Lecture 7: language aquisition 2 Flashcards
What is Fast Mapping, and who first studied it?
- process whereby a child learns a new word very quickly, often after only one exposure to the word (Carey, 1978).
- Example: Children chose an olive-green tray when asked for the “chromium tray,” understanding it was not the blue one.
contextual repetition promotes word learning from storybooks (Horst, Parsons & Bryan (2011)
- Children who heard the same stories learned words significantly
better than children in the different stories condition - Children who heard the same stories also retained words
significantly better!
What makes word learning easier or harder in different contexts?
Easier:
* Pointing to an object rather than naming it (Gordon & McGregor, 2014).
* Selecting an object when no others are named (Axelsson & Horst, 2013).
Harder:
* Identifying a known object in an unfamiliar color (Perry & Saffran, 2017).
What are the three nested timescales influencing word learning?
- Immediate context: What the child is currently seeing or doing.
- Recent history: What the child just experienced.
- Developmental history: The cumulative knowledge the child has built up over time (Samuelson & Horst, 2008).
How does repetition enhance word learning?
- Repeated exposure helps children focus on finer details (Horst, Parsons & Bryan, 2011).
- Familiarity with repeated stories improves both immediate recall and long-term retention.
How does sleep impact word retention?
- Sleep consolidates memories and enhances word retention, especially when paired with story repetition (Williams & Horst, 2014).
What is canonical babbling, and why is it important?
- Canonical babbling is a sequence of consonant-vowel sounds (e.g., “ba-ba”).
- Predicts the onset of first words and productive vocabulary growth (Oller, 2000; McGilllion et al., 2017).
What are the defining characteristics of late talkers?
- Bottom 15th percentile for language at 24 months.
- Fewer than 50 words and no word combinations.
- Learn 3–5 words per week compared to 20 for typical learners (Rescorla, 2000).
What are potential outcomes for late talkers?
- Late Bloomers: Catch up to peers by school age (Capone Singleton, 2018).
- Developmental Language Disorder (DLD): Persistent delays leading to social and emotional challenges (Norbury et al., 2016).
What is overextension in early language development?
Extending a known word to describe unfamiliar items (Clark, 1978).
Types:
1. Categorical Relation: Grouping items by category (e.g., calling all four-legged animals “dog”).
2. Analogical Relation: Grouping by perception (e.g., calling a balloon “moon”).
3. Predicate-Based Relation: Relating objects based on co-occurrence (e.g., calling a doll bed “doll”).
What is telegraphic speech, and when does it appear?
- Early syntax in two-word sentences (e.g., “want cookie”).
- Lacks function words like “is” or “and.”
- Appears around 24 months.
What is morphology, and how does it develop?
- Morphology involves modifying words to change their meanings (e.g., adding “-s” for plurals or “-ed” for past tense).
- Children generalize and refine these rules as they grow.
What is overgeneralization in English past tense learning?
Applying regular grammatical rules to irregular verbs (e.g., “goed” instead of “went”).
Development follows a U-shaped pattern:
* Correct initial use (e.g., “went”).
* Overgeneralization (e.g., “goed”).
* Return to correct use (e.g., “went”).
What did Maslen et al. (2004) find about overgeneralization?
- A child overgeneralized 14% of irregular verbs.
- The most overgeneralized verb was “go” (“goed”), despite hearing “went” over 1,000 times.
What are the three phases of past tense learning?
- Correct Usage: Initial accurate imitation of irregular verbs.
- Overgeneralization: Applying regular “-ed” rules (e.g., “gived”).
- Correct Usage Restored: Relearning exceptions (e.g., “gave”).
