Language Development Flashcards
phonology
rules governing the structure and sequence of speech sounds
semantics
vocabulary–the way underlying concepts are expressed in words and word combinations
grammar
syntax–the way words are arranged into sentences; and morphology–the use of grammatical markers indicating number, tense, case, person, gender, etc.
pragmatics
rules for engaging in appropriate and effective communication (taking turns; sociolinguistic knowledge)
language acquisition device
innate system that permits children to combine words into grammatically consistent, novel utterances and understand the meaning of sentences they hear
universal grammar
built-in storehouse of rules common to all human languages
Broca’s area
located in left frontal lobe, supporting grammatical processing and language production
Wernicke’s area
located in left temporal lobe, plays a role in comprehending word meaning
phonemes
smallest sound units that signal a change in meaning (pa versus ba)
categorical speech perception
tendency to perceive as identical a range of sounds that belong to the same phonemic class
infant-directed speech
a form of communication made up of short sentences with high-pitched, exaggerated expression, clear pronunciation, distinct pauses between speech segments, clear gestures to support verbal meaning
cooing
vowel like noises
babbling
consonant like noises
joint attention
child attends tot he same object or event at the caregiver
protodeclarative gesture
baby points to, touches or holds up an object while looking at others
protoimperative gesture
baby gets another person to do something by reaching, pointing and making sounds at the same time
comprehension
language they understand
production
language they use
fast-mapping
children can connect a new word with an underlying concept after only a brief encounter
referential style
vocabularies consist mainly of words that refer to obejcts
expressive style
initially produce many more social formulas or pronouns
underextension
apply words too narrowly
overextension
apply words to a wider collection of objects and events than is appropriate
phonological store
permits us to retain speech based information
mutual exclusivity bais
assumption that words refer to entirely separate nonoverlapping categories
shape bias
previous learning of nouns based on shape heighters attention to the shape properties of additional objects
syntactic bootstrapping
discovery of word meanings by observing how words are used in syntax or the structure of sentences
emergentist coalition model
word-learning strategies emerge out of children’s efforts to deciper language
telegraphic speech
focus on high-content words and omit smaller, less important ones
grammatical morphemes
small markers that change the meaning of sentences
overregularization
extension of morphological rules to words that are exceptions
recasts
restructuring inaccurate speech into correct form
expansion
elaborating on children’s speech
semantic bootstrapping
use word meanings to figure out sentence structure
turnabout
speaker not only comments but also adds a request to get another response
shading
speaker initiates a change of topic gradually by modifying the focus of discussion
illocutionary intent
what a speaker means to say, even if the form of the utterance is not perfectly consistent with it
referential communication skills
need to communicate clear verbal messages and recognize when messages we receive are unclear
speech registers
language adaptations to social expectations
metalinguistic awareness
the ability to think about language as a system
code switching
producing an utterance in one language that contains one or more “guest” words from the other
