Language acquistition Flashcards
Innate
Determined by factors present a birth
innateness hypothesis
a hypothesis that humans are genetically predisposed to learn language
imitation theory
child language acquisition that claims that children acquire language by listening to the speech around them and reproducing what they hear
reinforcement theory
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 theory
Theory of child language which says children acquire language by inventing rues rules of grammar based on speech around them
connectionist theory
Theory of language acquisition which claims that children learn language though neural connections in the brain. A child develops such connection through exposure to language and by using language
linguist universals
property believed to be held in common by all natural languages
critical period
age span, usually described as lasting from birth to onset of puberty, during which children must have exposure to language and must build critical brain structures necessary in order to gain naive speaker competence in a language
high amplitude sucking
experimental technique used to study sound discrimination in infants from birth to 6 months. infants are given a special pacifier that is connected to a sound generating machine. each suck on the pacifier generates noise , and infants sucking behavior is used to draw conclusions about discriminating abilities
condition head turn procedure
experimenting technique usually used with infants 5-18 months with 2 phases: conditioning and testing. During the conditioning phase, the infant learns to associate a change in sound with the activation of visual reinforces, first presented at the same time and then in succession, such that the infant begins to anticipate the appearance and look at them before they appear.
voice onset time
The length of time between the release of consonant and the onset of voicing, that is, when ht vocal cords start vibrating
articulatory gestures
movement of a speech organ in the production of speech for example, the movement of the velum for the production of nasal consonant
canonical babbling
continuous repetition of sequences of vowels and consonants like mamamama by infants, also called repeated babbling
variegated babbling
production of meaningless consonant-vowel sequences by infants
holophrastic stage
first language acquisition stage where children can only produce word word at a time
telegraphic
p phrase during child language acquisition in which children use utterances composed primarily of content words
complexive concept
a term used in te study of child language acquition. a group of items that a child refers to wit a single word for which it is not possible to single out any one unifying property
overextension
in the study of child language acquition a relationshi p between child and adult perception of a words meaning. the child application of a given word has a wider ranger that the application of a thee same word in adult language
deictic expressions
word or expression that takes its meaning relative to the time, place and utterance
language mixing
using words or structural elements from where from more than one language within the a single sentence or phrase
fossilization
process through which forms fro a speakers non native language usage become fixed and do not change even after year of instruction
feral children
child who grew up without the the care of adults, often in the wild with animals
homesign
rudimentary visual- gestural communication system that is developed a and used by deaf children and there families when a signed language is not made available for their communication
social interaction theory
The 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
child directed speech
speech used by parents and caregivers when communicating with young children or infants. many western societies, child directed speech is slow and high pitched and has many repetitions, simplified syntax, exaggerated intonation and simple and concrete vocab
onset time
in a syllable, any consonant that occurs before a rhyme
under extension
application of a word to a smaller set of objects than is appropriate for mature adult speech or the usual definition of the word
relational term
type of relationship between adj and noun reference where the reference of the adj is determined relative to the noun reference
attention holder
a tactic used to maintain children’s attention for extended amounts of time
attention getter
word or phrase used to initiate an address to children
infant directed speech
speech used by parents and caregivers when communicating with young children or infants. many western societies, child directed speech is slow and high pitched and has many repetitions, simplified syntax, exaggerated intonation and simple and concrete vocab
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 to another speaker
neglected children
child who grew up without the the care of adults, often in the wild with animals
babble
a phase in child language acquisition during which the child produces meaningless sequences of consonants and owels. Generally begins around the age of 6 months
second language acquisition
second language acquisition as a teenager or adult
simultaneous bilingualism
both languages are acquired from infancy
sequential bilingulism
one language is learned after the other
multilingual
fluently speaking more than 2 languages
relative intersection
type of relationship between adj and noun reference where the reference of the adj is determined relative to the noun reference
bilingual
fluent in 2 languages
