lecture 5: language development Flashcards
what is the age range for the high amplitude sucking procedure
infants from birth to 4 months of age
what does the high amplitude sicking procedure capitilzie on
infants sucking reflect
explain the high amplitude sucking procedure
infants hear a sound stim evertyime they produce a strong/high amplitude suck on a pacifier
the number of strong sucks is an indicator of the infants interest
(more strong sucks=more interest)
what is the number of sucks mean in the high amplitude sucking procedure
the number of strong sucks is an indicator of the infants interest
(more strong sucks=more interest)
what are the 2 variations of the high amplitude sucking procedure
discrimination
preference
when/why is the discrimination high amplitude sucking procedure used
used to test whether infants can tell the difference between two auditory stimuli
variation of the habitutation paradign
true or false: the discrimination high amplitude sucking procedure is a variation of the habitutation paradign
true
explain the habituation phase for the discrimination high amplitude sicking procedure
each time infant produces a strong suck, a sound is played over the headphones
=continues until sucking has declined significantly (eg; BY 20%)
explain the test phase for the discrimination high amplitude sicking procedur
hear new speech stimuli everytime produces a strong suck
=if can distinguish between stim, sucking behavior should increase
in the discrimination high amplitude sicking procedure, what will happen to sucking behavior if they can distinguish between stimuli
shucking behavior should increase
when is the preference high amplitude sucking procedure used
to test infants prefence for stimuli
explain the preference high amplitude sicking procedure
2 diff stimular are played on alternating minutes each time a strong suck is produced
(ex: minute 1= stim A, minute 2= stim B etc)
number of strong sucks produced during presentation of each stim is compared
what is preference indicated by during the high amplitude suckin procudere
infants suck more during one stimulus type than the other
using high amplitude sucking paradigms, research has shown what three things about preference
1) prefer to listen to speech sounds over artificial sounds
2) prefer mothers voice over other women
3) prefer to listento native language vs other language)
what does the fact that
1) prefer to listen to speech sounds over artificial sounds
2) prefer mothers voice over other women
3) prefer to listento native language vs other language)
suggest
suggests that language learning starts in the womb
what does speech perception rely on
perceviging differences between speech sounds
ex: /a/ is different than /e/ and /i/
explain what categorical perception of speech means
we tend to perceive speech sounds as distinc categories even though differences between speech sounds is gradual
what distinguishses similar speech sounds
voice onset time (VOT)
what is voice onset time
leangth of time between when air passes through the lips and when the vocal cords start to vibrate
understnd the example of the /t/ to /d/ continum
and the example /b/ to /p/
,
why is categorical perception of speech useful
because focusses listerners on sounds that are linguistically meaningful while ignoring meaningless differences
ex: difference between a 10ms VOT /b/ vs 20ms VOT /b/ is meaningless in english
what was the main question of the infant categorical perception of speech study done by Eimas
do infants perceive the same speech categories as adults
what was the age of the study by Eimas (same speech categories as adults)
1 month infants
what paradigm did they use in study by Eimas (same speech categories as adults)
high amplitude sucking paradign to test discrimination between /ba/ and /pa/
what were the two test groups in the study by Eimas (same speech categories as adults)
1) different speech spunds: infants habituated to /ba/ (20 ms VOT) and then tested with /pa/ (40 ms VOT)
2) same speech sounds: infants habitatued to 60 ms VOT /pa/ and then tested with 80 ms VOT /pa/
in the study by Eimas (same speech categories as adults), if infants can distinguished between pa/ba what should we expect to see
increase in sucking when hearing new speech sound
what were the results in the difference speech sounds group in the study by Eimas (same speech categories as adults)
increased sucking when sound from new category /pa/ was played (they perceived them as diff sounds)
what were the results in the same speech sounds group in the study by Eimas (same speech categories as adults)
no change in sucking when sound came from same category /pa/
=do not perceive 2 sounds as difference
what was the conclusion of the study by Eimas (same speech categories as adults)
newborns have same categorical perception of speech as adults
true or false: newborns have same categorical perception of speech as adults
true and be able to explai nwhy (eimas study)
do infants make more or less distrinctions between speech sounds than adutls
more
what is the difference between infants and adults in tersms of making sound distrinctions
infants make more distinction between speech sounds than adutls
adults do not perceive differences between speech sounds that are not imprtant in their native language
