language development

Question 1

what are the 2 areas of the brain associated with language acquisition?

Answer 1

broca’s area-production of language

wernicke’s area-comprehension

Question 2

what does an MRI show

Answer 2

oxygen and hence blood flowing into certain points of the brain when asked to complete a task e.g. language

Question 3

categorical speech perception

ba pa

Answer 3

whether you produce ba or pa depends on the time you close your mouth after the sound started in your vocal cords
when we listen to words, we dont hear them on a continuum but as 2 separate sounds

Question 4

eimas 1980
categorical speech perception
procedure and result

Answer 4

dv sucking rate
babies habituated to ba and not pa
babies regained interest when the stimulus changed to pa as they have noticed the difference

Question 5

mehler+dupoux 1980s
sensitivity to mother tongue
procedure

Answer 5

dv sucking rate

a bilingual french-russian person tells a story to infants while sucking in both languages

Question 6

mehler+dupoux 1980s
sensitivity to mother tongue
result

Answer 6

french babies preferred listening to the story in french and visa versa
sucking rates increased for own language

Question 7

mehler+dupoux 1980s
sensitivity to mother tongue
conclusion

Answer 7

4 day old babies have preference for native tongue

Question 8

werker+tees 1984

sensitivity to speech sounds

Answer 8

infants tune into the speech sounds characteristic of their native language
at birth babies can discriminate about 600 speech sounds, when they get to 5 months, this drops to 50

Question 9

werker+tees 1984

sensitive to motherese

Answer 9

dv: head turns
infant sits on mothers lap
speaker either side
one plays motherese-high pitched simple words by lady
one plays dull, monotone speech
turn head right to here motherese, babies have to learn this rule

Question 10

werker+tees 1984
sensitive to motherese
conclusion

Answer 10

by using speech contours,the frequency composition of words are predictive of where words+sentence begin/end, babies can easily detect the ends of words/sentences,

Question 11

stages of language acquisition

Answer 11

12 months-single words
14 months- two word utterances
2-5yrs- language develops into complex sentence
4- we produce plurals+ other forms of speech
by 5- speaking almost as an adult would

Question 12

stages of language acquisition

strong language for biological timetable

Answer 12

all speakers of all languages go through these stages regardless of the environmental input

Question 13

pinker 1994

stages in language acquisition

Answer 13

the first 50 or so words all infants learn tend to be of the same kind; 
common object names
some first names
words for simple actions
phrases "dont know"
"i hungry"

Question 14

hirsh-pasek et al 1983

stages in language acquistion

Answer 14

infant sits with 2 screens either side and a speaker in the middle, one screen corresponds with the speaker “look look, cookie monster took big bird away”
by 18 months, babies reliably look for longer at matching video

Question 15

stages in language acquisition

wug

Answer 15

show a picture of a made up bug
ask children what would you call 2 of them?
2 yr old- fail the task
4yr old- wugs, generate correct plural without knowledge

Question 16

language learning in deaf children

intro

Answer 16

• many have parents that will encourage lip-reading as opposed to sign language as they don’t know it
• have no environmental input

Question 17

language learning in deaf children

goldin-meadow et al 1978+1984

Answer 17

10 subjects
tested at 1 and 4
at 1 yr- spontaneous production of gestures
2yrs- production of sequence of gestures

Question 18

language learning in deaf children
goldin-meadow et al 1978+1984
conclusion

Answer 18

up until 2 years, linguistic development is in line with TD timetable but afterwards no further linguistic abilities, they require environmental input.

Question 19

language learning in blind children

intro

Answer 19

does learning language require visual experience?
how do they learn non-tangible items e.g. cloud
verbs are said to require visual experience

Question 20

language learning in blind children

landalt+gleitman 1985

Answer 20

“look up”
blind child responded by raising hands
sighted+blindfolded responded by looking up

Question 21

language learning in blind children
landalt+gleitman 1985
conclusion

Answer 21

blind and sighted share a representation for “look” that means “perceive”
biological basis

Question 22

what is the nurture debate

Answer 22

environmental influence on language acquisition

Question 23

language learning in extreme deprivation
davies 1947
isobelle

Answer 23

isolated until 6
no linguistic input until after 6th birthday
low IQ and linguistic skills=2 yr olds
after intense exposure, language abilities caught up to fellow peers

Question 24

language learning in extreme deprivation
curtiss 1977
genie

Answer 24

isolated until 13 yrs
no linguistic input until after 13th birthday
even with intense exposure, language developed was never typical

Question 25

language learning in extreme deprivation

conclusions

Answer 25

maturation state and environment are both important in language acquisition
those who learn 2 languages early in life do not get affected by exposure in early life

Question 26

sensitive period to learning language

Answer 26

6-13 yrs

Question 27

second language acquisition

johnson+newport 1989

Answer 27

native chinese+korean migrated to the US
tested after 5 yrs of exposure to English
age of acquisition varied
listening task; identify grammatically correct and incorrect sentences
exposure before 7- same as native
exposure after 7- worse outcome

Question 28

evidence for nature debate
pinker 1994
pidgin+creole

Answer 28

different slaves put together and developed pidgin (strings of words put together for basic communication with poor grammar and word order)
kids in contact with pidgin develop creole, by 4-7, this language is complex and grammatically correct

Question 29

poverty of the stimulus hypothesis

Answer 29

we unconsciously generate grammatically correct sentences without instruction
e.g. children learn “know” by sentences such as
“you know auntie mary right?”
“do you know where your teddy is?”