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Language Development

Language Development. Four Components of Language. Phonology sounds Semantics meanings of words Grammar arrangements of words into sentences Pragmatics social uses of speech. Phonology. Phonemes: the smallest units of sound that can change the meaning of a word /d/ “dog” /l/ “log”.

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Language Development

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  1. Language Development

  2. Four Components of Language Phonology sounds Semantics meanings of words Grammar arrangements of words into sentences Pragmatics social uses of speech

  3. Phonology Phonemes: the smallest units of sound that can change the meaning of a word • /d/ “dog” • /l/ “log”

  4. Children’s mastery of the different sounds of their language is not a mechanical skill. • The mastery of different sounds, or phonemes, develops along with the child’s growing understanding of the meanings of words.

  5. Phonology • /v/ vote • /b/ boat • /ee/ sheep • /i/ ship

  6. PhonologySemantics the study of the meanings of words

  7. PhonologySemanticsGrammar Morphology: use of grammatical markers Syntax : arrangement of words into sentences

  8. Morphemes Smallest units of meaning

  9. Morphemes • child • speak • unspeakable • childless

  10. Syntax • Susan loves Joe • Joe loves Susan • Susan Joe loves

  11. Syntax English: I love you Spanish: I you love English: the green tree Spanish: the tree green

  12. PhonologySemanticsGrammarPragmatics The communicative and social uses of speech Is the door shut? Is the milk in the fridge? Is your room clean?

  13. Language Development Prelinguistic period • Newborns distinguish the sound of human voice • 6 - 8 weeks: cooing • 4 - 6 months: babbling

  14. The progression of cooing and babbling follows a universal pattern. • Babies, until around 6 months old, can produce sounds/phonemes that their parents cannot produce or distinguish

  15. Nature/Biology plays an important role in theemergence of cooing & babbling. • The form of the child’s vocalization is also affected by the linguistic environment.

  16. Semantic Development • 12 months first words • age 2 years 200 words • age 6 years 15,000 words

  17. Holophrase Single word that seems to represent an entire sentence

  18. First Words • Important people • Objects that move • Objects that can be acted upon • Familiar actions • Nouns before verbs

  19. Word Extension The appropriate limits of the meaning of words

  20. Extension Underextension • applying a word too narrowly Overextension • applying a word too broadly

  21. Errors of segmentation Where does one word end and another begin?

  22. Fast-mapping using the context to guess the meaning of a word

  23. Other Strategies for Determining the Meaning of a Word Object-scope constraint • words refer to whole objects rather than to parts of objects Taxonomic constraint • words refer to categories of similar objects Mutual exclusivity constraint • each object has one label & different words refer to separate, non-overlapping categories of objects

  24. Morphological Development • Single morphemes • -s to form plural nouns • -ed to form past tense • -s to form 3rd person singular • Contraction of verb “to be”

  25. Overregularization

  26. Syntactical Development • Telegraphic speech: • leave out the smaller and less important words, like articles and prepositions • Boy street • Billy chair • Mommy come • More cookie Is this really grammar?

  27. Language Explosion • The language explosion is not just the result of simple semantic development; the child is not just adding more words to his/her vocabulary. • Child is mastering basic syntactic and morphological rules.

  28. THE CAT BITES THE DOG • the cat bit the dog • the cat didn’t bite the dog • did the cat bite the dog? • wasn’t the dog bitten by the cat?

  29. The gorpy wug wasn’t miggled by the mimsy zibber • The wug is gorpy • The zibber did not miggle the wug • The zibber is mimsy

  30. Wug zibber mimsy by gorpy the miggled the wasn’t

  31. Questions yes/no questions • Is this a doggie? Wh- questions • Why...? • When...? • Where...?

  32. Yes/No Questions • Mommy go? • I play? • Did mommy go? • Can I play? • Mommy did go, didn’t she?

  33. Wh- Questions • What daddy eating? • What mommy doing? • What daddy is eating? • What I did yesterday? • What is daddy eating?

  34. What? • Where? • Who? • Why? • When? • How?

  35. Negative Sentences • no milk • no I go • I not drink milk • that not milk • I don’t drink milk

  36. Process of Language Acquisition • ENVIRONMENTALIST (e.g., Skinner) Language is acquired through a combination of the following mechanisms: • classical conditioning • operant conditioning • imitation

  37. Problems with Imitation Parents do not usually provide feedback for grammatically incorrect sentences. They do provide feedback for the truth value of sentences. Child: I no like spinach Mom: Yes, I know Child: Doggie runned away Mom: Yes, the doggie ran away Child: I’m sleeping Mom: No, you’re not, you’re awake

  38. Problems with Imitation Even when parents provide feedback, it doesn’t work! child nobody don’t like me mom no, say “nobody doesn’t like me” child nobody don’t like me mom listen carefully, “nobody doesn’t like me” child oh, nobody don’t likes me!

  39. Problems with Imitation Children can only imitate phrases that they can already produce

  40. Problems with Imitation Children can produce a vast array of sentences they have never heard before.

  41. Problems with Imitation Children’s mistakes are systematic I goed Doggie runned away These systematic mistakes reflect rule-following behavior

  42. NATIVIST (Chomsky) • Humans are biologically predisposed to acquire language. • The capacity to comprehend and produce language is innate.

  43. Language Acquisition Device (LAD) • Biologically based system, programmed to recognize the universal rules that underlie any language the child might hear. • It contains a universal grammar

  44. NATIVISM • The capacity to recognize the rules that underlie language is innate. • However, the linguistic environment dictates which particular language a child will speak. • The specific language is NOT genetically transmitted.

  45. Support for Nativist Theory • Language is acquired rapidly • Language is acquired with little explicit teaching • Children around the world reach language milestones at around same age • Sensitive period for language acquisition

  46. Eric Lenneberg Sensitive period for language acquisition: between the ages of 2 and puberty brains are not fully specialized for language until around puberty implications on bilingualism

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