UNIT 1 Flashcards
What is Language?
- What constitutes “Language”
- How de we talk about it?
- How do we measure it?
- What are its parts?
- How do we Assess it?
- How do we teach it?
- There are many different theories of language
Theories of Language
- Chap 1 of VB Skinner presents various linguistic theories
- Linguistic theory can be classified into 2 general often overlapping views:
1) Biological, 2) Cognitive, 3) Environmental
1) Biological view: C&P argue that language is innate to humans & primarily result of Physiological processes & Functions & that language has little to do with environmental variables, such as reinforcement & stimulus control
- Brain -> words, phrases, sentences
- Nature vs nurture
Theories of Language
COGNITIVE
- Psychologists argue that language is controlled by Internal Cognitive processing systems tht Accept, Classify, Code, Encode & store Verbal info & Language has less todo with env variables such as reinforcement & Stimulus Control.
- Language is viewed as Receptive & Expressive & the 2 are referred to as Communicative Bx that is controlled by cognitive processors
- Cognition -> Words
- Cognitive & receptive-expressive framework Dominates current lang assessment & intervention prog for children with autism
How Language Measured in a Traditional Linguistic Analysis?
- The focus is on response forms, topography and structure
- Phonemes
- Morphemes
- Lexicon
- Syntax
- Grammer
- Semantics
- Mean of length of utterances (MLU): words, phrases, sentences
- Classification system: nouns, verbs, adj, adverbs etc
Skinner wrote the book verbal Bx due, in part, to a challenge by:
a) Noam Chomsky
b) Roger Brown
c) Alfred North Whitehead
d) Jean Piaget
c) Alfred North Whitehead
Skinner’s book Verbal Bx contained:
a) Empirical research on verbal Bx
b) An analysis of autism & language delays
c) A rebuttal to Noam Chomsky
d) A conceptual analysis of language
d) A conceptual analysis of language
The response form consists of:
1) Mands, tacts, phonemes & words emitted
2) Phenomes, morphemes, words and sentences emitted
3) Mands, tacts, intraverbal and echoic emitted
4) Grammer, autoclitics, syntax and semantics emitted
2) Phenomes, morphemes, words and sentences emitted
Skinner’s (1975) Book Verbal BX (Chap 1 of VB is titled “A Functional Analysis of Verbal Bx)
- Etymological sanctions & terminology in VB
- Language is Learned Bx under the functional control of env contingencies
- “What happens wen a man speaks/responds to speech is clearly a ques about human Bx & hence a ques to be ans with the concepts & techniques of psychology as an experimental science of Bx)
Skinner’s (1975) Book Verbal Behavior
“Bx reinforced through the mediation of other persons” (who are trained to do so)
- The speaker & the listener (total verbal episode) The speaker & listener can be the Same skin
- Our 1st responsibility is simple Description: wat is topography of this subdivision of human bx? 1ce tht ques has been ans in atleast a preliminary fashion we may advance to the stage called Explanation: wat conditions are relevant to the occurrences of Bx- wat are the variables of which it is a function?
Skinner’s (1957) Book Verbal Behavior
- The analysis of VB involves the same Behavioral principles 7 concepts that make up the analysis of nonverbal Bx. No new principles of Bx are required. There are some new terms
- In chap 2 of VB Skinner presents the independent & dependent variables of VB
The function of a verbal response consists of:
a) The relevant cognitive processes involved
b) The genetic predisposition to communicate
c) Environmental antecedents & consequences
d) A blend of cognitive & environmental variables
c) Environmental antecedents & consequences
Skinner’s (1957) Book Verbal Behavior
- “Technically, meanings are to be found among the independent variables in a Functional account rather than as properties of the dependent variable”
- What constitutes a “Unit” of Verbal BX
- “….a response of identifiable form functionally related to one or more independent variables
- Wat is the Unit of analysis in language?
