lecture 7 - Language Development 2

Question 1

Universal Grammar (UG) Hypothesis?

Answer 1

Humans are biologically wired to learn language.
Language Acquisition Device: Hypothetical brain mechanisms programmed with all specific grammar structures that is not language specific.

Question 2

Evidence for UG

Answer 2

Generative Nature of Language: We can produce sentences we’ve never heard before.
Overregularisation Errors
Many Languages are fundamentally similar
Infants recognise importance of speech (speech over other sounds)

Question 3

Language Brain Areas

Answer 3

Broca: Speech Sound Production
Wernicke: Speech Sound Understanding
Arcuate Fasciulus: Connects both areas
Motor Cortex: Controls muscle movements

Question 4

Sensitive Period for Language Acquisition

Answer 4

Birth-Before Puberty (whilst brain is still malleable)
During, Language acquisition is easy and thorough.

Question 5

Genie Case

Answer 5

Kidnapped and deprived of language from 18 months to 13 years, never fully developed language, although could be due to inhumane treatment.

Question 6

Brain Plasticity and Language Acquisition From TBI

Answer 6

Brain injuries in youth don’t usually stunt language Acquisition since other areas take over the functions due to Plasticity of brain regions, which is not present in adults hence why TBI have more pronounced effects.

Question 7

What was observed for deaf individuals and language acquisition?

Answer 7

Having any sort of language exposure, even brief or ALS is required for language development.

Question 8

What was observed for second language learners?

Answer 8

Language proficiency is associated with age of first exposure.

Question 9

Implications of Sensitive period for Language

Answer 9

Deaf children should be exposed to ASL as early as possible
Foreign language exposure should begin as early as possible

Question 10

Monolingual Brain Hypothesis (Myth)

Answer 10

Infant brains programmed to be monolingual so they treated bilingual input as if it were one language. Thus, Bilingualism at birth can confuse the child and lead to language development delays.

Question 11

What did a Preferential Sucking Task reveal about pre-birth language exposure?

Answer 11

Infants learn language before birth

Question 12

What did Discrimination Sucking Task reveal about pre-birth language exposure?

Answer 12

Bilingual infants can differentiate between both native languages

Question 13

Two Separate Linguistic System Theory

Answer 13

Two separate systems instead of one, no confusion

Question 14

Evidence for Separate Linguistic System Theory

Answer 14

Language development follow a similar timeline in mono and bilingual children.
Children can swap between languages for different conversations
Language Mixing in bilinguals is common and not solely attributable to Monolingual brain hypothesis

Question 15

Cognitive Advantages of Bilingualism

Answer 15

Bilingual children have better executive functioning
Bilingualism delays onset of Alzheimer’s (practice executive functioning by swapping rapidly between languages)