Language Development Flashcards
To which types of sounds do infants have a preference for?
- preference to speech sounds over artificial
- prefer mother’s voice
- prefer native language
What are some evidences that bilingual develop two separate linguistic systems?
Progression of language development is similar for bilingual and monolingual
- same vocabulary size when combining both languages
Select language they used based on conversational partner
Language mixing in adults bilinguals is normal
- 90% of bilingual parents mix their languages in speech
Describe the High Amplitude Sucking Procedure
Discrimination→ Use of habituation paradigm
- present stimuli until sucking has declined significantly (e.g. by 20%)
- test phase→ Hears new speech stimulus every time produces a strong
suck
Preference→ 2 different stimuli are played on alternating minutes each time a strong
suck is produced
- number of strong sucks more important for one stimulus indicate preference
Explain the Preferential listening Procedure
Speaker on either side of infant’s head
- when looks at speaker, a recording of speech plays
- look for how long infant look at each side
When do infant lose the ability to distinguish between non native sounds?
8months→ ability to distinguish between non-native speech sounds diminishes
10-12months→ perceptual abilities are narrowed to those sounds that are relevant to their native language
- improves perception in native language
What is word segmentation and when does it appear?
Def→ knowing where words begin and end in fluent speech
- begins around 7months
—>use of statistical learning
What are the two strategies used by infants to segment words?
Stress patterning and Distribution of speech sounds
What are the developmental milestones of language?
- 2 months→ Cooing and gurgling
- 7 months→ Babbling
- 12months→ First words
- 18months→ Knows 50words
What is cooing?
Around 2months
- Drawn around vowel
- help gain motor control over vocalizations
- elicits reactions from caregivers
—>no language exposure needed
What is babbling?
Around 7months
- Repetitive consonant-vowel syllables
- babbling similar across languages/ cannot recognize language of infant
Manual babbling→ deaf infants exposed to sign language babble with repetitive hand movements
—>language exposure critical for babbling
What are the functions of babbling?
- Social function→ Practicing turn-taking in a dialogue
- Learning function→ Signal that the infant is alert and ready to learn
When do infants start to understand words?
6 months
What are some common mispronunciations when children first learn to talk?
- Often mispronounced in predictable ways
- Substitute difficult sounds for easier sounds
- Re-order sounds to put easy sound first
What are the limitations to infants’ first words?
- Overextension→ using a word in a broader context than is appropriate (ex: dog to all 4 legged animal)
- Underextension→ using a word in a more limited context than appropriate (ex: cat only for family’s pet)
What are the assumptions about language that help infants to learn words and explain them?
Mutual exclusivity
Whole-object assumption
Grammatical form
Shape bias
Cross-situational word learning
Pragmatic cues
Adult’s intentionality
How does a caregiver influence infants’ learning of words?
Infant-directed speech (IDS)
Quantity of speech
Quality of speech
- joint engagement
- Playing naming games
- Repeated new words
When do children say their first sentence?
2yo
What is telegraphic speech?
2-3 word phrases leaving out non essential words
- Ex: mommy cake
When do children start to master basics of grammar?
5yo
How do we know that a child has learned grammar?
- can apply grammatical rule to new context (adding s to make plural)
- over regularization errors (ex: mans)
How is grammar learned?
- parents and caregivers as models
- statistical learning
What is the sensitive period for Language Acquisition?
birth to puberty
What is the monolingual brain hypothesis?
infants’ brains are programmed to be monolingual and that they treat input in 2 languages as if it were one language
- would confuse language
–>FALSE
