SL Dev Test 1 Vocab Flashcards
Communication
Sending and receiving information, ideas, feeling, or messages
Language
System of arbitrary, established symbols and rule-governed structures used for communication that change over time; conventionalized sounds, signs, gestures, or symbols that have shared and understood meanings
Receptive Language
Listening to and understanding what is communicated; the ability to comprehend a message
Expressive Language
Producing and conveying communicative messages through speaking, writing, signing, or gestures
Pragmatics
Component of language regarding the ability to functionally use language in social contexts; the rules for social language needed to establish and maintain relationships with others
Semantics
Component of language regarding the meaning and interpretation of language; the use of vocabulary to construct ideas through relationships between words
Morpheme
Smallest grammatical unit in a language that conveys meaning
Speech
Oral expression of language
Echolalia
Imitation or repetition of words, phrases, or whole sentences spoken by another person
Alveolar Ridge
Thickened bone protuberance on the roof of the mouth just behind the upper teeth
Suprasegmental
Features of speech, such as stress, pitch, and duration, that accompany individual speech sounds, words, and sentences
Vocal Auditory Channel
Hockett Design Feature 1: idea that standard human language occurs as a vocal type of communication in which air is forced through the vocal folds of the larynx, breaking the vibrating air stream into sounds of speech, which are organized into words and sentences and perceived through a listener’s ears
Broadcast Transmission
Hockett Design Feature 2: Idea that the sound of speech is heard in all directions but listeners interpret it as coming from one specific direction
Directional Reception
Hockett Design Feature 2: Listener can compare the loudness and timing of sound reaching each ear and can determine the direction from where the sound is coming
Rapid Fading
Hockett Design Feature 3: Speech signals are transitory and a listener can only receive specific auditory information at the time it is spoken
Interchangeability
Hockett Design Feature 4: Anything that people hear, they are also able to reproduce through spoken language
Total Feedback
Hockett Design Feature 5: Speakers have the ability to hear themselves speak, and through this, receive feedback allowing them to make constant adjustments so that output is as finely tuned as possible for conveying accurate thoughts. This feedback also provides control for the mechanics of speech so that speech errors are caught and corrected or even anticipated and avoided
Specialization
Hockett Design Feature 6: Idea that speech is a specialized human function (made apparent by the anatomy of human speech organs and the human ability to exhibit some control over these organs), is specifically designed for communication, and serves no other purpose
Semanticity
Hockett Design Feature 7: Ability to use human speech to convey particular messages, and the idea that speech is needed in most cases to ensure the specificity of messages
Indexicality
Pragmatic feature of language referring to the circumstances or context in which a communicative message takes place; situational context is important in establishing meaning in our communicative attempts
Arbitrariness
Hockett Design Feature 8: Idea that there is nothing inherent in a spoken word to account for its meaning, no limitation to what language can describe, and no explicit or necessary connection between sounds used and the message being sent
Discreteness
Hockett Design Feature 9: Idea that each language is limited to a finite or discrete number of sounds. Furthermore, each sound used in one or more human languages has very specific characteristics and can be placed in distinct categories that differentiate them from one another
Displacement
Hockett Design Feature 10: Human ability to refer to things in space and time and communicate about things that are not currently present
Productivity
Hockett Design Feature 11: Human ability to create an infinite variety of novel and unique messages from a previously existing finite collection of sounds
Duality of Patterning
Hockett Design Feature 12: The restricted number of sounds in a given language can be combined in an infinite number of ways to produce an infinite variety of words, which in turn are combined again to make meaningful sentences
Traditional Transmission
Hockett Design Feature 13: Idea that speech is instinctive in humans and the capacity for language acquisition is instinctive in humans and the capacity for language acquisition is genetic; however, the details of a language, including vocabulary and structural rules are learned
