Exam 2 Flashcards

Question

Nature of Early Words

Answer 1

◼Requests (info, objects, help) or comments → frequently used by adults (esp. moms) ◼Holophrases: holistic communicative intention (e.g., go!, mine!) ◼Criteria for words: - Phonetically related to an adult word - Consistent use - Occur in presence of reference (concept/meaning)

Answer 2

◼Early words fulfill intentions originally conveyed by gestures ◼Development of intention: gestures only, leads to gestures + vocalizations, leads to gestures + words, leads to words ◼Words used in same contexts caregivers did (esp. moms) ◼12-14 months: social-cognitive and social- motivational skills for cooperative communication ◼Presupposition: assumption that listener knows/doesn’t know certain info - Include or delete info, e.g., explaining TV show to someone who has not seen it, include more background info - Toddlers exhibit this

Answer 3

◼Each intention = different verbal form ◼Increase in words + intentions, increased utterance flexibility (can make utterances more complicated), as they learn more words, they are better able to communicate their intentions ◼Flat or level contour for naming/labelling → contour modulation (requests, attention getting, surprise, greeting), e.g., expressing emotion ◼2 years: multiple intentions within single utterance, better at combining things, better at combining intentions

Answer 4

◼Words + nonwords: 3 or fewer sounds ◼1st 10 words: toys, animals, food ◼Lexical growth is slow; some words lost with changing interests ◼18 months: learn new word-referent associations ◼Sex differences: Females have larger & stronger vocabs., could be because of socialization/how often young girls are spoken to versus young boys ◼18-24 months: vocab spurt ◼2.5 years: rapid vocab expansion Factors that influence word learning: ◼Frequency of input: e.g., Genie (was never spoken to/taught language) could not pick up language after this ◼Phonology: difficult words are difficult to pick up ◼Grammatical class (nouns predominate, easier to pick up than verbs) for 1st 100 words, then verbs increase ◼Style: Learning by breaking up utterances into parts vs. holistic learning (memorized formulas)

Answer 5

◼Word knowledge likely derived from multisensory experiences ◼6 months: mapping sounds onto meanings - Not just associative learning (meaningful processing happening in the brain) - Social intentions of speaker important ◼2 years: word learning expert ◼Concept formation is crucial ◼Semantic Feature Hypothesis: meaning = combining features present in environment (what the thing looks like) ◼Functional Core Hypothesis: meaning motion features (how the thing is used) ◼Associative + Prototypic Complexes Hypothesis: (1) Each use of word associated with core concept (2) Concept includes a prototype ◼Fast or Initial Mapping: link between new name + referent (quick and dirty) ◼Form hypotheses about underlying concepts and extend current meanings to include new examples - Underextensions: overly restricted meanings (e.g., truck = toy only) - Overextentions: meanings too broad (e.g., bus = truck) - Perceptual similarity (visually) = driving force for extensions - Feedback is important

Answer 6

◼18 months in most children ◼Similar to adults, involves: - Syntactic knowledge - Cognitive resources - Communicative goals - Structure to convo ◼Words + sounds, words + gestures in many combos→two-word utterances - Reduplication of single-word utterance - Holophrases ◼Verbs and position in utterance, learned one verb at a time - 3 years: generalize language rules How do they do this? ◼Language in environment + social- cognitive skills ◼Plan + create a multi-step path to accomplish a goal - Problem-solving (non-linguistic activities, play) - Mental combos of required steps

Answer 7

◼Strong influence on early words lexical/vocal development strong influence on sounds produced ◼2 years: matching audition to articulation - Articulatory sequences = rehearsal and memory ◼Key component: transition from holistic to segmental storage of phonological info

Answer 8

◼Associations between sounds of word and meaning ◼Phonological system = paired system of incoming and outgoing lexicons - Incoming (stored info about word, working memory) - Outgoing (speech production) Modulating factors: ◼Lexical characteristics: ◼Frequency of use, frequency effects: words you encounter very often, easy for kids to retrieve from semantic memory and to use, words they don’t use often take a long time to access and use ◼Neighborhood density, ND effects: ND effects can cause interference and make accessing words challenging, neighbours can hinder early on, but later it can also help ◼Phonotactic probability (how often sounds occur, independently or in combos), around 9 months

Answer 9

◼Different word shape patterns → motor practice and perceived speech of others ◼Sounds + patterns ≠ child’s template = hard to produce and omitted - Sound substitutions rare ◼Preference for monosyllables over longer strings, stop consonants ◼More consonants at 9 months → larger lexicon at 16 months ◼At first, vowels vary more than consonants within words (consonants easier to pronounce earlier on) ◼First sounds: /m/, /w/, /b/, and /p/ (easier to produce, takes less effort) ◼Some words produced consistently, others not and there is variation among children (especially vowels) ◼Reduplication: polysyllabic word, but cannot pronounce 1 syllable correctly → compensate by repeating other syllable ◼Children delete weak syllables