give an example for how adults do not perceive differences between speech sounds that are not imprtant in their native language
in english, difference between r and k is meaningful but not in japanese
in arabic, the difference between k sound in keep and cool is meaningful but not in english
in the classic study done by Werker (cross language speech perception), what age was tested
tested 6 month olds american infants learning infants
what paradign was used in in the classic study done by Werker (cross language speech perception)
high amplitude sucking paradign to see if they can discriminate between hinda Ta and ta
what were the results of in the classic study done by Werker (cross language speech perception)
after habituatuating to one of these hindi sounds, increased sucking when heard other speech sounds
ie: if habituated to /Ta/ then increased sucking when tested with /ta/
what are the implications of the fact that children were apply to distinguish between hindi /ta/
infants discriminate between speech sounds they have never heard before (ie; speech sounds not found in their native langiuage)
infants are biologically ready to learn ant of the worlds languages
when do infants lose the ability to discriminate between non-native speech sounds
10-12 months
what is an example of perceptual narrowing of speech perception
infants lose the ability to discriminate between non-native speech sounds at 10-12 mnths
(improves perception of speech sounds in native language)
why is the fact that infants lose the ability to discriminate between non-native speech sounds at 10-12 mnths important
it improves their perception of speech sounds in their own native language
what is word segmentation
discovering where words begin and end in fluent speech
when does word segmentation begin
7 months of age
explain the study of juscyk and aslin about word segmentation
7 month old infants listenened to speech where a word was repeated
(ex: the cup was bright. the clown drank from the cup. cup was filled)
then tested if they recognized the repreated word using preferential listening procedure
what type of procedure did they use for the study of jucyk and aslin abot word segmentation
preferential listening procudeure
understand the preferential listerning procedure for the word segmentation
.
explain the preferential listening procedure
speaker on either side of infants head
when looks at speaker, a recording of speech plays (different speech from each speaker)
how long an infant spends looking in a particular direction/listening to a particular sound indicates how much the like it
(will look longer at sounds they recognize)
what does how long an infant spends looking in a particular direction/listening to a particular sound indicates
how much the like it
(will look longer at sounds they recognize)
what were the results of study of jucyk and aslin abot word segmentation
infants listened longer to words that had been repeated in the speech vs words that did not occur in passage
indicates that infants were able to pull out words from stream of speech
what does the fact that infants listened longer to words that had been repeated in the speech vs words that did not occur in passage indicate
indicates that infants were able to pull out words from stream of speech
true or false: just because 7 month olds can do word segnmentation, they understand the definition of it
false,
how do infants “find words in speech
through picking up on patterns in native lnaguage
1) stress-patterning
2) distribtuion of speech soudns
true or false: different langauges place stress on diff parts of the word
true
in english, which syllable is stressed
first
in french ,which syllable is stressed
last
at what age do infants rely on stress patterminig to pick out words in speech
8 months
true or false and why
at 10 months, infants rely on stress patterning to pick out words from speech
false, 8 months
give an example of stress pattering
for an example, english schildren will know that between stresses of syllabled (frist) distinguishes words
sounds that appear together are likely to be what
words
sounds that dont appear together are likely to be what
boundaries between words
understand the example of happy baby in terms of distribution of speech sounds
ba and by occur together often because make the word baby
ha and ppy occur together because make the word happy
ppy and ba occur less often because they dont make a word and many different words can come before baby and after happy
what do newborns use to pick out words
distributional properties
what occuers first, speech patterning or distributional properties to pick out words
distributional properties (newborns)
then speech patterning (8 months)
what are the implications of unerstanding distribution of speech sounds
1) infants are born with some strategies to help make sense of language
2) may contribute to why infants learn language so fast
in summary, how is speech perception studied
with high amplitude sucking procedure and preferential listening paradigm
from birth, infants show what type of categorical perception of speech for sounds that are physically similar
adult like categorical perception
as they learn sounds of their native-language, infants lose what
the ability to distinguish between non-native sounds at 10-12 months
infants are sensotive to patterns of lamnguage and use it to what
