Language Acquisition Flashcards
Fossilization
process through which forms from a speaker’s non native language usage become fixed in a way that would be considered ungrammatical by a native speaker and do not change
foreign accent
an accent that is marked by the phonology of another language or other languages that are familiar to the speaker
second-language acquisition
acquisition of a second language as a teenager or adult
transfer
the influence of one’s native language on the learning of subsequent languages
code switching
using words or structural elements from more than one language within the same conversation
simultaneous bilingualism
bilingualism in which both languages are acquired from infancy
sequential bilingualism
bilingualism in which a second language is acquired as a young child
multilingual
the state of commanding three or more languages
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
attention getters
words or phrases used to initiate an address to children
attention holders
a tactic used to maintain children’s attention for extended amounts of time
telegraphic utterances
utterances containing primarily content words
child-directed speech
speech used by parents or caregivers when communicating with young children or infants
deictic expressions
word or expression that takes its meaning relative to the time, place, and speaker of the utterance
relative intersection
type of relationship between adjective and noun reference where the reference of the adjective is determined relative to the noun reference
under-extension
application of a word to a smaller set of objects than is appropriate for mature adult speech or the usual definition of a word
complexive concept
a term used in the study of child language acquisition. a group of items that a child refers to with a single word for which it is not possible to single out any one unifying property
overextension
in the study of child language acquisition, a relationship between child and adult perception of word meaning: the child’s application of a given word has a wider range than the application of the same word in adult language
overgeneralization
a relationship between a child and adult application of rules relative to certain contexts: a process in which children extend the application of linguistic rules to contexts beyond those in the adult language
telegraphic
a phase during child language acquisition in which children use utterances composed primarily of content words
one word stage
stage in first language acquisition during which children can produce only one word at a time
variegated babbling
production of meaningless consonant vowel sequences by infants
canonical babbling
continuous repetition of sequences of vowels and consonants like (mamama) by infants; repeated babbling
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
voice onset time (VOT)
the length of time between the release of a consonant and the onset of voicing, that is, when the vocal folds start vibrating
Conditioned head turn procedure (HT)
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.
High amplitude sucking (HAS)
experimental technique 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 and discriminating abilities
Social interaction theory
theory of language acquisition that claims that children acquire language through social interaction-in particular with older children and adults-and prompt their caregivers to supply them with the appropriate language experience they need
Connectionist theories
theory of language acquisition that claims that children learn language through neural connections in the brain. a child develops such connections through exposure to language and by using language
Reinforcement theory
theory of language acquisition that says that children learn to speak like adults because they are praised, rewarded, or otherwise reinforced when they use the right forms and are corrected when they use the wrong ones
active construction of grammar theory
theory of language acquisition that says that children acquire a language by inventing rules of grammar based on the speech around them
imitation theory
theory of language acquisition that claims that children acquire language by listening to the speech around them and reproducing what they hear
homesign
a rudimentary visual-gestural communication system that is developed and used by deaf children and their families when a signed language is not made available for their communication
neglected children
a child who is neglected by caretakers, often resulting in significantly lower exposure to language as a child
feral children
child who grew up in the wild without care by human adults, often with animals
innate
determined by factors present from birth
innateness hypothesis
a hypothesis that humans are genetically predisposed to learn and use language
linguistic universals
property believed to be held common by all natural languages
holophrase
a one word sentence
bilingual
state of commanding two languages
