Week 8 Lecture Flashcards
What is phonology?
The study of sounds in a language
What are phonemes?
The smallest unit of sound in a language
How many phonemes are spoken in English?
44
What is the language with the fewest phonemes and how many do they have?
Rotokas with 11
What is the language with the most spoken phonemes and how many do they have?
Ixuu with 112
Each phoneme’s pronunciation differs according to what? How much infants learn to perceive them as?
- The surrounding phonemes.
2. Perceive them as the same
What is morphology?
The study of work structure/meaning
What is a morpheme?
The smallest unit of meaning.
Morphology includes inflections. What kind of things are these?
things you stick on the end of word which changes the grammar (not the actual meaning of the word)
Morphology include deviations, what is this?
bits you put in the start of end which change the meaning of the word
What is semantics?
the literal meaning of words and utterannces
What is pragmatics?
Intended meaning of words and utterances, plus “rules” for what you say
What are two pragmatic factors
- varies with culture
- takes time to learn
What is grammar?
Rules for combining units of language
What are syntax?
rules for putting words in order
What is intonation?
prosodic contour of sentence, (emphasising certain words, identifies the types of utterance, can identify the ‘type’ of word)
Does language production gradually increase, or rapidly?
rapidly
What age do children usually start producing language?
about 12 months
language comprehension begins early, ___ the rate of production.
5X
Language allows infants to:
- express information
2. learn information
What is the evidence for whether there’s a critical period for acquiring language?
- Evidence for critical period with a first language: “wild children” (never been spoken to).
- Evidence with a second language: proficiency increases with earlier age of acquisition beginning
What is one reason reason as to why children might learn languages better than adults?
“less is more” (Newport). Children’s limited abilities make the task of language acquisition less daunting
What is one of the earliest theories of language acqusition?
behavioural learning - purely nurture with operant and classical conditioning
What is the learning language acquisition theory with Chomsky as its “father”?
nativist. commonly held today. Purely to do with nature. Universal grammar.
What is another learning acquisition theory, more Piagetian
cognitive development - language same as everything else
What is the most recent theory of language acquisition?
So many language patters, maybe we learn by seeing statistical patterns. use regularities in the language input of learn about language
What is the social interactionalist viewpoint of language acquisition?
Tomasello leading person, language learn from environment but strongly supported by the social aspects
What is the role of classical conditioning in language acquisition?
If every time babies get a bottle they hear the word bottle, the word bottle with give babies that unconditioned response.
What is the role for imitation and operant conditioning in language acquisition?
operant conditioning is extended to more stimuli and more responses as infants develop. babbling = smile and praise
What are some arguments FOR the nativist approach to language acquisition?
- adults don’t reward/punish grammar
- adult speech models are imperfect
- production come early
- language is complex but there’s little teaching
What are AGAINST FOR the nativist approach to language acquisition?
Are adult models really that uninformative?
What about the roles of socialisation?
What are some arguments FOR a social interactionist view?
- children learn language in a social context
- there is feedback, its just usually implicit
- adult models do help
What are some arguments FOR statistical learning?
- There’s growing evidence of human sensitivity to statistical patterns in the input.
- Infants learn spoken language seemingly effortlessly
- Can statistical learning explain the rapidity and accuracy of learning
Can infants hear sounds in the womb?
yes
What sound to infants prefer immediately after birth?
Their Mother’s voice
By 4 days, infants can discriminate between _______language and a _____ language
1, Mothers
2. Foreign
Soon after birth, infants can discriminate in 2 tings with sound:
- p and b sounds
2. male and female
What age does babbling by phonating occur?
4-8 months
What does phonating mean?
making sounds - infants first voicing
What does semantics mean?
work meaning
What are generally infants first words? Then later, what is this followed by?
- nouns
2. later, verbs and adjectives
Around what age do children have their “vocabulary spurts”?
around 18-20 months, they developed around 30-40 words. This continues for years
What is “fast mapping”, which children use for learn wording association?
learn to associate word with concept after only brief exposure.
What is child-directed speech?
Language directed at infants by adults and even older children, characterised by
- slow rate
- repetitions
- high frequency
What use are the characteristics of child-directed speech?
They help with word learning
How can high frequency of child directed speech help word learning?
exaggerated intotion - attracts attention and maintains interest
How does slow rate, simple syntax, repetitive nature of child centred speech help with word learning?
Easier to process and focus on most important words
What are some characteristics of American infants in child centred speech?
more verbal interaction from mothers, better language comprehension and reasoning at age 4
What are some characteristics of Chinese infants in child centred speech?
limited verbal interaction from mothers, but show education success
What are some characteristics of Kaluli and Samoan infants in child centred speech?
Parents and siblings don’t tend to talk to them until they begin to crawl
What is the value of speaking to infants?
Greater social and intellectual competence in infant.
What is overextension in childhood language?
Single word used to label similar objects
What is under-extension in childhood language?
single work used in a highly restrictive way
What is mismatch in childhood language?
Word mapped onto wrong concept
What are the 3 main errors in semantics improving in childhood language acquisition?
What happens to these types of errors as children’s understanding of word meaning grows?
- overextension, under-extension and mismatch
2. decreases
What are some potential things which people say are innate biases to help with word learning?
- whole object bias (zebra)
- mutual exclusivity bias (plates)
- contextual cues:both semantic and syntactic
What is telegraphic speech?
The two word utterances that infants often first learn to say
What are pragmatics?
When, how, and where to use appropriate form of language. Takes some years to understand.
Speech is fairly self directed up to what age?
Age 3
From age 3, speech becomes more (2)
- socially oriented
2. More often directed at others
By what age do children adjust speech to suit the needs of their listener?
4 years
How can we examine comprehension modeling occuring?
during early school years, pragmatic listening skills also improve
Once children get into their “double digits”, what happens with language? (4)
- pronunciation and fluency well developed
- Experience with written language greatly contributes to vocabulary expansion
- syntax knowledge improves: passive construction understood
- semantic ability appreciated, leads to jokes
How many words does lexicon expand to by age 12?
approx. 20,000 words
How many words approximately do native English speakers have in their vocabulary?
About 20,000 to 35,000 words
Why might the study in vocabulary development in adults be overly inflated?
Because the sample comprises of people who self select to take the vocabulary test on the internet