segment words from speech beginning around 7 months of age
what age does cooing begin
2 months
what is cooing
drawn out vowel sounds like oooooh or ahhhhh
what does cooing help with
helps infants gain motor control over their vocalizations
and
elliciets reactions from caregivers leading to back and forth cooing with caregivers
what age does babbling sdtrat
7 onths (6-10)
what comes first, cooing or babbling
cooing
what is babbling
repetivive consonants-vowel syllable, like papapa and bababa
true or false: in babbling, speech sounds are not neceraily from native language
true
is infant babbling similar or diff across lnaguages
similar
explain babbling in deaf kids
deaf infants that are exposed to ASL babble with repetive hand movements made up of pieces of full ASL signs
(evidence that language exposure is critical for babbling)
what is the fact that eaf infants that are exposed to ASL babble with repetive hand movements made up of pieces of full ASL signs evidence of
that language exposure is critical for babbling)
what are the 2 main functions of babbling
social function
learnign function
what is the social function of babbling
practicing turn taking in dialogue
=infant babbbling elicits caregiver reactions which in turn elicit more babbling
=parent postivie raecation to babbling eleicits more babbling
what is the learning fucntion of babbling
signal that the infant is listtening and ready to learn
=infants learn more when an adult labels a new object just after they babble vs learning the word in absence of babbling
infants appear to understand high frequency words around what age
6 months of age
what was the study description to show that infants appear to understand high frequency words around 6 months of age
show infants pictures of common food and body parts and monitor where they look when one of the pictures is named (eye trackign)
explain the study that shows that infants appear to undrstand high freq words around 6 months
6 months old look to the correct picture more often than change
shows that infants understand more words than they can produce
shows that infants understand more words than their caregivers realize
what are first words
any specific utterance consistently used to refer to or express a meaning
why can first words be tricky to identify
babbling can actually sound like words (mamamam)
meaning of a first word can differ from its standeard meaning 0ex: gulgul reffering to turkey)
what age are first words usually produced
12 months (10-15)
true or false: first words are often misprnounced in predictable ways
true
explain how first words are often misprnounced in predictable ways
omit difficult parts of the word (banana becomes nana)
subsititude difficult sounds for easier sounds (rabbit to wabbit)
reorder sounds to put easy sound first (spaghetti to pasketti)
first words usualyl refer to what in infants
family members, pets, important objects
meaining of first words are very similar or different across cultures
similar
explain how first words are very similar across cultures
chart
what does that fact that first words are very similar across cultures suggest
suggests that infants around the world have similar interests and priorities
what are the limitations of first words
infants express themselves initially with only one word utterances so cannot clearly communicate what they want to say
what are 2 common limitations of first words
overextension
underextension
explain overextension and give example
using a word in a broader context than is appropaite
ex: dog referes to any 4 legged animal
explain underextension and give example
using a word in a more limited context than appropriate
ex: cat only refers to the familys pet cat
at what age do infants know 50 worsd
18 months
at 18 months, infants know bLANK words
50
what happens at 18 mtns of age to the vocab
vocabular spurt
what is a vocabulary spurt
rate of word learning accelerates
how do children learn words (broad)
children;s assumptions about language
social context (caregivers, peers, context)
what are the 7 chidlrens assumptioons when learning a new word
mutual exclusitivty
whole object assumption
pragmatic cues
adults intentionality
grammatical form
shape bias
cross sitautional word learning
what is the mutual excluvistiy assumption
a given object/being will only have one name
explain mutual exclusivity in action
a child will turn their attention to the object that they dont have a name for when they hear a new word
(billingual children will follow this rule less)
true or false: billingual children follow the mutual exclusivity assumtion less
true w
what is the whole-object assumtion
a word will refer to the whole object rather than to a part or action of the object
what are pragmatic cues
using the social context to infer the meaning of a word
explain adult gaze in respect to pragmatic cues
when an adult says a new word, the child assumes that it refers to the object the adult is looking at, even if the child cannot see it
explain adults intentionality
if an adult uses a word that conflicts with a childs word for that object, they will learn the new word if it is said with ocntext
explain grammatical form as an assumption
grammatical form of a word influecnes whether its interpreted as a noun, verb or adjective
understand the sibbing example for grammatical form
.
