Chapter 7 Thinking, Language and Intelligence: Module 22 Flashcards
Language
The communication of information through symbols arranged according to systematic rules.
Grammar
System of rules that determine how our thoughts can be expressed.
Phonology
The study of the smallest units of speech, called phonemes.
Phonemes
The smallest units of speech.
Syntax
Ways in which words and phrases can be combined to form sentences.
Semantics
The rules governing the meaning of words and sentences.
Babble
Meaningless speechlike sounds made by children from around the age of 3 months through 1 year.
Telegraphic speech
Sentences in which words not critical to the message are left out.
Overgeneralization
The phenomenon by which children apply language rules even when the application results in an error.
Learning-theory approach
The theory suggesting that language acquisition follows the principles of reinforcement and conditioning.
Nativist approach
The theory that a genetically determined, innate mechanism directs language development.
Universal grammar
Noam Chomsky’s theory that all the world’s languages share a common underlying structure.
Language-acquisition device
A neural system of the brain hypothesized by Noam Chomsky to permit understanding of language.
Interactionist approach
The view that language development is produced through a combination of genetically determined predispositions and environmental circumstances that help language.
Linguistic-relativity hypothesis
The notion that language shapes and may determine the way people in a particular culture perceive and understand the world.
