Chapter 8 Flashcards
(40 cards)
Voice Onset Time
The length of time between the release of a consonant and the onset of voicing, that is, when the vocal folds start vibrating.
Two-Word Stage
Stage in first-language acquisition at which children produce two-word utterances in addition to one-word utterances.
Telegraphic Stage
A phase during child language acquisition in which children use utterances composed primarily of content words.
Telegraphic Utterances
Utterances containing primarily content words (in the style of a telegram with many function words and function morphemes left out.
Simultaneous Bilingualism
Bilingualism in which both languages are acquired from infancy.
Social Interaction Theory
Theory of language acquisition that claims that children acquire language through social interaction–in particular with older children and adults–and prompt their caregivers to supply them with the appropriate language experience they need.
Reinforcement Theory
Theory of language acquisition that says that children learn to speak like adults because they are praised, rewarded, or otherwise reinforced when they use the right forms and are corrected when they use the wrong ones.
Overgeneralization
In the study of child language acquisition, a relationship between child and adult application of rules relative to certain contexts: a process in which children extend the application of linguistic rules to contexts beyond those in the adult langauge
Overextension
In the study of child language acquisition, a relationship between child and adult perception of a word meaning: the child’s application of a given word has a wider range than the application of the same word in adult language.
Neglected Child
A child who is neglected by caretakers, often resulting in significantly lower exposure to language as a child.
Linguistic Universal
Property believed to be held in common by all natural languages.
Innate
Determined by factors present from birth
High Amplitude Sucking (HAS)
Experimental technique used to study sound discrimination in infants from birth to about six months. Infants are given a special pacifier that is connected to a sound-generating system. Each suck on the pacifier generates a noise, and infants’ sucking behavior is used to draw conclusions about discrimination abilities.
Holophrase
A one-word sentence.
Homesign
A rudimentary visual-gestural communication system (not a language) that is developed and used by deaf children and their families when a signed language is not made available for their communication.
Imitation Theory
Theory of language acquisition that claims that children acquire language by listening to the speech around them and reproducing what they hear.
Feral Child
Child who grew up in the wild without care by human adults, often with animals.
First Language (L1) Acquisition
The process by which children acquire the lexicon and grammatical rules of their native language. In the case of native bilinguals, both languages are acquired as first languages.
Foreign Accent
An accent that is marked by the phonology of another language or other languages that are more familiar to the other speaker.
Fossilization
Process through which forms from a speaker’s non-native language usage become fixed (generally in a way that would be considered ungrammatical by a native speaker) and do not change, even after years of instruction.
Deictic (Expression)
Word or expression that takes its meaning relative to the time, place, and speaker of the utterance.
Critical Period
Age span, usually described as lasting from, or puberty, during which children must have exposure to language and must build the critical brain structures necessary in order to gain native speaker competence in a language.
Conversational Turn
The contribution to a conversation made by one speaker from the time that she takes the floor from another speaker to the time that she passes the floor onto another speaker.
Canonical Babbling
The continuous repetition of sequences of vowels and consonants like [mamama] by infants; also called repeated babbling.
