infant language development

Question 1

phonological development

Answer 1

learning about the sound system of a language
- every language has a distinct set of phonemes
- adults are only able to discriminate from their native language but babies can discriminate many languages

Question 2

phonotactics

Answer 2

the permissible structure of syllables, groups of consonants and sequences of vowels in a language

Question 3

statistical learning

Answer 3

the ability of infants to perceive and learn regularities in language, such as which speech sounds make up words

Question 4

infants producing sounds

Answer 4

• crying: not all cries are equal
  coos at 2-3 months
• bables or canonical syllables (6-7 months)
• conventional words: 12 months

Question 5

receptive language

Answer 5

the ability to understand language and the meaning of words and phrases

Question 6

productive language

Answer 6

the words that infants produce
- increases more slowly than receptive language
- first words - 12 months
- vocabulary spurt at 18-24 months
- multi-word utterances at 24 months

Question 7

fast mapping

Answer 7

children’s learning of a new word with only one or two exposures

Question 8

words in early vocabularies

Answer 8

children who speak similar languages, tend to have their first words be simple nouns referring to objects

Question 9

underextension

Answer 9

the mapping of words to an overly narrow class of objects
- ex: knowing rubber duckie but not real duck

Question 10

overextension

Answer 10

overgeneralizing of words to an overly broad class of referents

Question 11

syntax

Answer 11

set of rules that govern the ordering of parts of speech to form meaningful sentences

Question 12

syntactic bootstrapping

Answer 12

use of the syntax of a sentence to infer the meaning of unfamiliar words

Question 13

telegraphic speech

Answer 13

a form of communication used commonly by toddlers that is characterized by simple 2 word sentences
- mostly in grammatical order

Question 14

morpheme

Answer 14

the smallest unit of meaning in language that cannot be divided further

Question 15

over-regularization

Answer 15

toddler will hear parents say things and then say them right but will then learn grammar rules and start getting those rules wrong
actually a sign of progressing

Question 16

pragmatic development

Answer 16

learning how language is used in social contexts

Question 17

proto-conversation

Answer 17

caregiver-infant interactions that include word, sound and gestures which are well-timed and responsive to each other
- the way infants understand turn taking in conversations

Question 18

non-verbal social cues

Answer 18

infants use other’s gesture like pointing and eye gaze to learn new words
- using social cues to learn new words

Question 19

proto-imperative

Answer 19

infant using a gesture to get something they want (pointing at a toy)

Question 20

proto-declarative

Answer 20

infants using a gesture to point something out in their environment
- trying to show something

Question 21

family context

Answer 21

• parents and caregivers are usually infants first language partners
• caregivers support language learning by using infant directed speech, amount of diversity in language, responsiveness

Question 22

infant diected speech

Answer 22

• unique way that adults talk to infants
• higher pitch and more exaggerated intonation
• captures attention and helps babies discriminate among speech sounds which is good because they could have longer convos where they get more words

Question 23

diversity in speech to infants

Answer 23

amount of language: total number of words that an infant hears
- lexical diversity: number of different words
- reading is very important and helps with this and introduces to words that dont come up naturally

Question 24

contingent responsiveness

Answer 24

caregivers prompt, attuned responses to infant behaviours
- ex: baby pick up ball and adult say “look a ball”
- parents who are more contingent are supporting language development

Question 25

the 30 million age gap

Answer 25

by the time kids are ready to go to school, kids from professional families have heard about 30 million more words than kids from low income families

Question 26

simultaneous bilinguals

Answer 26

• children who hear two languages from infancy
• hearing two languages at home

Question 27

dual language learners

Answer 27

children who learn 2 languages because they are exposed to a new native language at home that differs from their community
- one at home the other at school

Question 28

similarities in monolinguals and bilinguals

Answer 28

• same ability to discriminate among speech sounds
• same total vocabulary but it is smaller and proportional in each language
• same general trajectory for learning speech and words

Question 29

unique precesses for bilinguals

Answer 29

• simultaneous bilinguals are less sensitive to mispronunciations and accept more variations in the words that they know
• exposure to accented speech
• learning words: more willing to accept two labels for the same thing

Question 30

communicative accommodation

Answer 30

the adjustments that caregivers make to language and behaviours when communicating with young infants
- child centred vs situation centred

Question 31

child centred

Answer 31

• common in north america
• talk about things of interest for infant
• use special register
• ## high responsiveness to infant

Question 32

situation centred

Answer 32

• parents talk about what is relevant
• use adult register
• responsibility of child to figure out whats going on

Question 33

channels of communication

Answer 33

different cultural communities have different channels of communication like gaze, language, touch and gestures
ex: moms in boston speak to their babies more but moms in kenya hold their babies more