Recursion
Human ability to use acquired knowledge to create language, imagine what other may be thinking, engage in mental time travel to the past and the future, think about and gain understanding of self, and to relate to a divine being in the development and demonstration of spirituality
Prevarication
Ability of humans to intentionally deceive others in their communications
Reflexiveness
Human ability to use language to think and talk about language; also referred to as mentalinguistic ability
Learnability
Idea that learning occurs when people’s innate capacity for learning, a learning environment, and some stimulus for learning that comes from learners themselves are combined, suggesting that cognitive structures interact with experience to produce learning
Sound Waves
Fluctuation of pressure passed through some medium (ex. Air or water), composed of frequencies within the range of hearing
Wernicke’s Area
Region in the temporal lobe of the left hemisphere of the brain associated with language comprehension (receptive language)
Broca’s Area
Region of the frontal lobe of the left hemisphere of the brain associated with language production (expressive language), specifically the role of assigning and organizing the motor sequences for the sounds of speech
Arcuate Fasciculus
Bundle of nerve fibers that serves as the neural pathway to connect the expressive (Broca’s area) and receptive (Wernicke’s area) language areas to one another
Motor Cortex
Region of the cerebral cortex involved in the planning control, and execution of voluntary movements which sends the neural messages to carry speech and language information to the muscles involved in producing speech
Primary Motor Strip
Area in the frontal lobe of the brain, also known as the precentral gyrus or primary motor cortex, involved in the planning and execution of motor movements, including swallowing and speech
Mirror Neurons
Specialized neurons whose activity has been found to represent actions that can be used not only for imitating actions but also to recognize and determine differences in the actions of others; neurons that “mirror” the behavior of others, as though the observer itself were acting. It has been proposed that problems with the mirror neural system may underlie cognitive disorders, particularly in children with autism
Plasticity
Dynamic flexibility and adaptability of the human brain to change – physically, functionally, and chemically throughout life, and as individuals constantly learn
Self-Organizing Neural Network
Interconnected neural system, in which learning in one language domain, such as the sound system, cannot help but affect other language domains, such as grammar; network involved in the learning, soring, organizing, and retrieving of information
Naming Deficit
Brief period during which a child (typically 18-20 months) experiences shprt-term difficulty with word recall. Thought to occur due to the densely packed representations stored in memory during rapid vocabulary growth which produces competition in word selection, or because the child’s words are undergoing reorganization, causing confusion about words that have strong semantic relationships
Age of Acquisition Effect
As new learning occurs, this phenomenon allows the neural network to retain its plasticity and its stability in word representations so that word learning increases efficiently across time. This effect is associated with the tendency for words that are learned earlier to show faster retrieval during naming and reading tasks than words learned later
Language Acquisition Device (LAD)
Concept of the nativist theory of language that humans are born with the innate “device” for acquiring language
Transformational Generative Grammar
Linguistic theory, developed by Noam Chomsky, that attempts to account for the infinite number of grammatical sentences possible in a language. This theory suggests that languages is processed at two levels, deep and surface
Phrase Structure Rules
Universal rules for all languages, associated with Chomsky’s transformational grammar, that describes the underlying relationships of words and phrases
Deep Structure
In Chomsky’s transformational grammar, the underlying syntactic structure of a sentence generated by “phrase-structure rules”
Transformations
Nonuniversal rules or conventions that describe a language’s deep structure and surface structure
Surface Structure
In Chomsky’s transformational grammar, the outward form of a sentence, which is derived from deep structures by a series of transformations
Passive Transformation
Changing the surface structure of a sentence so that the grammatical subject receives the verb’s action; example: “The ball was hit by the boy.”