explain shape bias as an asusmption and understand dax example
children will apply a noun to a new object of the same shape, even if that object is very different in size, colour or texture
explain cross situational word learning
determining word meanings by tracking the correleatioons between labels and meanings across contexts
true or false; children vocab are not impacted by the vocabs of caregiverd
false
what are the carefiver factors that influence word learnign
infant directed speech
quantity of speech
quality of speech
what is infant directed speech
dsitrinctive mode of speech when talking to babies and toddlers (common in majority of cultures around the world)
what are the chracteritics of infant directed speech
greater pitch variability
slower speech
shorter utterances
clearer pronunciation
more word repitions
more questions
accompanied by exagerated facial expressions
what is the function of infant directed speech
draws infants attention to speech
(infants prefer IDS to regular speech even if in a non native language)
true or false: infants prefer IDS to regular speech
true
what does the fact that infants pay greater to IDS facilitate
facilitates their language learning
what age was the study done for IDS and early word recognition
7-8 month olds
what was the main question of teh IDS and early words recognition study
how long do infants look in tthe direction of the word introduced in IDS vs word introduced in adult speech
what is the IDS and early word recognition study
7-8 month olds were introduced to words either in:
infant directed speech or regular adult speech
recognition of words tested 24 hrs later using preferential listestning procedure:how long do infants look in tthe direction of the word introduced in IDS vs word introduced in adult speech
what were the results of the IDS and early word recognition study and what does that indicate
infants looked longer at words introduced in IDS than adult speech
indicates taht IDS faciliates recognition of words
true or false: regular speech facilitiates recognition of words
false, IDS does
does quantity of speech affect vocab size and explain
the number of words that children hear used around them predicts children vocab size (especailly in speech directed to child)
children taht hear more words have larger or smaller vocab
larger
does SES affect quantity of speech
a classic study found that parents SES predicts how much speech infants here
what was the method used for the SES and quantity of speech study
tested parents with their 7 month old children over 2.5 years until the children turned 3
=high, middle and low SES
=came to lab for an hour every week
=everything the oarent and child said was receorded and analyzed
what were the results of the SES and quantity of speech study
welfare children had less language exposure vs professional
=30 million world gap
true or false: children from high SES have smaller vocabs than kids from low SES
false, high SES have larger vocabs
what contributes to the achievement gap b/w higher and lower SES children
differences in language exposure potentially
often time vocab size is linked to language disorder, but what could be a different reason for vocab size
vocab size can be linked to SES rather than language disorder
true or false: quantiy only (not quality) affects child language ability
false, also quality
expplain how quality of speech affects language ability
richness of adult communication with their child predicts childrens language abnility
ex:
joint engagement
fluency
stressing and repeating new words
playing name games
naming an object when a toddler is already looking at it
what is an example of an intervention to close the word gao
grocery store intervention
explain the grocery store intervention
foccses on increasing amount of time parents spend talking to child
signs placed in grocery stores in low neighbourhoods encouraging parents to talk to their children about the foods in the store
parents icnrease quantity and quality of speech to their child
explain peer influence on language
placing preschool children with simialrly poor language ability in the same classroom negatively impacts their language growth
children have a better change to catch up on language ability if (peers)
1) placed with children with higher language ability
2) teacher uses rich communication with students
infants understand high frequency words at what age
6 months
when do children say their first words
12 months of age
true or false: childrens vocabs are higely influecned by social context
true
what age do children begin to combine words into short sentences
