Chapter 1

1. Chapter 1 Language Development: An Introduction

2. Focus Questions This chapter is designed to answer the following questions: • What is language? • How does language relate to speech, hearing, and communication? • What are the major domains of language? • What are some remarkable features of language? • What are language differences and language disorders?

3. What is Language? • Basic and essential __________ that develops ___________ • Involves words and __________ • Expression (__________ of language) and comprehension (__________ of language) • Process of the brain that helps us ______________________

4. Language Defined • Nelson (1998, p. 26) • Language is a “______ shared code that uses a conventional system of ________ symbols to represent ideas about the world that are meaningful to others who know the same _____.”

5. Characteristics of Language • Language is socially- shared: • ___________________________ • ___________________________ _____________ • Emerge from __________________, ____________, or _____________

6. Characteristics of Language, cont 2. Language is a code that uses a system of arbitrary symbols: • Code utilizing a set of symbols, specifically ___________. • Morphemes: ______________ of language that carry _______; combined to create words. • Relationship between words and their __________ is arbitrary.

7. Characteristics of Language, cont 3. The language code is conventional: • Specific, systematic, and _____________ conventions that remove the __________ from language. • Rules govern the way a particular linguistic ________ arranges sound into words and words into phrases, clauses, and sentences.

8. Characteristics of Language, cont 4. Language is a representational tool: • ___________ that provides symbolic representations of linguistic concepts that are organized in a vast network. • Provides formal _________ that organize these concepts into orderly surface-level representations (Bickerton, 1995). • _____________ and carry out cognitive processes

9. Language as a Module of Human Cognition • Modularity: ______ of cognitive science that considers how the human mind is organized within the ______________. • Module • ___________ • Unlikely that there is just ____________ _______ • Critics of language modularity

10. How Does Language Relate to Speech, Hearing, and Communication? • Language: • __________________________ • ________________________________ • __________________ • __________________ • Speech: ________________ by which we turn language into a ________ that is transmitted through ___________________

11. How Does Language Relate to Speech, Hearing, and Communication Cont. • Hearing: _____________________ ______________________________ __________________________. • Communication: ______________ ______________________.

12. Speech • Definition: _______ neuromuscular behavior that allows humans to express language; essential for spoken communication. • Precise activation of muscles in 4 systems: • __________ • __________ • __________ • __________ (Duffy, 1995)

13. Model of Speech Production • Model: way to represent an unknown event based on the current best evidence governing that event. • 3 stage process: • ____________ • ____________ • _____________________

14. Model of Speech Production, cont Stage 1: Perceptual event • Initiated with a _____, ______ representation of the speech stream to be produced. • Abstract representation is the language code and provides a ___________ of what is to be produced by speech. • Code is represented at the level of the phoneme. • Phoneme: the smallest unit of sound that can signal a ________________.

15. Model of Speech Production, cont Stage 2: Development of a _________ to represent the perceptual language-based representation • “_________________” based on the abstract representation of the perceptual target. • Rough plan organizes ________ into syllable chunks.

16. Model of Speech Production, cont Stage 3: Production of speech, or speech output • Flow of ___, vibration of _________, and movements of the oral cavity carry out motor schema and create ________. • Ongoing _______ relays information about speech output back to the origination of the perceptual target and motor schema. • Timing, delivery, and precision.

17. Relationship of Speech to Language • Language _______ depend on speech, as we can share language via other means. • Speech is wholly dependent on _______ as language gives speech its _______. • Speech and language are __________ __________.

18. Hearing • ____________________. • Hearing is essential to both ________ and ___________ of spoken language. • Hearing, or _____: perception of sound; includes general _____________ and perception of ________.

19. Sound Fundamentals • Acoustics: _______________. • Transmission and reception of sound involves 4 acoustic events: 1. ____________________ 2. ____________________ 3. ____________________ 4. ____________________ (Champlin, 2000)

20. Sound Fundamentals, cont 1. Creation of a sound source: • Sound source creates a set of vibrations in the surrounding air particles. 2. Vibration of air particles: • Frequency or pitch: _______________ _________________________________ • Intensity or loudness of sound: ______ _________________________________ ________________

21. Sound Fundamentals, cont 3. Reception by ear: • ___________ • ___________ • _______________________ 4. Comprehension by brain: • Left hemisphere: ______________ information sent through the ear and along the __________ _______. • Speech vs. non-speech sound information

22. Speech Perception • Difference from ___________________ • Specialized processors in the brain evolved specifically to respond to _____________ and _________ • “Auditory overshadowing” (Sloutsky & Napolitano, 2003): young child’s preference for _________ over _______ information • Co-articulation: __________________ __________________________________ ________________.

23. Communication • Process of ______________ between 2 or more persons. • Must involve a _____ (speaker) and a ________ (listener) • Four basic processes: • _____________ • _____________ • _____________ • _____________

24. Communication, cont • Formulation: _____________________ __________________________________. • Transmission: ____________________ __________________________________ • Reception: _______________________ __________________________________ • Comprehension: __________________ __________________________________.

25. Communication, cont • Symbolic communicationor referential communication: ___________________ __________________________________ • Pre-intentional communication: __________________________________ __________________________________ __________________________________ • Intentional communicationor iconic communication: ___________________ __________________________________ __________________________

26. Communication, cont • 3 basic purposes: • __________ • __________ • __________ • Human communication is unique due to its use of language and speech in the communication process.

