File 8 - Module 9, Weeks 13 & 14, Language Acquisition Flashcards
active construction of a grammar theory
Theory of child language which says that children acquire a language by inventing rules of grammar based on the speech around them.
articulatory gestures
A movement of a speech organ in the production of speech, for example, the movement of the velum for the production of a nasal consonant.
attention getters
Word or phrase used to initiate an address to children.
attention holders
A tactic used to maintain children’s attention for extended amounts of time.
babble
A phase in child language acquisition during which the child produces meaningless sequences of consonants and vowels. generally begins around the age of six months
bilingual
State of commanding two languages; having linguistic competence in two languages. In machine translation, a system that can translate between only one language pari.
canonical babbling OR repeated babbling
the continuous repetition of sequences of vowels and consonants like [mamama] by infants; also called repeated babbling.
child-directed speech
In many Western societies, speech to infants is slow and high-pitched and contains many repetitions, simplified syntax, exaggerated intonation, and a simple and concrete vocabulary.
complexive concept
A term used in the study of child language acquisition. A group of items (abstract or concrete) that a child refers to with a single word for which is it not possible to single out any one unifying property.
conditioned head-turn procedure
Experimental technique usually used with infants between five and eighteen months with two phases: conditioning and testing. During the conditioning phase, the infant learns to associate a change in sound with the activation of visual reinforcers, first presented at the same time and then in succession, such that the infant begins to anticipate the appearance of the visual reinforcers and look at them before they are activated. During the testing phase, when the infant looks to the visual reinforcers immediately after a change in sound, it suggests that the infant has perceived the change in sound, thereby demonstrating the ability to discriminate between the two sounds involved.
connectionist theories
Theory of language acquisition which claims that children learn language through neural connections in the brain. A child develops such connections through exposure to language and by using language.
conversational turns
The contribution to a conversation made by one speaker from the time that she takes the floor from another speaker to the time that she passes the floor on to another speaker.
critical period
Age span, usually described as lasting from birth to the onset of puberty, during which children must have exposure to language and must build the critical brains structures necessary in order to gain native speaker competence in a language.
fossilization
Process through which forms from a speaker’s non-native language usage become fixed (generally in a way that would be considered ungrammatical by a native speaker) and do not change, even after years of instruction.
high amplitude sucking
Experimental techniques used to study sound discrimination in infants from birth to about six months. Infants are given a special pacifier that is connected to a sound-generating system. Each suck on the pacifier generates a noise, and infants’ sucking behavior is used to draw conclusions about discrimination abilities.
holophrastic stage
Stage in first-language acquisition during which children can produce only one word at a time
