Test 1 Flashcards
Definition of Communication
The primary function of language
The process of exchanging information and ideas (needs & desires)
An active process that involves encoding, transmitting, and decoding messages
Encoding
The first step the sender is faced with. Uses encoding in order to convey meaning (symbols are used to encode ideas into messages that OTHERS can understand); this process translates info into a message in the form of symbols that represent ideas / concepts.
Transmitting
To begin transmitting the message, the sender uses some kind of channel (also called a medium).
Decoding
conducted by the receiver. Once the message is received and examined, the stimulus is sent to the brain for interpreting, in order to assign some type of meaning to it. It is this processing stage that constitutes decoding. The receiver begins to interpret the symbols sent by the sender, translating the message to their own set of experiences in order to make the symbols meaningful. Successful communication takes place when the receiver correctly interprets the sender’s message.
Paralinguistic Aspects
Suprasegmental Devices)-
Why are Paralinguistic mechanisms called suprasegmental devices?
Paralinguistic mechanisms are called Suprasegmental devices because they can change the form & meaning of a sentence by acting across elements, or segments, of a sentence.
Examples of Suprasegmental Devices
Intonation: the use of pitch. The most complex. Stress: For emphasis Rate Pauses Pitch, pauses, and rhythm
Examples of Nonlingusitc Aspects
Gestures Body posture Facial expression Eye contact Head and body movement Physical distance or proximity
What are Metalinguistic skills?
Metalinguistic skills are the abilities to talk about language, analyze it, think about it, judge it, and see it as an entity separate from its content.
Examples of Metalinguistic skills
Phonological awareness:Phonemic awareness refers to the specific ability to focus on and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words. Phonemes are the smallest units comprising spoken language.
Grammatical judgment
Ambiguity:
Word awareness: is the knowledge that words have meaning.
The pre-linguistic stage
Infants are pre-wired” for communication. They focus on their mother’s eyes during feeding, have a preference for the human voice, and demonstrate complex facial expressions.
Within the first year of life, infants…
can discriminate phonemes and intonation patters. can tell speech from non-speech. They coo.
When is the first social smile?
3-6 weeks
Proto-conversations
An interaction between an adult (typically a mother) and baby, that includes words, sounds and gestures, that attempts to convey meaning before the onset of language in the child
Joint Reference
Reference is the ability to differentiate one entity from many and to note its presence.
Joint Reference: presupposes that two or more individuals share a common focus on one entity
Joint Action
Throughout the 1st year of life, a caregiver & infant develop shared behaviors in familiar contexts.Joint action: routine action that provides structure within which language can be analyzed. From this, the child learns turn-taking & conversational skills.
When does facial imitation begin?
4-6 months
3 developmental stages of early communication intentions
o Behaviors are undifferentiated & unknown (1-8 months)
o Use of gestures &vocalizations to express intent(8-12 months)
o Use of words to convey intentions(12 mos+)
Paralinguistic
the aspects of spoken communication that do not involve words. Ex)intonation, stress, rate, pauses
Presupposition
Even at the single-word stage, a child has some knowledge of the information to be included in a conversation, giving evidence of presupposition. It’s the assumption that the listener knows or does not know certain information that a child, as speaker, must include or delete from the conversation.
What is language?
A socially shared code or conventional system for representing concepts
The use of arbitrary symbols and rule governed combinations of those symbols
Dialects
Generative system aka Nativist approach
Children are able to acquire language because they are born with innate rules or principles related to structures of human languages.
Generativists assume that it is impossible for children to learn linguistic knowledge from the environment given. The input children hear is limited & full of errors & incomplete information. Even with these limitations, children are still able to acquire the linguistic knowledge quickly because of the guidance of innate linguistic hypotheses.
Language Components
Form, Content, Use
Form
Phonology, Morphology, Syntax
Content
semantics
Use
Pragmatics
Linguistic competence
A language user’s underlying knowledge about the system of rules. Even though the user can’t state the rules, performance demonstrates adherence to them.
Linguistic performance
Linguistic knowledge in actual usage.
5 aspects of cognitive development important for language
- Imitation
- Object permanence:Seen when infants search for a missing object. It’s knowing that an object exists even when it is not readily visible.
- Causality: The relation of cause and effect?
- Means-Ends:
- Play
Toddler Productive Vocabulary
• Growth of productive vocabulary to about 50 words
Child’s productions are ___________ of adult’s productions
approximations
Categories of toddler’s lexicon:
- Animals, food and toys
- Co-ordinates
- People and animal within the child’s environment
- Words represent individual objects
Nouns account for _____ of toddler vocabulary
60-65%
modifier
• Modifier- is a word, phrase, or clause which functions as an adjective or an adverb to describe a word or make its meaning more specific.
There is a vocabulary spurt from _____ months.
18-24 months
How many words a day do infants add to their lexicon?
10-20 new words per day