2 year of age
what happens at 2 years old in terms of langage
begin to combine words to form sentences
what is telegraphic speech
short utterances that leave out non-essential words
ex: mommy cake, thumb hurt
is telegraphic speech common in many languages
yes
what is grammar
the set of rules in a language for how words, phrases, and sentences go together
by what age do children master basic grammar
age 5
what happens at age.5 in terms of langauge
mastered basics of grammar
what does understanding grammar at 5 allow kids to do
allows children to express and understand more complex ideas
when do we know that children have learned the grammar of their language
when they can apply a grammatical rule to a new word/context
ExL adding s to make a word plural
overegularization errors
by what age do children understand to make wug plural
by 4 years old, correctly answer wugs
what doe the fact that children at 4 will says wugs (when we say there are two of them)
indicates that they have learned how to pluralize and cannot be attributed to imitation since “wug” is a new word
what are overregularization errors
speech errors in which children treeat irregular forms of words as if they were regular
what are overregularization errors evidence of
evidence that they have learned grammatical rules but not the exceptions to the rules
what are some examples of overregularzation errors
mans
goed
foots
breaked
branged
how is grammar learned
parents and other caregivers
picking up on pattersm
explain how parents and other caregivers help teach grammar
model grammaticallt correct speech but generally dont correct childrens grammatical errors
what was the study about how grammar is learnig (question)
can infants pick up on new grammatical patterns
what is the grammar learned study
habituated: to a list of 3 word sequences in which the second “word” is repeated (ABB) strctures
ex: le di di, wi je je
test: presented with new sentences with same structure (ABB) or with a diff structures (ABA)
ABB: Ko go ga vs
ABA: Ko ga ko
what were the results of the grammar learned study (ABB)
8 months old looked longer in direction of sentences with different structure
what is the fact that 8 months old looked longer in direction of sentences with different structure evidence of
evidence that infants can pick up on grammatical patterns after bried exposure
at what age do children initially struggle to engage in mutual converstation
1-4 years old
what are some examples that children intially struggle to engage in mutual convo
private speech (infants speech is often initially directed to themselves to organize actions)
egocentric discussion between children
by 5 years old, children are able to do what in terms of converstation/language
stick to the same conversation topic as their conversation partner
talk about the past
produce a narrative-begining, middle, end
can use emotional tone to “read betwee n the lines”
by the end of the 2nd yeras, infants can blank
produce 2-3 words sentences (length and complexity gradually increases)
by early preschool years, what are the main characterictcs of langauge
acquring the basics of grammar
extend patterns, like “add s to make plural”
overgeneraliztio
by age 5 children master basic grammar and begin to wake
engage in sustained convo
what is the main point of universal grammar hypothesis
humans are biologically programmed to learn language
what is the language acquisition device
contains an innate set of principles and rules that fovern grammar in all languages
who proposed the universal grammar hypothesis
noam chomski
true or false: the universal grammar hypothesis generally accepted by modern language theorists
true
what is the sensitvie period for language acquisition (time period)
period of growth from birth to before puberty (due to brain matturation0
what is the sensitive period for language acquisiton (defintion)
crucial period in which an individual can acquire a first language if exposed to adequate linguistic stimuli
true or false: languages are learned relatively easy during the sensitive period
true and full native competence is possible
what happens to language acquisition after the sensitive period
languages are learned with great difficulty and native like compentency is rare
what is evidence of the senstivity period and language acquisition
genie
explain genie explain
from 18 months old until she was rescrued at age 13, deprived of linguistic input
could barely speak (development also stunted in all other areas)
language ability never devlopped despite intensive training after age 13 (father take piece wood cry.
