Language I & II Flashcards
Vervet monkeys have different alarm calls for:
- Eagles, Snakes, Leopards
- Birds like the Manx Shearwater recognize the calls of their mates
- Insects communicate too
Symbolic Language
words are used to refer to things
Physical things (e.g., “dog” and “book”)
Abstract things like ideas and concepts
E.g. “object permanence”
Generative Language
a finite set of sounds is used to express infinite concepts
Structure at every level
Sounds (phonemes)
Unit of meaning (words)
How words are combined (syntax, grammar)
Social rules about language use (pragmatics)
Language Development
Language is acquired easily by infants and young children better than adults
- Does not require explicit instruction
Universal pattern of language development
every human culture has (at least one) language
The same stage-like development is seen across languages
- Even though there are large cultural differences in how adults talk to children
Stages of language development
6-9 months - babble
12 months - 1 word
18 months - 2 words
36 months - complex grammar
- Ages are approximate, but the order is fixed
Speech Perception (Listening to Language)
Infants can discriminate different languages as soon as we can test them (right after birth!)
- Newborns prefer the language they heard in utero
Language learning starts before birth! - Suckle more to their native language
Different suckling rates to their native language vs non-native language
Newborns can detect a change in languages
Infants habituated to Russian suckle more when they hear French
Newborns can tell the difference between languages
How do infants perceive the sounds that languages are built from?
- Phonemes
“Bah” and “Pah”
Different voice onset times
Discriminating Phonemes
- For adults, speech perception is categorical. By 1 month of age, speech is categorical for infants too!
- Adults are unable to hear differences between phonemes that are not used in our native language(s)
- Infants are born able to discriminate ALL human speech sounds (phonemes)
Experience with speech sounds in their native language(s) shapes what infants hear
What kind of experience matters for phoneme discrimination?
Live social interaction with sounds and visuals
Number of words infants can say increases with age
- Increase in vocabulary growth, about 18 months
- Lots of individual variability
Looking While Listening Paradigm Experiment
- tested 6-to-9-month olds (not saying words yet)
-Looking While Listening: Paired-Picture: - “Where’s the apple?”
Looking While Listening: Scene:
- “Where’s the banana?”
Results:
Paired Picture Trials:
Infants looked longer at the target picture when they heard the word
Scene Trials:
Infants looked longer at the target picture when they heard the word
Looking While Listening
- Parents reported that the 6-to-9-month old infants did not produce any of the words tested in the study
- But, infants looked longer at the target picture when they heard the word
- Infants as young as 6 months old understand the meaning of words, even though they cannot talk (yet)!
Domain-General Learning Theories - B.F. Skinner (Behaviorism)
Associative mechanisms
Adults reinforce babbling that sounds like words
Approval
Approval witheld until children combine words into primitive sentences
And so on…
More modern versions:
Infants imitate adult speakers
Memorize words and sentences
Reproduce memorized material
Domain-Specific Learning Theories - Chomsky
Specialized language learning mechanism
Language Acquisition Device (LAD)
Evidence Against Domain General Theories
Children produce entirely novel utterances
- “Allgone cookie”
- “It broked”
Unlikely to have overheard adults say them
Suggests children can’t simply be imitating adults
Evidence Against Domain General Theories: Grammatical Rules
Children apply the rules of language to novel words
Using “wugs” for more than one “wug”
Children’s mistakes can reveal the rules they have learned
Overregularization:
- Applying a grammatical rule in situations where it does not apply
- Grammatical Rule: add “-ed” for past tense in English BUT, there are irregular verbs like “went”
Young language learners apply the rule anyway: “goed”
Another Problem for Domain General Theories: Too Many Possible Meanings
- Category
- Individual
- Part
- Color/Pattern
- State of mind
= Too Many Possible Meanings: The “Gavagai” Problem, “The whole object assumption”
Whole object assumption:
assume that a word refers to the whole object, not just a part or feature, Children use language rules to solve the “Gavagai” problem
Mutual exclusivity assumption:
assume that objects have only one label
- If there are two objects present, and you already know the word for one, then the new label probably refers to the unfamiliar object
- If there is only one object present, and you already know the word for that object, then the new label probably refers to a feature of the object
Language Learning Rules
Toddlers use social cues like adults’ gaze and emotional expressions to learn which object a novel word refers to
Gaze: learn a novel word for the object the adult is looking at
Emotional expressions: use emotional expressions to determine which object a speaker is referring to
Evidence Against Domain General Theories: Critical/Sensitive Periods
Case Study - Genie: extreme case of deprivation (social and language)
- Suffered extreme isolation and abuse; not exposed to language
- Discovered at 13
- Never acquired full grammar; lacked pronouns and question words
Ex: “Mike paint. Applesauce buy store. Neal come happy; Neal not come sad.”
Case Study - Isabelle:
- Escaped imprisonment at 6 and a half years old
- Within 18 months, her language was normal for her age
Ex: “Why does the paste come out if one upsets the jar? What did Miss Mason say when you told her I cleaned my classroom?”
Second Language Learning
- Learning a second language is easier when you are younger
- Grammar scores of immigrants vary based on age when they arrived
Earlier = better, before age 8, like native-speakers - Children who arrive later (& adults) can learn a second language, but won’t sound like native-speakers
Learning Language Without Speech
Some features of babbling in deaf children but with signing
Language does not need speech to express itself, it will always find its way out
Sign Language Myths
There is NO universal sign language
Sign languages ARE true languages
Gesture Iconicity: Perceived Similarity w/ Meaning
Some signs are iconic:
Perceived similarity between the sign and its meaning (non-arbitrary)
Others are non-iconic:
No perceived similarity between the sign and its meaning (arbitrary)
Iconicity in Sign Languages
Researchers looked at infants with deaf parents and coded their first 10 signs to see whether they were more likely to be iconic
3 of 10 signs were iconic on average
Followed up at 18 months and looked at which percentage of the infants’ signs were iconic
33% of signs were iconic on average
Iconicity is not necessary and is not necessarily easier to learn
Homesign:
Gesture-based communication system that has properties of language:
- Consistent grammar
- Structured word order
- Different from what parents are doing (generated by the child)
infants who are deaf and born with hearing parents create homesign systems
Creating a Language Together: Emergence of Nicaraguan Sign Language
Homesign systems - first cohort - second cohort - third cohort
First Cohort:
Started late 70s/early 80s
50 pioneers create language
Signs relatively big, slow, iconic
Second Cohort:
Started mid-80s
About 400 signers to learn from
Still bigger signs, more two-handed signs
Third Cohort:
Started mid-90s and later
About 800+ signers to learn from
Fast, fluent
Talk about non-here and now
Natural human language
Social interaction builds true languages!
How Do Children Learn Language Summary
- Domain-specific learning mechanisms
- Rules and structure guide language learning
- Critical/sensitive periods for language development
- A universal pattern of development
- Children are “born to talk”
Language is broader than speech:
- Sign language
- Emergence of novel languages without models
- Social interaction builds true languages
