Chapter 11, Exam #3 Flashcards
(42 cards)
phonemes
set of sounds that are characteristic of a given language, the smallest set of sound units that have significance for language
monosyllabic cries
single syllable cries (ah, uh)
morphemes
the smallest units of a language that denote meaning, can be individual words (root words) but they can also consist of the various prefixes suffxes and inflections we add to words
syntax
refers to the rules and processes by which people put words together to form sentences
semantics
the branch of linguistics that studies the meaning of words, phrases, sentences, and discourse (paragraphs, chapters, stories)
pragmatics
last level in the language hierarchy, the practical, day to day use of language, it is how we use language in social situations, how we modify what we say, and understand what is said, given the context and how we use our prior knowledge and experience to comprehend what we hear and read
cooing
noises made by a child between birth and 4 months
babbling
at 6 months the child begins to make a very wide range of sounds, an important milestone, child makes sounds that could belong to to almost any language and can hear differences among a huge variety of sounds
echolalic speech
the notion that the child will begin to imitate the sounds that he or she hears and repeats them, occurring between 9-12 month, it allows the child to process and practice more of the speech sounds in the environment
holophrastic speech
at 1 year of age, children only have single words and have not figure out how to combine words to make sensible statements, this is called holophrastic speech, which means that they use those individual words as if they were whole phrases by using context, stress and pitch
telegraphic speech
when the child leaves out many of the “unnecessary” words or morphemes (propositions, articles)
linguistic universal
common factors of language that are seen universally (vowel consonants)
critical period
when the human child is maturationally ready to acquire language. language is best learned early in life and becomes more difficult later on
hemispheric specialization
the language functions of the brain are located for 90% of the population
brocas area
an area in the brain that is responsible for producing speech and speech sounds
wernickes area
an area in the brain that is responsible for understanding and interpreting
Why is the structure of language represented as a pyramid? Why are phonemes located at the top and language pragmatics placed at the bottom?
Language is a structure that depends on the one before, pragmatics are a building block in the language pyramid. Phonemes are composed in everything
During the acquisition of language, which of the three main features of language (phonology, syntax, and semantics) is learned first? Why?
Phonology is learned first because they are the sounds, and noises that babies start off doing. Then syntax and semantics both increase the meaning of the language
What does a child need to learn first before he or she can start to make meaningful utterances (e.g., words like “mama,” or “ball”)?
Successive approximation must occur: by being rewarded for saying the most articulated version of the word
Object permanence- the relationship of words to the subject they are related to
What does it mean to say that children’s comprehension of language exceeds their performance?
Competence- performance difference
They understand but cannot duplicate.
• Sensorimotor - monosyllabic cries, cooing, coordination, movement, vocalization, rhythm, word segments, babbling, echolalic speech, object permanence
• Pre-operations - holophrastic speech, syntax, two-word sentences, telegraphic speech, mulit-word sentences, overgeneralization, comprehension (rather than performance), semantic, vocab.
developmental stage: Cooing
sensorimotor
developmental stage: holophrastic speech
transition to preoperations
developmental stage:
telegraphic speech
transition to preoperation
developmental stage: babbling
sensorimotor
