Language Development

Question 1

What is psycholinguistics?

Answer 1

the study of the structure and development of language

Question 2

What is phonology?

Answer 2

The sound system of a language and the rules for combining these sounds to produce meaningful units of speech

Question 3

True or False:
We perceive phonemes categorically.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

What is the “magnet effect”?

Answer 4

When a series of phonemes is played continuously, our ear is drawn to categorical distinctions of the sound

Question 5

What is acquired distinctiveness?

Answer 5

we become better at perceiving stimulus properties that are critical for distinguishing native language sounds

Question 6

What is acquired similarity?

Answer 6

we become worse at perceiving properties that are not part of our native language

Question 7

How is our brain able to understand phonemes that are not enunciated “perfectly”?

Answer 7

brain filters out sounds that don’t belong (like synaptic pruning)

why we understand accents!

Question 8

True or False:
During the critical period, our brain takes “statistics” on languages it hears.

Answer 8

True

Question 9

Why does acquired similarity happen?

Answer 9

our brain is not exposed to those novel stimuli from non-native languages

Question 10

True or False:
A baby has lower plasticity to learning phonemes than adults.

Answer 10

False
Babies have higher plasticity to learning sounds; expect to receive language and can acquire any phoneme

Question 11

What is the process of language acquisition?

Answer 11

• high plasticity –> acquired distinctiveness
• brain prunes away ability to perceive sound as you grow older
• lower plasticity –> acquired similarity

Question 12

True or False:
Japanese speakers are able to differentiate between the English /r/ and English /l/.

Answer 12

False

Question 13

What mechanism is used to study infants’ development of categorical perception of phonemes?

Answer 13

conditioned head turn procedure

Question 14

How did Werker’s conditioned head turn procedure work?

Answer 14

whenever a sound changes, a curtain will pull back and rabbit toy will play
* if the infant hears the sound change, their head will turn

Question 15

True or False:
Infants can distinguish Hindi phonemes until 8-10 months.

Answer 15

False
until 10-12 months

Question 16

What is morphology?

Answer 16

how words are formed from sounds
(i.e. stems, root words, prefixes)

i.e. grammar

Question 18

What is semantics?

Answer 18

the expressed meaning of words and sentences

Question 19

What is syntax?

Answer 19

the structure of a language; the rules specifying how words and grammatical markers are to be combined to produce meaningful sentences

Question 20

What are pragmatics?

Answer 20

principles that underlie the effective and appropriate use of language in social contexts

i.e. when to use polite forms

Question 21

True or False:
When children acquire words, production precedes comprehension.

Answer 21

False
Comprehension precedes production;
children understand what something means before they can say it

Question 22

What is the problem of “reference”?

Answer 22

children are unable to interpret exactly what a word is referring to

Question 23

What is “fast mapping”?

Answer 23

attaching meaning to words after hearing it applied to its referent after only a few times

Question 24

How was “fast mapping” displayed in the Carey & Bartlett study?

Answer 24

children were told to get the “chromium” block, “not the blue one,” and used the reference of the color blue to get something they’ve never heard before

Question 25

What are three fast mapping errors?

Answer 25

1. overextension 2. underextension 3. overregularization

Question 26

What is overextension?

Answer 26

tendency to use specific words to refer to a broad class of objects | car = all moving vehicles

Question 27

What is underextension?

Answer 27

tendency to use a general word to refer to a smaller set of items | candy = one type of candy (not chocolate)

Question 28

What is overregularization?

Answer 28

tendency to overuse grammatical rules when they don't apply | 1 mouse, 2 mouses

Question 29

What is the holophrastic period?

Answer 29

infants utter one word that is meant to represent an entire sentence | "milk"

Question 30

What is the telegraphic speech period?

Answer 30

sentences that omit less meaningful parts of speech (18-24 months) | "want milk"

Question 31

What is the word learning period?

Answer 31

toddlers will experience a "naming explosion," which grows language

Question 32

What did the "wug test" show about language acquisition?

Answer 32

children can understand and internalize rules of grammar and apply to novel words they've never heard | why overgeneralization happens

Question 34

What is the empiricist perspective of language acquisition?

Answer 34

language is acquired through children imitating adult language and through adult reinforcement of correct language usage

Question 35

What is evidence that supports the empiricist's theory?

Answer 35

* imitation is important to the development of phonology and semantics * we talk like our parents

Question 36

What is evidence against the empiricist's theory?

Answer 36

* adults do not correct gramatically incorrect utterances because they know what the child means * stilll let children speak the way they speak without correcting them * eventually children learn how to speak correctly without environmental output

Question 37

What is the nativist perspective of language acquisition?

Answer 37

children will never acquire the tools needed for processing an infinite number of sentences if the language acquisition mechanism was **dependent on language alone** | developed by Noam Chomsky

Question 38

What is the "Language Acquisition Device"?

Answer 38

allows any child to develop an implicit understanding an infer the rules governing others' speech and to use these rules to produce language

Question 38

What is evidence that supports the nativist theory?

Answer 38

* only humans have shown ability to acquire knowledge of syntax **without formal training** * some evidence for **critical or sensitive periods** for language development * spontaneous **creolization** of pidgin language by second generation

Question 39

What is evidence against the nativist theory?

Answer 39

* sensitive period data is shaky; people can learn a second language after puberty * some non-human primates are senstivie to some aspects of language * creolization may simply reflect a human sensitivity to rules and an ability to learn codes, rather than reflect innate knowledge

Question 40

How did Genie show support for both the nativist and empiricist theories of language acquisition?

Answer 40

* nativist: critical period for fully developing language (not able to learn grammar, syntax, etc.) * empiricist: able to expand vocabulary and learn words from researchers