Language Files Chapter 8

Question 1

active construction of a grammar theory

Answer 1

Theory of child language which says that children acquire a language by inventing rules of grammar based on the speech around them.

Question 2

Articulatory gesture

Answer 2

A movement of a sp amounts of eech organ in the production of speech

Question 3

Attention getter

Answer 3

Word or phrase used to initiate an address to children

Question 4

Attention holder

Answer 4

A tactic used to maintain children’s attention for extended amounts of time

Question 5

Babbling

Answer 5

A phase in child language acquisition during which the child produces meaningless sequences of consonants and vowels. Generally begins around the age of six months

Question 6

Bilingual

Answer 6

State of commanding two languages; having linguistic competence in two languages. In machine translation, a system that can translate between only one language pair

Question 7

Canonical Babbling

Answer 7

The continuous repetition of sequences of vowels and consonants like mamama by infants; also called repeated babbling

Question 8

Child Directed Speech

Answer 8

Speech used by parents or caregivers when communicating with young chioldren or infants. In many western societies, child directed speech is slow and high pitched and has many repetitions, simplified syntax, exaggerated intonation

Question 9

Code-Switching

Answer 9

Using words or structural elements from more than one language within the same conversation

Question 10

Complexive Concept

Answer 10

A term used in the study of child language acquisition. A group of terms that a child refers to with a single word for which it is not possible to single out any one unifying property

Question 11

Conditioned head-turn procedure

Answer 11

ExpConnectionist Theoryerimental technique usually used with infants between five and eighteen months with two phases: conditioning and testing

Question 12

Connectionist Theory

Answer 12

Theory of language acquisition which claims that children learn language through neural connections in the brain

Question 13

Conversational Turn

Answer 13

The contributions 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 on to another speaker

Question 14

Critical period

Answer 14

Age span, usually described as lasting from birth to the onset of puberty, during which children must have exposure to language and must build the critical brain structures necessary in order to gain native speaker competence in a language

Question 15

Feral child

Answer 15

Child who grew up in the wild without care by human adults, often with animals

Question 16

First-Language Acquisition

Answer 16

The process by which children acquire the lexicon and grammatical rules of their native language.

Question 17

Foreign AccentFossilization

Answer 17

An accent that is marked by the phonology of another language or other languages that are more familiar to the speaker

Question 18

Fossilization

Answer 18

Process through which forms from a speaker’s non-native language usage become fixed (generally in a way that would be considered ungrammatical byh a native speaker and do not change, even after years of instruction

Question 19

High Amplitude Sucking

Answer 19

Experimental technique used to study sound discriminations in infants from birth to about six months

Question 20

Holophrastic Stage

Answer 20

Stage in first language acquisition during which children can produce only one word at a time

Question 21

Homesign

Answer 21

A rudimentary visual-gestural communication system

Question 22

Imitation Theory

Answer 22

Child language acquisition theory that claims that children acquire language by listening to the speech around them and reproducing what they hear.

Question 23

Infant directed speech

Answer 23

Speech used by parents or caregivers when communicating with young chioldren or infants. In many western societies, child directed speech is slow and high pitched and has many repetitions, simplified syntax, exaggerated intonation

Question 24

Innate

Answer 24

Determined by factors present from birth

Question 25

Language Mixing

Answer 25

Using words or structural elements from more than one language within the same conversation

Question 26

Linguistic Universal

Answer 26

Property believed to be held in common by all natural languages

Question 27

Neglected Child

Answer 27

A child who is neglected by caretakers, often resulting in significantly lower exposure to language as a child

Question 28

One word stage

Answer 28

Stage in first language acquisition during which children can produce only one word at a time

Question 29

Overextension

Answer 29

In the study of child language acquisition a relationship between child and adult perception of word meaning

Question 30

Overgeneralization

Answer 30

In the study of of child language acquisition, a relationship between child and adult perception of a word meaning

Question 31

Reinforcement Theory

Answer 31

Theory of child langauge 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.

Question 32

Relational Term

Answer 32

Type of relationship between adjective and noun reference where the reference of the adjective is determeined relative ot the noun referernece

Question 33

Repeated Babbling

Answer 33

The continuous repetition of sequences of vowels and consonants like mamama by infants; also called repeated babbling

Question 34

Second Language Acquisition

Answer 34

Acquisition of a second language as a teenager or adult

Question 35

Sequential bilingualism

Answer 35

Bilingualsim in which the second language is acquired as a young child

Question 36

Simultaneous Bilingualism

Answer 36

Bilingualism in which both languages are acquired from infancy

Question 37

Social Interaction Theory

Answer 37

Theory of language acquisition that claims that children acquire language through social interaction in particular with older children and adults

Question 38

Telegraphic stage

Answer 38

A phase during child language acquisition in which children use utterances composed primarily of content words

Question 39

Two-word stage

Answer 39

Stage in first-language acquisition at which children produce two word utternaces in addition to one word utterances

Question 40

Universal Grammar

Answer 40

The theory that posits a set of grammatical characteristics shared by all natural langauges. Also, the name of this set of shared characteristics