04_Language Development

Question 1

Language:

Nativist v Chomsky v Behaviorist

Answer 1

Nativist: biological mechanisms, universal patterns of language development

Chomsky: Language acquisition device

Behaviorist: imitation and reinforcment

Question 2

Semantic bootstrapping

Answer 2

Child’s use of knowledge of meaning of words to infer syntactical/grammatical category

E.g. words that refer to objects are nouns, words that refer to actions are verbs

Question 3

Syntactic bootstrapping

Answer 3

Child’s use of syntactical knowledge to learn the meaning of new words

Question 4

Phonemes

Answer 4

Smallest units of sound that are understood in a language

Question 5

Morphemes

Answer 5

Smallest units of sound that convey meaning

Question 6

Stages of Language Acquisition

Answer 6

Crying

Cooing and babbling ~4months

Echolalia and expressive jargon

First words (~12 months)

Telegraphic speech (18-24 months)

Vocabulary growth

Grammatically correct sentences (2.5-5yo)

Metalinguistic awareness (age 6-7)

Question 7

Three Distinct Patterns of Crying

Answer 7

Basic/hunger

Anger

Pain

Question 8

Adults’ response to infant’s crying

Answer 8

All adults (not just parents) respond with changes in heart rate and skin conductance

Pain cry produces the strongest response

Question 9

First words:

Age range, characteristics

Answer 9

10 to 15 months

Usually labels for objects/people/events

Question 10

Holophrastic speech

Answer 10

Single word expresses whole phrases and sentences

Involves using gestures and indignation to turn a single word into a comment, question, or command

Question 11

Telegraphic Speech

Answer 11

18 to 24 months

Two words, lacks prepositions or prounouns

Question 12

Age which shows the fastest rate of vocabulary growth

Answer 12

30 to 36 months

Approximately 1000 words at 36 months

Question 13

Metalinguistic Awareness

Answer 13

By age 6 or 7, understanding that words are different from the concepts they represent and can be used in humorous/metaphoric ways

Question 14

Gender and Language

Answer 14

Differences reflect preferred interactions

Boys: dominance, attention, giving orders

Girls: support and attentiveness

Question 15

Bilingualism:

Second language acquisition in childhood vs adolescence or adulthood

Answer 15

More difficult for adolescents and adults than for children

age 3-7

Children exposed are also more likely to speak the language of the native accent

Question 16

Bilingualism:

Comparison of language and cognitive skills, and vocabulary

Answer 16

Bilingual children do as well as or better than monolingual children on tests measuring language and cognitive skills

Bilingual children initially have smaller vocabularies in each language, but total vocabulary is similar

Question 17

Bilingualism:

Advantages

Answer 17

Increased cognitive flexibility, cognitive complexity, analytical reasoning, working memory capacity, attentional control, metalinguistic awareness

*Research does not support consistent maintenance of benefits into adulthood compared to monolingual individuals

Question 18

Bilingual Education:

Main Takeaway

Answer 18

High-quality bilingual programs are as effective or more effective than immersion (English-Only)

Question 19

Code Switching

Answer 19

Alternating between languages during a conversation

Used for better expression or to establish better rapport / attitude toward listener

Question 20

A child who calls every fuzzy, four-legged object a kitty is exhibiting what?

Answer 20

overextension

Children frequently associate words with characteristics of an object without logically understanding the finer distinctions, for example the ones between kitties and doggies.

Question 21

“Me want cookie” is an example of what type of speech?

Answer 21

telegraphic speech

A way to remember this is that the speech lacks the flourish of a written letter, but is instead barebones and only conveys necessity, like a telegraph.

Question 22

This type of speech is comprised of one word that conveys the meaning of an entire sentence.

Answer 22

holophrastic speech

The one-word sentences are called holophrases

Question 23

Do boys or girls acquire language more quickly and accurately?

Answer 23

girls

Question 24

Are children raised in bilingual environments faster or slower to learn language?

Answer 24

slower

Question 25

Where language acquisition was concerned, Chomsky is a _______.

Answer 25

nativist

He argued that the capacity to acquire language was innate, rather than learned.

Question 26

What is the learning theory of language?

Answer 26

Learning theory proposes that we learn language through conditioning and modeling. B.F. Skinner was a learning theorist.

Question 27

How does being raised bilingual (native bilingual) impact executive functioning?

Answer 27

People who are native bilingual have to learn to inhibit responses in whichever language they are not using at any given time

=better executive functioning than monolinguals