Linguistic Development

1. Linguistic Development Thomas G. Bowers, Ph.D. 2001

2. Linguistic Development • Language development is one of the more significant cognitive abilities among humans • Language is the primary means of transmitting and communicating knowledge

3. Linguistic Development • Field of Linguistics • Attempts to characterize the nature of language • Chomsky (1959) • Focused on productivity and regularity of language • There is a nearly infinite range of vocal behaviors • Utterances are systematic and organized • Difficult to explain from a solely behavioral perspective

4. Linguistic Development • Components of language • Syntax – highly structural aspects of grammar, including the impact of word order and inflection • Semantics – concerned with the meaningfulness and significance of language • Phonology – concerned with the sound structure of language material

5. Linguistic Development • Components of language • There are intuitive aspects of language use and understanding • Eg – “The boy was hit by the girl.” • “The girl hit the boy.” • Experienced individuals readily manage ambiguity of language

6. Syntactical Structure • Linguistic analysis focuses on the orderly structure of languages • Phase structure commonly noted • Noun, verb, noun phrase • Adjective and articles common

7. Syntactical Structure

8. Syntax • People resolve ambiguity by subtle cues from time to time • They are cooking apples – perhaps the act of making a pie • They are cooking apples – perhaps the object used to make a pie • May depend upon inflection, contextl

9. Syntax • Phrase structure has some research history • Pauses tend to occur in grammatical junctures, with shorter pauses within the clauses • People manage meaningful stimulus transformations with little difficulty

10. Theoretical Accounts for Language Development • Behavioral versus Linguistic Views • Watson (1930) maintained that thought was simply a pattern of sub vocal speech • Recording of sub vocal speech appeared to be indicated during some thought process but not all examples

11. Theoretical Accounts for Language Development • Behavioral versus Linguistic Views • Classic Experiment • Smith, Brown, Toman and Goodman (1947) • Applied a curare derivative • Results in muscle paralysis, but respiration can be maintained by mechanical means • Smith volunteered as subject • Was to comprehend, report, remember and think about activity around him

12. Theoretical Accounts for Language Development • Behavioral versus Linguistic Views • Classic Experiment • Smith, Brown, Toman and Goodman (1947) • It appears clear thinking can occur in the absence of muscular activity

13. Theoretical Accounts for Language Development • Linguistic Analysis • Linguistic determination • Language is thought to be “prepared” more readily acquired than other types of behaviors • Whorf (1956) felt languages reflected different aspects of their world • It is possible that language developed to express thought

14. Theoretical Accounts for Language Development • Linguistic Analysis • Language acquisition appears to occur rapidly, and may be sensitive to critical periods • Grammar appears to develop as an implicit process • Some theorists claim we are prepared as a species to acquire linguistic behaviors

15. Theoretical Accounts for Language Development • Linguistic Analysis • Chomsky (1970) explains language acquisition as a natural phenomenon • Children appear to be able to learn language in the absence of any input • Children acquire language even sub optimal circumstances • Abilities to acquire second languages deteriorates with age

16. Theoretical Accounts for Language Development • Linguistic Analysis • Chomsky continues to argue there are language universals, and hence most languages are natural languages