Language Flashcards
What are the criteria for a true language
regular, arbitrary and productive
Regular
governed by rules and grammer
arbitrary
the specific sound that is assigned to a concept does not need to represent it in any way
Productive
almost limitless ways to combine words to describe objects situations and actions
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
language influences our thoughts and the way we perceive and experience the world
Morpheme
The smallest units of language that contains information
Phonemes
The smallest units of language
Syntax
The rules that govern how sentences are put together - aka grammar
semantics
the meaning of each individual word
Universal phoneme sensitivity
The ability for infants to discriminate between virtually all sounds that they’ve been tested on
Social learning theory
without exposure to adequate sources of language, children will fail to develop language skills
Overextensions
when children apply a rule too broadly
overregularization
where a child makes a syntactical error by applying a grammatical rule too broadly
underextensions
when children apply a rule to a specific object only
Language acquisition device
an innate mechanism, present only in humans, that helps language develop rapidly according to universal rules
Cooing
infants begin cooing at around 12 weeks, making sounds that combine consonants with ‘oo’ and ‘ah’ sounds
expressive vocabulary
words the children can actually speak
fast mapping
when children learn the meaning of a word after only 1 or 2 encounters with it
Holophrastic phase
when a child uses a single word tp indicate the meaning of an entire sentence
Infant-directed speech
when people talk to infants they tend to speak in a higher pitch and exaggerate changes in pitch and use of rhythm. The exaggerated changes in pitch used helps 6-7 month old’s discriminate between vowel sounds
Naming explosion
also called word spurts. a rapid expansion of vocabulary seen between the ages of 18-24 months
Perceptual Narrowing
The process where one loses the ability to distinguish between contrasts in sounds not used in one’s native language
Pragmatics
The skills that allow children to communicate appropriately and effectively in social situations
Receptive vocabulary
words that children can understand but may not yet speak - develops into expressive vocabulary