27. What are the Major Domains of Language? • 3 interrelated domains: • _____________________ • _____________________ • _____________________

28. The Major Domains of Language, cont • Content:________________ • Words we use and the meaning behind them. • Lexicon: ____________ • Contextualized: __________ • Decontextualized: _________

29. The Major Domains of Language, cont • Form: _____________ • Sentence structure, clause and phrase usage, parts of speech, verb and noun structures, word prefixes and suffixes, and the organization of sounds into words.

30. The Major Domains of Language, cont • Use: ____________ • Intention behind the utterance and how well it is achieved • Analysis of use requires an understanding of the context in which language is occurring.

31. 5 Components of Content, Form and Use • Phonology (Form) • Morphology (Form) • Syntax (Form) • Semantics (Content) • Pragmatics (Use)

32. 5 Components of Content, Form, and Use, cont 1. Phonology (form): ____________ Phonemes: meaningful sounds • ~ 39 phonemes in Standard American English • 15 vowels and 24 consonants 2.Morphology (form): ___________ Adds precision to language. • Expands vocabulary exponentially.

33. 5 Components of Content, Form and Use, cont • Allophones: subtle variations of phonemes that occur due to contextual influences on how we produce phonemes in different words. • Phonotactics: rules governing how sounds are organized in words for each language.

34. 5 Components of Content, Form and Use, cont 3. Syntax (form): Govern the internal organization of sentences. • Provides the structure to our utterances. 4. Semantics (content): Govern the meaning of individual words and word combinations. • Considers the meaning of various words and phrases.

35. 5 Components of Content, Form and Use, cont • Pragmatics (use): _________ • Rules that govern: • Using language for different functions or intentions (communication intentions) • Organizing language for discourse (conversation) • Knowing what to say and how to say it (social conventions)

36. What are some remarkable features of language? • Rate of acquisition • Universality • Species-specificity • Semanticity • Productivity • Engine of thought

37. Rate of Acquisition • First ______ years of life are a critical period(or sensitive period) for language development. • “Window of opportunity” during which language develops most rapidly and with the greatest ease, • Similarity to other species for acquisition of behaviors considered essential for survival.

38. Universality • All persons across the world apply the same cognitive infrastructure to the task of learning language. • Way in which children learn language and the timepoints of achieving certain milestones is fairly invariant across the world’s language communities.

39. Species Specificity • Language is a _______ capacity. • No other animals share this aptitude. • Nonhuman communication systems are more or less ______. • No other animal communication system provides the means for the _______________________.

40. Semanticity • Decontextualized events: _____________________________. • Human language has no boundaries of time or space. • Arbitrary relationship between a referent and the language used to describe it. • Shared by no other species.

41. Productivity • Combination of a small number of discrete units into seemingly infinite novel creations. • Capability of producing an endless amount of ideas and new constructions. • Inherent to language in its earliest stages of acquisition.

42. What are Language Differences and Disorders? • Invariant pathway of language development. • Communication using words begins _____. • 2-word combinations at _______ mos. • Adult-like grammar before __________. • Differences influenced by the language learned, gender, temperament, and language-learning environment. • Genetic predispositions, developmental disability, injury or illness result in mild to severe disabilities in language acquisition.

43. Language Differences • Variability among language users. • Influences: • __________ • __________ • __________ • __________ • __________

44. Dialect • Natural variations of a language that evolve within specific cultural or geographic boundaries. • Number of dialects for a given language tends to increase when: • Users are spread across a large geographical region • Significant geographical barriers isolate a community from others. • Social barriers are present within a language community

45. Multicultural Focus: African American Vernacular English (AAVE) • Use typically influenced by the amount of contact with AAVE-speaking peers rather than ethnic or racial heritage. • AAVE equivalent in its complexity to any other English dialect.

46. Bilingualism • Monolingualism: ____________ • Bilingualism: _____________ • Code-switching: _______________________ _________________. • Simultaneous: develop languages concurrently • Sequential: develop one language and add in a second at a later time. • All languages reflect the same infrastructure of the human brain and are similar in their complexity (Bickerton, 1995).

47. Gender • _______ have an advantage over ______ in language development: • Start talking earlier than boys (Karmiloff & Karmiloff-Smith, 2001) • Develop their vocabulary faster than boys in the second year of life (Huttenlocher, Haight, Bruyk, Seltzer, & Lyons, 1991) • Boys more likely to have difficulties with language development: language impairment • Differences due to ____________ and ________________ factor influences

48. Genetic Predisposition • Twin studies: estimate the contribution of genetics to language development and heretability of language disorders.

49. Environment • Environment in which children are reared exerts considerable influence on their language development. • Neural architecture is calibrated based on input from the environment concerning the form, content, and use of the language(s) to which they are exposed. • Quantity: _______________________. • Quality: ________________________.

50. Environment, cont • Experiences with languages in prominent caregiving environments • Caregiver responsiveness: promptness, contingency, and appropriateness of caregiver responses to children’s bids for communication through words or other means (Tamis-LeMonda, Bornstein, & Baumwell, 2001). • Quality of language input is _______ as important as quantity.