Exam 1 Flashcards
What kind of word order does the English language use?
SVO (subject verb object)
How many children have language disorders?
7%
What does QALMRI stand for?
Question, Alternative, Logic, Methods, Results, Inferences
I know a ____ set of words to build an ____ set of sentences
Finite, infinite
True or false: language is rule-governed
True
Definition of grammar
Mental rules that enable us to understand and produce sentences- it is SYSTEMATIC and RULE-GOVERNED
Discrete combinatory system of grammar
Meanings of words are combined to form meanings of sentences, words still retain independent meanings
True or false: language is arbitrary
True
Words are ____ memorized
Arbitrarily
Displacement Reference
We talk about things that are not immediately present
Honey bee dances communicate _______ (3 things)
- Odor of food
- Distance from hive
- Direction from hive
Honey bee dance patterns (3)
- Round dance- food really close to hive
- Sickle dance- food somewhat close to hive
- Tail-wagging- food far from hive
Honeybee dance similarities to human language
- Mapping between form and meaning
- Combine different forms
- Refer to non-present referent
Honey bee differences to human language
- Dance mappings are not necessarily arbitrary
- Dance combinations are probably finite
Vervet monkey call patterns (3)
- Cluster and stare- low-lying predators
- Drop from tree- airborne predators
- Run for tree- terrestrial predators
Vervet monkey habituation
They learn categories of meanings through repeated association, and dishabituate to different meaning
Nim the chimp
Learned 125 new signs and word combinations, short sentences and simple phrases, constant sentence complexity
Chimp language
Some evidence of productivity and displacement but limited vocal and grammar
Darwin, 1840- Language
Used diary study to evaluate history of language and evolution
Child Study Movement, 1880-1920
Goals were better parenting and education, researched children quantitatively in a natural setting
Freud’s view of language
Traditionally psychological research relied on introspection, self-reported data, analyzed by professionals
Problems of behaviorist view of language
Bias in data, bias in analysis
Operant conditioning
Frequency of behavior can be affected by responses, punishment causes it to decrease or reinforcement causes it to increase
Behaviorist view of language (Skinner)
Language is a behavior, children learn because of adult reinforcement. Stimulus –> response
Thorndike’s Law of Effect (Behaviorist)
Speech production as operant conditioning (reinforcing or punishing)
_____ is an association between a stimulus and a response
Meaning
Markov sentence model
Also known as finite state grammar or word chain device, built on associations between words
The–> boy–> ate–> carrots
Cognitive revolution (Chomsky)
- Stimulus does not determine response
- Internal grammar can’t be word chain (Ex. Colorless green ideas sleep furiously)
- Language permits creativity (YOLO)
Children (are/aren’t) systematically reinforced for linguistic behavior
AREN’T (Ex. Walt Disney comes on a Tuesday. “No he doesn’t.” Parents correct meaning not grammar)
True or false: Children listen to the correct form
FALSE
Ex. “I got to holded the bunny.” “You mean you held the bunny? No, I holder the bunny.”
Universal grammar is: (3)
- Series specific (only humans have it)
- Innate (available from birth)
- Domain specific (only used for language learning)
According to Chomsky, universal grammar is:
Innate BUT babies aren’t born speaking and Specific BUT relies on other general systems
Skinner would be ___ and ____ while Chomsky would be ____ and _____ (framing questions)
Learned & domain general
Innate & domain specific
Pre-linguistic communication (less than 1 year old)
Turn taking, joint attention, babbling, gestures
Single-word speaker (12-24 months)
- Word learning begins slow but quickly accelerates, tends to be concrete nouns, small objects, people & animals
- Initial errors in mapping a word to its meaning (Ex. Daddy to all men)
Telegraphic speech (18-30 months)
- 2-3 word utterances in correct word order
- Grammatical morphemes are often omitted (Ex. Dance but not dancing)
Grammatical development (2-4 years)
- Appearance of grammatical morphemes (Ex. over regularizations like sayed, fighter, runned)
- Complex sentences starting to appear (questions, negations, passives, etc.)
Near Perfect Syntax by 4
“This troll has magic powers. Do you know anyone else who has magic powers?”
Critical Period Hypothesis
Language acquisition is a biological process that is more sensitive to input during specific periods of development, and less sensitive to input during periods that come before or after
Critical period ages for motor skills
6 months- bending, reaching
8 months- stands while holding
12 months- walks while holding hands
18 months- sits in chair
24 months- walks down stairs, runs but falls
30 months- jumps with 2 feet, stacks cubes
Genie
Isolated for 20 months, no exposure to language, but she was able to learn words, communicate with gestures, BUT used wrong word order and inconsistent morphology
Language learning is ___ before puberty but ___ after
Effortless, effortful
Domain-general account:
Less is more, smaller memory spans facilitate language learning
Pidgin
Simplified language created by adults with no common language, borrowed words from languages and simplified structure
Creole
Pidgin acquired by child speakers, more complex grammar
Bickerton’s hypothesis
What causes changes between pidgin and creole?
–Structure in Creole comes from LAD because children reorganize pidgin into natural language
Chomsky on Creole being different from Pidgin
Children have LAD (Language Acquisition Device)
Stimulus Response structure?
Pidgin (simplified structure)–> innate grammar–> Creole (complex structure)
Limitations of Bickerton’s hypothesis
Did not observe process of acquisition, made assumptions of input to children
Deictic Gestures
Points that indicate objects
Characterizing Gestures
Iconic indicate actions or attributes
ASL Intransitives
One verb, one argument
ASL Transitives
One verb, two arguments
ASL Who is creating the language?
Stimulus- Others’ signs (simple) —> Response- Home sign (complex)
Persistence
Representing the existence and location of things that move out of view
Identity
Determining whether a thing seen now is the same object as a thing seen before
Piaget’s theory of object representation
Infants construct representations of external world and self
Piaget’s stages of search for objects (cognition of object permanence)
Objects only exist when visible–> understanding of object motion and action
Capacities to represent objects are/aren’t innate
ARE NOT
Individuation
Is a given object the same or different as the object seen earlier?
Displace Reference
Ability to talk about things not immediately present
Identity
Naming object requires knowledge of whether object is same or different than other
Causality
Verb learning requires mapping of language onto event representations
Neonates prefer ____
Faces
Butterworth gaze following
By 9 months, reliable gaze to objects in mutual visual field
By 18 months, gaze following objects outside infant’s visual field
Infants’ knowledge of other people (3)
- Learned condition response (gaze predicts location)
- Innate inference of goal (gaze cues goals)
- Innate inference of mental state (gaze reflects knowledge)
Social Referencing
Evaluate situation based on mother’s emotional expression
Word Learning
Hear novel label when speaker is looking at novel object
