Vocabulary 8 - Language Acquisition Flashcards
homesign gestures
communicative gestures that are invented by deaf children and the people with whom they routinely interact in cases where a signed language is not made available
innateness hypothesis
hypothesis that humans are generally predisposed to learn and use language
Imitation Theory
claims that children learn language by listening to the speech around them and reproducing what they hear
Reinforcement Theory
asserts that children learn to speak like adults because they are praised, rewarded, or otherwise reinforced when they use the right forms and are corrected when they use wrong forms.
Active Construction of a Grammar Theory
holds that children actually invent the rules of grammar themselves
Connectionist Theories
assume that children learn language by creating neural connections in the brain
Social Interaction Theory
assumes that children acquire language through social interaction, with other children and adults in particular
linguistic universals
property believed to be held in common by all natural languages
transfer
the influence of one’s native language on the learning of subsequent languages (which can facilitate or inhibit the learning of the second language)
fossilization
process through which forms from a speaker’s non-native language usage become fixed and do not change, even after years of instruction
foreign accent
an accent that is marked by the phonology of another language or other languages that are more familiar to the speaker
second-language acquisition
acquisition of a second language as a teenage or adult (critical period)
language mixing
using words or structural elements from more than one language within the same conversation (or even within a single sentence or phrase)
What is the difference between simultaneous bilingualism and sequential bilingualism?
one is learned at infancy whereas the other is learned as a young child
bilingual
state of commanding two languages; having linguistic competence in two languages; in machine translation, a system that can translate between only one language pair
multilingual
state of commanding three or more languages; having linguistic competence in three or more languages; in machine translation, a system that can translate between more than two languages
How do adults talk to children?
Slow down, use short simple sentences, use a higher pitch of voice, and repeat themselves
conversational turns
contribution to a conversation made by one speaker from the time that she takes the floor from another speaker to the time that she passes the floor on to another speaker
attention holders
tactic used to maintain children’s attention for extended amounts of time
attention getters
word or phrase used to initiate an address to children
child-directed speech
speech used by parents or caregivers when communicating with young children or infants. In many Western societies, this speech is slow and high-pitched and has many repetitions, simplified syntax, exaggerated intonation, and a simple and concrete vocabulary
deictic expressions
word or expression that takes its meaning relative to the time, place, and speaker of the utterance
relational term
type of relationship between adjective and noun reference where the reference of the adjective is determined relative to the noun reference
underextension
application of a word to a smaller set of objects than is appropriate for mature adult speech of the usual definition of the word
overextension
relationship between child and adult perception of a word meaning: the child’s application of a given word has a wider range than the application of the same word in adult language
complexive concept
term used in the study of child language acquisition. group of items that a child refers to with a single word for which it is not possible to single out any one unifying property
overgeneralization
in the study of child language acquisition, a relationship between child and adult application of rules relative to certain contexts: a process in which children extend the application of linguistic rules to contexts beyond those in the adult language
telegraphic stage
phase in which children use utterances composed primarily of content words
holophrastic stage
holophrase being a one-word sentence
holophrase
one word sentence
variegated babbling
production of meaningless consonant-vowel sequence by infants
repeated babbling
continuous repetition of sequences of vowels and consonants by infants
Repeated babbling can also be called what?
canonical babbling
babble
phrase during which the child produces meaningless sequences of consonants and vowels; generally begins around the age of six months
articulatory gestures
movement of a speech organ in the production of speech
voice onset time
length of time between the release of a consonant and the onset of voicing, that is, when the vocal folds start vibrating
conditioned head-turn procedure
experimental technique usually used with infants between five and eighteen months with two phases: conditioning and testing
high amplitude sucking
experimental technique used to study sound discrimination in infants from birth to about six months. Infants are given a special pacifies that is connected to a sound-generating system; each suck on the pacifier generates a noise, and infants’ sucking behavior is used to draw conclusions about discrimination abilities
telegraphic utterances
utterances containing primarily content words
Out of all the theories, which is the most influential theory of language?
Active Construction of a Grammar Theory