difficulty learning language may be due to inhan treatment rather than linguistic deprivation per se
what were the two groups of deaf adults in the evidence for the sensitive period study
2 groups
1) no exposure to language during early childhood
2) learned spoken language during early childhood
=both groups began learning ASL in school between ages of 9-15
what were the results of the evidence for the sensitive period study in deaf people
those with exposure to language in infancy, even though spoken, performed better on language tasks than those with no language exposure
explain the follow up stody for the evidence for the sensitive period study in deaf people
follow up study tested deaf adults that had exposure to ASL in earlt childhood
performance of deaf adults with early exposure to ASL was the same as deaf adults with exposure to spoken language
shows that exposure to language (regardless of modality), in infancy is critical for full language development
what is the summary of universal grammar hypothesis
humans are biologically programmed to acquire langauge
birth to before puberty is the sensitive period for what
language acquisition
explain how language dev is affected by both nature and nurture
nature (sensitive period) and nurture (language exposure is critical during this period)
what are the implications of the senstive periods
-deaf children should be exposed to sign language as soon as possible to develope native like ability
-second language profiency is related to first exposure to that language
=foreign language exposure at school should begin as early as possible to maximize opportunity to achieve native like ability
what percentage of canadians are english french billingual
17
what percentage of canadians first language is neither english nor french
20
what percentage of montrealers are english french biligual
55
what is the monolongial brain hypothesis
belief that infants are programmed to be monolingual and that they treat input in 2 diff languages as if it were one language (billinguialism stretches limited processing capacity of infantsO)
what are the implicates of the monoloingual brain hypothesis
if bilingual from birth, children will confuse their languages and could result in language dellays
true or false: the monolongiaul brain hypothesis is trur
false, its a myth
when does bilingual learning bein
in the womb
what was the study that shows taht bilingual learning begins in the womb
tested 2 groups of newbord infants (
=bilingual english tagalog and monolingual english mothers)
preferential high amplitude sucking procuedure
-exposed infrants to tagalog and english sentences
-measures the rate of sucking on a pacifier
-more intense sucking indicates preference for one langauge
what were the results of the bilingualism in the womb study
englsush monolongual newborns had a oreference for english
english-tagalog bilingual newbords had no preference for either language
suggests that bilingual infatnts start learning about 2 native langauges pre birth
what was the study for bilingualism in the womb study ABOUT DISCRIMINATION
Q: can bilingual infants differentiate betweent wo native langauges
study: tested 2 groups of newborn ifnants (bilingual english and tagalog and monolingual english mothers)
discrimination high amplitude sucking proceudre
habituationL both groups habituatied to enlgish or tagalog until sucking declined
test: hearing sentences in new languges
can they tell the difference teween old and new language
(if yes=will show increased sucking, if no=no change in sucking)
what were the reslts of the bilingual womb discrimination study
both bilingual babies and monolongual babies differentiated between tagalog and english
shows taht bilingual infants can differentiate between native languages despite showing similar preference for both languages
what do the womb discriminatuion study suggest
that bilingual infants are develippping two seperate language sytem
=goes against monolongual brain
what are the 2 aspectes of the two seperate linguistic systems
1) language development in biligual vs monolingual children is very similar
=say their word roughly at the same time
=have the same vocab size when considering both languages (smaller vocab in each seperately vs monolings)
2) children select language they use based on conversational partner
true or false: bilingual children perfect better on measures of executive finctioning and cognitive flexibility than monolingual children
true
what is the relationship between bilinguinalism and alzeimers
delay onset of alxeignmers in older adults
why is being bilingual beneficial
billingual individuals have to quickyl switch between languages, both in comprehension and production
serves as practice in cognitive flexibility
what are the implications of bilingualism
schools should support both native and non native language from a young age
