Language Acquisition Vocabulary Flashcards
behaviorist theory
theory stating that “infants learn oral language from other human role models through a process involving imitation, rewards, and practice
innateness
linguistic theory of language acquisition which holds that at least some knowledge about language exists in humans at birth
cognitive linguistics
an interdisciplinary branch of linguistics, combining knowledge and research from cognitive science, cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, social psychology, cognitive anthropology and linguistics
motherese
the proper linguistic term that describes the type of speech used by adults when speaking to infants
universal grammar
set of structural characteristics shared by all languages
competence
linguistic knowledge possessed by native speakers of a language
performance
the actual use of language in concrete situations
minimalism
aims at the further development of ideas involving economy of derivation and economy of representation
economy of derivation
principle stating that movements only occur in order to match interpretable features with uninterpretable features
economy of representation
principle that grammatical structures must exist for a purpose, i.e. the structure of a sentence should be no larger or more complex than required to satisfy constraints on grammaticality
transformations
the rule that takes an input called the “Deep Structure” and changes it in some restricted way to result in a Surface Structure
cognitive theory
an approach to psychology that attempts to explain human behavior by understanding your thought processes
input theory
learners progress in their knowledge of the language when they comprehend language input that is slightly more advanced than their current level “i+1”
imitation
the act of copying, mimicking, or replicating behavior observed or modeled by other individuals
reinforcement
theory of child language acquisition which 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
children have innate ability to invent grammar rules themselves
connectionist theory
theory claiming that a learner perceives that a particular stimulus goes with a particular response, establishing a connection.
critical period
hypothesis stating that the first few years of life constitute the time during which language develops readily
language acquisition
the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive and comprehend language, as well as to produce and use words and sentences to communicate
language acquisition device
Chomsky’s initial theory that children are born with a hard-wired device in their brains that allows the learning of language
