Week 8: language acquisition Flashcards
What is phonology?
The study of sounds in a language
What is a phoneme?
The smallest unit of sound in a language
How many phonemes are there in the English language?
44
How does the number of phonemes in the English language compare to other languages?
Language with the fewest (Rotokas) = 11
Language with the most (!Xóõ) = 112
The pronunciation of each phoneme differs according to…
the surrounding phonemes
What is morphology?
The study of word structure and meaning
What are inflections?
On the end of words
- ed, ing, s
What are derivations?
Adding chunks to add meaning
inter-nation-al
What is a morpheme?
The smallest unit of meaning
Examples of morphemes would be the parts “un-“, “break”, and “-able” in the word “unbreakable”.
What are semantics?
The literal meaning of wordsand utterances
What are pragmatics?
Intended meaning of words and utterances
Plus rules for what you can see - these vary with culture and take time to learn
What is grammar?
Rules for combining units of language
What is syntax?
Rules for putting words in order
What is intonation?
Prosodic contour of sentence
(the way you go up and down as you speak)
- Emphasises key words to show meaning
- can identify when you are asking a question
Language is…
An essential part of being human
Mastered very rapidly
At what age do children start producing language?
12 months
Language allows infants to…
Express and learn information
Is there a critical or sensitive period for acquiring language?
Wild children - ‘Genie’ couldn’t learn the language properly
Migrants - studies of when children moved to the US, language efficiency decreased per age year increase
Why is there a critical period for language acquisition?
Children’s limited knowledge makes the task less daunting - as adults we know how much it will take to learn
Do not have to unlearn anything to take on a new language
What is the hardest element of a new language?
Accents
Theories of language acquisition can be either…
Nature or nurture
What is the behaviourist/imitation theory of language?
Nurture, not nature
Learning language just like we do any other skill
If you get socially rewarded for using language, you will do it more
Classical conditioning
What is the nativist theory of language acquisition?
Nature
Suggests we are born ready to learn a language - the brain is preprogrammed
The grammar we hear is imperfect, yet we still learn it
(parents don’t always correct grammar)
Language is a really complex system and not all of it is taught, yet all children acquire it
What is the cognitive development view of language acquisition?
Language is just another cognitive skill
What is the social interactionist view of language acquisition?
Language acquisition is facilitated by social cues and interactions
Children learn language in a social context
There is feedback, its just implicit
Child-directed speech
What is the statistical learning view of language acquisition?
Infants use recurring patterns and sequences in language input to learn about categories and bits of language
Helps you to segment the speech stream
What are the critiques for the nativist theory of language acquisition?
Ask whether adult models are really that informative -we don’t speak that badly
There is socialization as well (children will learn more through interactions with others and putting the language into practice)
Have there been any studies relating to the statistical learning view of language acquisition?
8-month-olds exposed to a 2-minute speech stream (non-sense syllable) - there were some regularities
e.g. every time you hear duh, ca came after it
Show novelty preference against these, showing they learned them as a ‘word’ in only 2 minutes
In the womb, babies can hear some sounds. This gives them a preference for what after birth?
Their mothers voice
By 4 days after birth, babies can discriminate between…
Speech in their mothers language and a foreign language
They have heard enough of their mothers language to be able to recognize it
As well as male and female voices
What is babbling?
Where the infant learns to open and close their mouth while phonating
- creates a string of consonant-vowel combinations
- practising sounds as a precursor to speech
It is rewarding for the baby, parents respond
At what age do infants babble?
Begins at 4 to 8 months
Do deaf babies babble?
Yes they babble with their hands
What is interesting about mothers recognizing babble?
They can actually tell the difference between babies babbling the language they speak vs. other languages
A babies first word is often a…
Noun (objects, names)
Often a holophrase (an information loaded single word)
What is the vocabulary spurt?
A sudden, rapid, acquisition of new words at around 18-20 months old
What is fast mapping?
Learning to associate a word with concept after only a brief exposure
(exposed once and they learn it)
What is child directed speech?
Language directed as infants by adults and older children characterised by Slow rate Exaggerated intonation High frequency Repetitions Simple syntax Simple vocab
Can child-directed speech help with word learning?
The high frequency and exaggerated intonation attracts attention and maintains interest
The slow rate, simple syntax and repetitions make it easier to process and focus on most important words
Simple vocab makes it easier to understand and connect
Are there any cultural differences in child-directed speech?
American infants get more verbal interaction from mothers and have better comprehension and better verbal and non-verbal reasoning by age 4
Chinese infants have limited verbal interaction from mothers but show educational success
Kaluli and Samoan infants - parents and siblings do not tend to talk to them until they begin to crawl or walk but they learn to talk in the normal time frame
More language competence in infants comes from…
More language directed at them at home
More stimulating interactions with parents
This is because more interaction = more change to learn
What are some common errors in language acquisition later in life?
Overextension/overgeneralisation (single word to label similar objects or events)
Under extension (single word in a highly restricted way)
Mismatch (word mapped onto the wrong concept)
What are some innate biases that aid word learning?
- Whole-of-object bias: assume it is the word for the whole thing
- Mutual exclusivity bias: the new word must be the thing that you don’t already know
- Contextual cues: eg. We saw the baboons at the zoo (must be an animal and must be more than one as is a plural)
Learning grammatical rules is often..
A U shaped curve
Often begins correctly
Is then over regulated (feets, eated)
Then corrected
Up until age 3, speech is..
Self directed
From age 3 onwards, speech is..
More socially oriented and directed to others
What type of experience contributes to vocab explosion?
Experiencing written language
A metaphor involves…
Substituting one set of words for another
