Language

1. Language Edgar Mariano, Joel Michalchuk, & Matt Henry

2. Language & The Brain • Two major parts of the brain that control speech: Both on the left side. • Broca’s Area: • Area of motor control and language production • If damaged, normal speech is either absent or disrupted • Wernicke’s Area: • Area of processing sounds and comprehension • If damaged, there is an inability to comprehend language

4. Biological • LAD: Chomsky determines children learn through a biological device called the language acquisition device • Pushes our natural curiosity to help drive speech development • Basically, we are hard-wired to figure out complex grammar eventually • Basically, feedback we get when we utter as a baby do not help in language acquisition

5. Social and Cultural • Formats: social structures for language development that adults and children perform together, tabula rasa • LASS: language acquisition support system • Collective dialogues vs. true dialogue • Once children can achieve true dialogue, true experiences can be derived by the LASS

6. Environmental Key to Language • Genie, the feral wild child • Taking from abusive father who treated her wretchedly at age 13 • Taught language by the Rigler family for four years • Although language was emphasized on Genie’s upbringing, she never learned language to her fullest extent

7. Language-Deprivation Deaf children born to deaf parents who communicate in sign-language acquire language at least as rapidly and fully as hearing children born into hearing households A study performed by Goldin-Meadow showed that the same universal parts of the brain involved in language-acquisition occurred in deaf children as did in hearing children

8. Infant-Speech • North American mothers will constantly speak in high tones and simplified vocabulary to help establish language • Mothers will use burps and sneezes to help start up a conversation • These cues may help establish internal audio cues for certain words that are said

9. Language Acquisition Four specific domains: • Phonological development • Semantic development • Grammar • Pragmatic development

10. Phonological Development • The process through which children acquire knowledge of how to segment strings of speech sounds into meaningful units of language • Being able to divy up sounds and their morphemes, or basic units of sound, and how they create different words • Some children of Spanish origin cannot differentiate between /b/ and /v/

11. Semantic Development • The process of learning the meanings of words • So where phonological development is differentiating sounds, semantic identifies that a certain string of sounds have a certain meaning • Babies must figure out how a sound relates specifically relates to a certain action or object, the same way we may try to understand a foreigner speaking to us

12. Word Errors • Children may sometimes overextend: • Which is to associate a word with more than the suggested meaning • i.e. calling all furry four legged animals puppy • Children can underextend: • Or associate a word with only one specific item when the word is meant for a broader range • i.e. calling a specific bottle “boddle”

13. Grammar • Learning the rules of sequencing specific words in a sentence • Syntactic bootstrapping is using grammar to discover new words • Grammatical morphemes are a no no

14. Pragmatic Development • The process of learning the social and cultural conventions that govern how a language can be used • Talk about Hugh Goodheart’s class and his lesson on language use • Conversational acts are when language is used to achieve goals through language and gesture • Protoimperatives/declaratives: engaging someon to achieve a specific goal; establishing joint attention and sustaining dialogue, (respectively) • Chronology 3.5 years

16. 6 Months Vocalization with intonation Responds to his name Respond to human voices without visual cues by turning his head and eyes Responds appropriately to friendly and angry tones

17. 12 Months http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdrP0FWXfZ8 Uses one or more words with meaning Understands simple instructions, especially if vocal or physical cues are given Practices inflection Is aware of the social value of speech

18. 18 Months Has vocabulary of approximately 5-20 words Vocabulary made up chiefly of nouns Some echolalia (repeating a word or phrase over and over) Much jargon with emotional content Is able to follow simple commands

19. 24 Months Can name a number of objects common to his surroundings Volume and pitch of voice not yet well-controlled Can use two pronouns correctly: I, me, you, although me and I are often confused My and mine are beginning to emerge Responds to such commands as “show me your eyes (nose, mouth, hair)”

20. 36 Months Use pronouns, I you, me, correctly Is using some plurals and past tenses Extensive verbalization as he carries out activities Understands such concept as longer, larger, when a contrast is presented Much repetition of words, phrases, syllables, and even sounds

21. 48 Months Knows names of familiar animals Names common objects in picture books or magazines Knows one or more colors Can repeat 4 digits when they are given slowly Often indulges in make-believe

22. 60 Months Knows common opposites: big-little, hard-soft, heavy-light, etc. Should be able to define common objects in terms of use (hat, shoe, chair) Should be able to follow three commands given without interruptions Should have simple time concepts: morning, afternoon, night, day, later, after, while

23. ~Upcoming Video~ • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5e4Asdqt80 • This video includes: • Piaget and Vygotsky’s theory of child development incorporating language and inelegance • The Aspects of Language • Terms Used and Defined • Morphology • Phonology • Pragmatics • Syntax • Semantics

24. Bilingualism • Bilingualism: the ability to speak two languages • Well of 50% of the world’s people are bilingual or multilingual • Common questions and concerns about learning multiple languages. • How does exposure to multiple languages affect a child’s language acquisition? Is the child confused by clashing vocabularies and grammars? Is it better for a child to learn one language first before being exposed to another?

25. Unitary language hypothesis the belief that children exposed to two languages from birth interpret the two languages as part of a single, fused, system. Children exposed to two languages often use words from both languages in the same sentence. It is not until children are about 3 years old that they become capable of differentiating between two separate languages. They recommend delaying exposure to a second language in order to avoid confusion.

26. Differentiated language hypothesis Accept the evidence that children mix two languages emphasize that children’s speech exhibits regular grammatical patterns that are appropriate to both languages to speak. When a person if spoken to in one language, they will respond accordingly.

27. Survey • Surveyed 13 bilingual Westminster students to get an idea of their views on being bilingual. • All knew English but the secondary languages included: • Spanish, Korean, Japanese, Filipino, Russian, French Canadian, Armenian, Greek, Italian, and Samoan

29. Armenian- learned Armenian first, then English at 5 • Advantage- “I had to learn the second language to communicate in school; knowing both languages allows me to expand on my linguistic knowledge and makes it easier to pick up on new languages.” • Korean- learned Korean first, then English in Elementary school • Disadvantage- “I sometimes speak in Koreanglish!” • Spanish- learned both from birth • Advantage/disadvantage- “It’s helpful in learning other romance languages but sometimes they can combine and get confusing.” • Russian- learned Russian first, then English at 4 • Advantage- “It allows me to communicate with my family in one language while still being able to communicate with friends. I just feel more well-rounded.”

30. Japanese- learned Japanese at home & English in school (knows English better) • Advantage- “Being able to talk to more people.” • Disadvantage- “Can’t read in Japanese and I get confused with the slang in both languages. I only really know casual Japanese and proper English. ” • Italian- learned both at birth • Advantage: easier to learn other languages (especially with singing) • Disadvantage: don’t have as broad as a vocabulary and at first it was difficult to read in English • Greek- learned Greek from birth • Advantage- “More cultured. Helps understand words in the English language. Able to speak when I go to Greece.”

31. Blackboard Discussions

32. Other discussion questions: • Is anyone in the class bilingual?; if so, do you agree with the other Westminster students? • Do you think that monkey’s could learn to speak with the proper vocal chords in place? • Do you think they try to imitate sounds we make, but find they can’t? • Do you think babies learn to sound morphemes because hearing and vision grow enough for them to hear and see how to make the sounds?