Operant
Any behavior whereby frequency can be affected by the responses following it
Reinforcement
Consequence used to cause a behavior to occur with greater frequency
Punishment
Consequence used to cause a behavior to occur with less frequency
Discriminative Stimulus
Stimulus, such as a cue, that provides information about what to do
Delta Stimulus
Signal indicating that reinforcement will not follow a particular response
Aversive Stimulus
Warning that there will be an unpleasant consequence for a particular behavior
Shaping
Developing a behavior through small steps that gradually approximate the target behavior
Chaining
Instructional procedure that involves reinforcing individual responses occurring in a sequence to form a complex behavior; organizational narrative structure that involves ordering events so that one even logically follows the preceding event
Classical Conditioning
Variation of conditioned learning in which an originally neutral stimulus is repeatedly paired with an unconditioned stimulus
Cross-linguistic Studies
Research about language or language development that looks for universal patterns among various languages
Telegraphic Speech
Simplified manner of speech during the early years of language acquisition using the most important content words for expressing ideas lacing appropriate grammar and inflection
Saliency
Perceptual relevance; a pronounced feature
Animate Nouns
Nouns that refer to living things
Inanimate Nouns
Noun that refers to nonliving things
Case Grammar
Semantic theory developed by Charles Fillmore to explain the importance and influence of semantics on the form of language; a form of generative grammar that describes the deep structure of sentences in terms of the relation of a verb to a set of semantic cases
Modality
Characteristics of sentences such as verb tense or the expression of negation or interrogation
Proposition
Characteristics of a sentence such as the relationship between nouns and verbs; the content of a meaningful, declarative sentence
Information Processing Theory
Theory that examines the sequence and execution of cognitive events, focusing on how individuals attend, encode, relate, store, and retrieve information, particularly for language acquisition purposes
Social Interactionism
Explanation of language acquisition in which both environmental and biological factors are important in the process; however, the role of social interaction between the developing child and linguistically knowledgeable adults is emphasized
Motherese
General style used by adults when talking to young children, often characterized by higher pitch, a “cooing” intonation, and simplified or shortened words
Locutionary Act
Producing an utterance using words via speaking, signing , or using assistive technology
Illocutionary Act
Purpose or motive underlying an utterance
Perlocutionary Act
Effect a locutionary act might have on a listener, which may or may not be consistent with the speaker’s communicative intention
Adaptions
Changes children make to their schemes in order to fit into and function within their environment when experiencing cognitive conflict, achieved through assimilations or accommodations
Organization
Natural tendency of the mine to organize information into related, interconnected structures, with a scheme being the most basic structure
Schema
Cognitive structure that helps children process, identify, organize, and store information
Assimilation
Cognitive process whereby a new stimulus is fitted into an existing schema
Accommodation
Cognitive process whereby new schemes are created for information that does not fit existing schemes
Equilibrium
Cognitive process to maintain a balance between existing schemata (assimilation) and the creation of new schemata (accommodation)
Perception
Process by which an individual selects, organizes, integrates, and interprets sensory stimuli
Distancing
Ability to use an abstract symbol or word to represent the real object. Languages is the way humans represent people, places, and things in thought and interactions.
Representation
Ability to think about things or use words without having to act on them directly
Object Permanence
Knowledge that objects exist in time and space even if you can’t see or act on them
Causality
Understanding that people, objects, or events can have an effect on other people, objects, or events
Means-Ends
Conceptual extension of causality; the understanding that there are ways (means) to attain a goal (end).
Imitation
Duplication of models one hears and sees
Delayed Imitation
More complex form of imitation whereby an action or behavior is repeated some time after the model
Play
Child-directed activities that provide children with opportunities for learning
Symbolic Play
A play activity in which objects or actions are used to represent other objects and actions
Babbling
Combinations of vowel – and consonant – like sounds produced without meaning
Zone of Proximal Development
Range of abilities a child can perform with assistance, but cannot yet perform independently
Scaffolding
Support given during the learning process that is tailored to the needs of the individual and gradually removed to promote independent learning
Shape Bias
Tendency of young children learning common nouns to generalize on the basis of shape, rather than material, color, or texture.
Joint Attention
Shared focus of two individuals (ex. caregiver and child) on each other or on an object or event: joint reference.
Controlled Attention
Capacity to maintain and hold relevant information, especially when there are internal or external distractions or interferences in the environment
Working Memory
System that actively holds and allows for the voluntary, focused, and exclusive processing and maintenance of task-relevant information
Theory of Mind
Cognitive ability to designate mental states – beliefs, intents, desires, knowledge, and so on – to oneself and others, and to understand that others have different mental states than oneself