Skinner’s (1957) Book Verbal Behavior
- A common misconception about Skinner’s analysis of Verbal Bx is that the he Rejects the traditional classification of language
- However, it is not traditional classification/description of the response he finds fault with, it is the Failure to account for the causes/function of the verbs, nouns sentences etc
- The analysis of How and Why one says words is typically relegated to the field of psychology combined with linguistics: hence the field of “Psycholinguistics”
- Skinner noted that “A service of bx does not arrive at this special field to find it Unoccupied
How is Language Measured in a Behavioral Analysis?
-The Verbal Operant in the UNIT of analysis e.g. Mands, Tacts & Intraverbals
MO/Sd -> Response -> Consequence
Skinner’s Analysis of Verbal Behavior
- The traditional linguistic classification of words, sentences and Phrases as expressive & receptive language Blends imp functional distinctions among types of operant Bx & appeals to cognitive Explanations for the causes of language Bx
- in chap 3-5 of Verbal Bx Skinner presents the “elementary verbal operants’
Skinner’s Analysis of Verbal BX
- All the core of Skinner’s analysis of verbal bx is the distinction btw the Mand, Tact & intraverbal (traditionally all classified as “Expressive Language”
- Skinner identified 3 separate sources of Antecedent control for these Verbal Operants
- EO/MO control -> Mand
- Non verbal Sd -> Tact
- Verbal Sd -> Intraverbal
The Behavioral Classification of Language
- 4 of the verbal operants….
- Mand: Asking for reinforcers. Asking for “Mommy” cuz you want mommy
- TACT: Naming or identifying objects, actions, events etc. Saying “Mommy” because you see Mommy
- Echoic: Repeating what is heard. Saying “Mommy” after someone else says “Mommy”
- Intraverbal: Answering ques or having conversations where your words are controlled by other words. Saying “Mommy” someone else says “Daddy and…”
A question is usually an e.g. of which type of verbal behavior?
a) Intraverbal
b) Mand
c) Tact
d) Intraverbal and mand
b) Mand
The Role of the Listener: The Problem with Traditional views
- The traditional conception of VB…..has generally implied that certain basic linguistic processes were common to Both speaker & listener
- Theories of Meaning are usually applied to both speaker & listener as if the meaning process were the same for both
- Reason Skinner avoided use of the common terms Expressive Language & Receptive language cuz of the implication that they are merely different Manifestation of the same underlying cognitive processes
- And that the Listener’s Bx also constituted “Language”
The Role of the Listener: The Problem with Traditional Views
- Linguists & psycholinguists are primarily concerned with the Bx of the listener with what words mean to those who hear them & with what kind of sentences are judged grammatical or ungrammatical
- The very concept of communication whether if ideas, meanings or information - emphasized Transmission to a listener
- Much of the Bx of the listener has no Resemblance to the Bx of the Speaker & is Not Verbal according to our definition
The Role of the Listener: The Term “Listener”
- Etymological Sanction & the term “Listener”
- Skinner’s use of Listener is not the same as the accepted lay use of the term
- It is also not the same as Linguist’s use of the term
- The deaf & sign language
The Role of the Listener
What role does listener play in Skinner’s account of language
- A common position is that Skinner totally Ignores the Listener
- The word “Listener” appears on at-least 50% of the pages in VB
- There are 14 section headings (6 major) containing the word “listener”
- 2 full chapters are mostly devoted to the listener
- “Skinner’s” analysis of VB very convincingly directs our Attention to the complexity of the listener’s repertoire to account for speaker’s BX
The Different Roles of the Listener
1) Necessary for a verbal Episode
‘The Bx of the Speaker & Listener taken together compose what maybe called the total verbal episode
- “There is nothing in such an episode which is more than the combined Bx of two or more individuals”
- It would be foolish to underestimate the difficulty of this subject matter”
The Different Roles of the Listener
2) The Listener Consequates the speaker’s Bx
- Mediates Rx
- “The Verbal community maintains the Bx of the speaker with generalized Rx