CSD 354 Dev. in Children Flashcards
(108 cards)
What is language?
A complex and dynamic system that uses conventional symbols in various modes to express thought and communication
What is a morpheme?
The smallest units of languages that carry meaning
“school”= 1 morpheme “school+s”= 2 morpheme “pre+school+s”= 3 morphemes
What is code?
The translation of one type of information to another type of information using symbols
What is a referent?
A word with meaning attached to it
What is one important aspect of language code?
The relationship between a word and its referent is arbitrary in social communication (not written)
What are 4 characteristics of the system of language?
- symbols
- conventional
- dynamic
- a tool for human comm. and cognition
What does conventional mean?
Users of language abide by accepted rules
What is a language community
A group of people who use a common language
What are three reasons for language communities to emerge?
- Geographic circumstances (Ukrainian)
- Sociological reasons (Hebrew, ASL)
- Economical reasons (World Trade Org)
What word describes the idea that language is always changing and evolving?
Dynamic
Who experiences a system of language that is dynamic?
- The individual: acquisitions of language as a baby through growth and development, growth in languages through learning new languages or new vocabulary, as well as a decline in language.
- The community: Words come and go in a community such as “selfie”
Language is a tool for what?
Human communication and cognition
Language can be used as a _________ tool to help people develop a “picture of the world” to use for thinking
representational
Language emerged as a ________ and _______
sociological, cultural evolution
Language did not evolve from a _________ evolution
biological
What is one sociological example that some scientists believe suggest caused language to emerge?
The increase of population in a community as it creates for more complex sociological dynamics in a community and therefore people need language as a tool for communicating more efficiently
The brain uses language as a representational tool to store info. and carry out what 5 cognitive processes?
reasoning, hypothesizing, planning, memorizing, and problem solving
The processes of reasoning, hypothesizing, planning, memorizing, and problem solving can be referred to as what?
higher-level language skills
What is modularity?
The cognitive science theory about how the human mind is organized within structures of the brain
What are the two beliefs about how modules work?
They are regions of the brain that are developed to process specific information. There are generalized modules in which all parts of the brain work together to process info.
What is the definition of a module?
A specialized problem-solving device in the brain that responds to info. of a restricted type.
What are domain-specific modules?
These are can process only very specific types of info. like depth perception
What is a domain-general module?
These are believed to carry out very general tasks like memory and reasoning as well the ability to access domain-specific modules
What is language modularity?
The belief that a large number of language specific modules are clustered closely together and interconnected in a specific part of the brain, each processing linguistic info.