10

What do infants do to communicate and attract attention?

Answer 10

Non-language vocalizations.

Question 11

When do infants begin to use gestures?

Answer 11

8-12 months.

Question 12

When do infants begin to understand language?

Answer 12

5-12 months.

Question 13

When do infants begin to speak?

Answer 13

10-15 months.

Question 14

When does an infant’s vocalize using two-word utterances?

Answer 14

18-24 months.

Question 15

What is telegraphic speech?

Answer 15

The use of short, precise words without grammatical markers or connecting words.

Question 16

How does bilingualism effect language acquisition?

Answer 16

It delays both languages.

Question 17

What is the whole-language approach to acquisition?

Answer 17

It parallels natural language learning, teaches the child to use context to understand the words and their meanings.

Question 18

What is the phonics approach to acquisition?

Answer 18

It teaches basic rules for translating written symbols into sounds.

Question 19

When do children gain the motor skills to learn to write?

Answer 19

Age 3-5

Question 20

Do adults or children learn languages more quickly?

Answer 20

Adults, but their final threshold is not as high as children’s.

Question 21

Where is Broca’s area, and what does it do?

Answer 21

Located in the left frontal lobe, it’s involved in language production.

Question 22

Where is Wernicke’s area, and what does it do?

Answer 22

Located in the left temporal lobe, it’s involved in language comprehension.

Question 23

How does an adolescent’s understanding of language differ from that of a child?

Answer 23

An adolescent has a better concept of literary techniques like metaphor, satire and irony.

Question 24

What is the behavioural view of language learning? What is the problem with this view?

Answer 24

That language is acquired through reinforcement, but it does not explain the creation of novel sentences.

Question 25

What is aphasia?

Answer 25

A loss or impairment of language processing resulting from damage to Broca’s area or Wernicke’s area.

Question 26

What is Chomsky’s language acquisition device?

Answer 26

Term that describes a biological endowment that enables the child to detect certain features and rules of language, including phonology, syntax, and semantics.

Question 27

What is the interactionist view of language learning?

Answer 27

It emphasizes that both biology and experience contribute to language development.

Question 28

What is child-directed speech?

Answer 28

Language spoken in a higher pitch than normal, with simple words and sentences.

Question 29

What is recasting?

Answer 29

Rephrasing a statement that a child has said in the form of a fully grammatical sentence, allowing them to elaborate on their interests.

Question 30

What is expanding?

Answer 30

Restating, in a linguistically sophisticated form, what a child has said.

Question 31

What is labeling?

Answer 31

Identifying the names of objects.