Module 4 Flashcards
JUST Module 4 Notes (none from textbook yet)
What is language?
A system of signs and rules used to convey meaning in interactions with others, whereas communication is the exchanging of information.
True or False?
Language = Communication
False.
While language is a subset of communication, language ≠ communication. Communication is simply an exchange of information, which most organisms are capable of. Humans are the only species capable of using language.
What are the 3 key features of language?
1) Arbitrariness - signs don’t resemble what they stand for. For example, the sound of the word “chair” has nothing to do with an actual chair. The exception to this are onomatopoeias, words that phonetically resemble the sounds they describe (e.g., “oink”, “hiss”, “meow”).
2) Displacement - signs convey meaning in the absence of their referent. For example, I can talk about the cake I ate last weekend (even though it isn’t actually here) or the concert I’m going to next month (even though it hasn’t happened yet).
3) Generativity - potential to create an infinite number of sentences. For example, this sentence, written for the purpose of illustration today, has never been written verbatim before.
What are the 7 key components of language?
1) Phonemes
2) Morphemes
3) Semantics
4) Syntax
5) Grammar
6) Pragmatics
7) Meta-linguistic knowledge
What are phonemes?
Smallest speech sounds that indicate meaning. There are about 200 phonemes around the world, with 45 used in the English language. For example, the /c/ vs. /h/ sounds differentiate words like “cat” and “hat”.
What are morphemes?
The minimal meaningful unit of language. Free morphemes are stand alone words (e.g., “cat”). Bound morphemes must be used as part of a larger word (e.g., “s”). Think - how many morphemes does “unaided” have?
What are semantics?
The meaning system of language. For example, children need to come to understand that the word “cup” refers to all cups, not just their favorite one.
What is syntax?
The rules by which sentences are made. For example, rearranging one word in a sentence can alter the meaning.
What is grammar?
Encompasses syntax and morphology (forms of words).
What are pragmatics?
The context of language. For example, being able to adjust what is said depending on the social setting or the listener.
What is meta-linguistic knowledge?
The ability to think about language and talk about it. For example, we’re using language right now to learn about language!
How are both a human brain, and a human environment required for language development?
1) A Human Brain:
The human brain is unique in its capacity to learn language. No other species on the planet naturally develops anything approaching the complexity and generativity of human language. Interestingly, non-human species like Bonobos can be taught some components of language but lack the ability to use syntax and grammar. For example, they can be taught sign meanings and to produce some sign language, but cannot generate sentences effectively. In the human brain, language capabilities are usually (but not always) localized to the left hemisphere. For example, Broca’s area is associated with speech production, whereas Wernicke’s area is associated with language comprehension. As shown in the figure below, however, we now know that many areas of the brain work together to contribute to language production and understanding.
2) A Human Environment
Infants will acquire the language that is spoken within their environment (think: what kind of plasticity is this?). More specifically, social interactions are required to learn language. There is no evidence that infants can acquire language solely from watching TV or listening to the radio.
Have you ever noticed that “baby talk” that caregivers often use when speaking to their babies (or even to their fur-babies)? Exposure to this infant-directed speech in the environment also contributes to language development. The highly intonated and affectionate tone used in infant-directed speech draws infants’ attention - indeed, research shows they prefer listening to this type of speech than regular language. In turn, this focus is thought to promote language development and aids in helping infants segment words in the speech stream.
Adults perceive speech sounds ___________.
Categorically.
(The “b” sound is categorically different than the “p” sound. )
Why do we actually hear different sounds than a native speaker of that language hears?
This is due to categorical speech perception.
For example, native English speakers easily perceive the difference between /L/ and /R/ sounds. For native Japanese speakers, however, these sounds are perceived to be the same because of cateogorical speech perception. Those /L/ and /R/ sounds are not present in Japanese language, so the brains of native Japanese speakers have not been trained to distinguish these sounds.
True or False?
In early development, infants can discern differences among ALL phonemes of the world’s languages.
True.
(But this ability sharply declines between 6-12 months. This form of perceptual narrowing is best explained by Dr. Janet Werker and her research on infant language development - see video in Module 4.1.)
What is word segmentation?
The ability to learn where divisions between words exist in the speech stream.
How do infants figure out where each word begins and ends?
Statistical detection mechanism - In other words, infants are able to perceive statistical patterns in words to help learn segmentation.
How did Dr. Jenny Saffran’s study design (on how infants figure out where words begin/end) examine word segmentation?
This study design allows the researchers to focus on transitional probabilities among speech sounds. For example, notice that the “pa” sound is always followed by “bi” . The study was designed so the transitional probability within words = 1.
In contrast, the transitional probably between words = .33. Notice that the sound “ku” is followed a third of the time by “ti”, a third of the time by “go”, and a third of the time by “da”.
Thus, the ONLY cue the infants have to understand word segmentation are these transitional probabilities.
What did Saffran and colleagues find in their study on how infants figure out where words begin & end?
After habituation, the infants were randomly divided into two test conditions:
1) Infants heard one of the original words played over and over (e.g., pabikupabikupabiku…)
2) Infants heard a new “word” played over and over. The new word was a mix of syllables from the original four words, so no new sounds were introduced (e.g., “pigolapigolapigola…”).
They found that the infants exhibited longer listening time for the new word. The only way the infants could notice this difference was if they noticed how frequently the sounds occurred together.. Thus, babies are sensitive to transitional probabilities in words, and they can use this information to segment the speech stream!
Infants learn to discriminate words in the speech stream through:
a) Noticing statistical patterns in the transitional properties of speech sounds
b) Exposure to infant-directed speech
c) Wernicke’s area
d) Both A and B
d) Both A and B
Izzy, a 5-month-old baby, lives with her English-speaking family. She can discriminate between speech sounds in Japanese language that her 3-year-old brother cannot.
a) Perceptual narrowing
b) Use of infant-directed speech
c) Developmental changes in Broca’s area
d) Developmental changes in Wernicke’s area
a) Perceptual narrowing
Before they have words, infants communicate using _________ and _______.
vocalizations, actions.
In infants, one of the first communication-related behaviours that develops is ____________.
turn-taking.
(Pre-speech infants start to understand the back-and-forth nature of communication through games like Peek-a-boo, which lays the foundation for later back-and-forth verbal communication.)
Around _____ months old infants typically begin to start babbling.
(Babbling consists of syllables made up of a consonant sound and a vowel “paw”.)
True or False?
Babbling has both nature and nurture influences.
True.
What are the nature influences on babbling?
Evidence for brain maturational influences:
Generally universal onset - that is, almost all babies will babble.
Initial babbling sounds very similar across the world (even though we speak different languages).
Initial sounds aren’t affected by modelling or selective reinforcement.
Babbling happens even when caregivers cannot hear (and even if baby cannot hear themselves!).
What are the nurture influences on babbling?
Evidence for experiential influences:
Eventually, babbling sounds become more like the native language children are exposed to.
This includes sign language. As you can see in the video here, deaf babies will babble using signs. Think - is this an example of experience-dependant or experience-expectant plasticity?