Answer 10

Around 3 years: ◼Gross motor movements (bigger, less controlled) ◼Fine motor abilities develop slowly ◼Play in groups, share toys, take turns ◼Increased cog f(x)s : memory = recount past and remember short stories ◼Expressive vocab = 900 to 1,000 words, but use many more Around 4 years: ◼Tell simple stories ◼More complex sentences ◼Expressive vocab = 1,500 to 1,600 words, but use many more ◼ Increased cog f(x)s : but conversation is still limited in scope

Answer 11

◼Growing social networks - Increasing awareness of social standards (through exposure to other people, interactions with others, engaging with more and more conversation) ◼Conversation ◼Primary caregiver (mother) still in control ◼Short, limited turns, about immediate context ◼Monologues (songs, sounds, fake words, verbal fantasies, feelings) ◼Self-talk decreases around 10 years

Answer 12

◼Mention a person (usually the listener) ◼70% of time = interest in mental states (their own mental state and their friends mental states, e.g., how are you feeling, are you happy, do you like this…) ◼20% of responses are relevant to the question/thought about mental states ◼4 years: CDS to younger children, (child directed speech), e.g., engaging in motherese with a child at the park ◼4 years: exchange of info (40%); establish social relations, teaching, expressing feelings, monologues ◼5 years: 50% can sustain topics around a dozen turns in conversation (half of kids)

Answer 13

◼Different roles = different speaking styles, e.g., family roles, speaking like baby, mom, dad, etc. ◼Varies with age and experience ◼Younger children = familiar roles ◼Pitch + loudness = first denote different roles - Later on = MLU + choice of topics/words ◼Girls = more roles, speak more, modify registers to suit roles ◼Use of politeness terms (e.g., please, thank you)

Answer 14

◼ Questions to initiate or continue ◼ Well formed requests for clarification = mid-elementary ◼ Stalls: - Long silent pauses - Pauses filled with (ummm, uhhh) - Repetitions of material already produced when recalling what about to say ◼ Changes in revision rates = ability to monitor language production ◼ 2.5 years: bilinguals can repair convo breakdowns by switching languages

Answer 15

◼Topic maintenance: commenting with more info - Repetition (to remain on topic) ◼Topic focus change: shading - Introduce new topic - Reintroduce an old topic - Ending (ends to roles, e.g., baby has stopped crying, the role is over in the game) ◼5 years: within 15 minutes of play or conversation, can engage in up to 50 topics

Answer 16

◼Better at knowing what info to include, how to arrange it, which lexical items + linguistic forms to use ◼Topic choice = based on assumption of participant knowledge + interest (e.g., ensuring you don’t talk about something that person will not be interested in (requires theory of mind)) ◼3 years: start understanding the effect of not including enough info (social consequences, they are sensitive/in tune to that very early on)

Answer 17

◼Get others to do things for them! ◼3 years: politeness distinctions (age/size, familiarity, role, etc. of listener), modulating requests/orders ◼Many explanations and justifications for requests

Answer 18

◼Self-generated stories ◼Telling familiar tales ◼Retelling of books, movies, shows ◼Recounting personal experiences ◼People, animals, or imaginary characters doing things ◼Bottom line: decontextualized monologues ◼Cultural differences ◼Event descriptions → event scripts ◼Influenced by expectations ◼Describe sets of sequences that form total event ◼Describe single events + event combos + relationships + significance in overall event structure ◼3 years: describe events in familiar activities (e.g., bday party) ◼2-3 years: self-generated, fictional narratives ◼4 years: describe event sequences ◼Structural terminology: ◼Overall organization = narrative level ◼Linking units to form a story core = centering ◼Sequence of events that share attributes + lead directly from one to another = chaining ◼2 years: chaining only ◼3 years: centering (builds story around central theme, lacks sequencing) + chaining (follows a sequence of events, around 4 years)

Answer 19

◼Theory of mind + language require similar sociocog abilities ◼Theory of mind + self-awareness develop together ◼2 years: express emotions + recognize those of others ◼4 years: relate to emotions of others + can have different perspectives ◼Better theory of mind means determining listeners’ misunderstandings, more efficient at repair with reformulated info (not just repetition) ◼Shaped by maternal speaking style

Answer 20

◼1.5 – 6 years: add words to lexicon each day - Semantically related words = easier to learn - Influence of lexical properties - Associational strategies ◼Gaps in vocab = filled with pseudowords ◼Vocab growth = f(x) maternal speech, language, and literacy skills (diversity = key) - Shared storybook reading

Answer 21

◼Interrogatives ◼Temporal Relationships ◼Location Relationships ◼Physical Relationships ◼Kinship Relationships ◼Modulating factors: - Syntactic complexity - Amount of adult usage - Underlying cognitive concept Relational Terms: Interrogatives: ◼Early question forms - what + where→who, whose, + which→ when, how, + why Relational Terms: Temporal Relationships: ◼Order words (after, before)→duration words (since, until)→simultaneity words (while, during) ◼Preschoolers cannot follow multiple directions well Relational Terms: Location Relationships: ◼2 years: in, on, and to ◼Around 3-3.5 years: next to, in front of, behind Relational Terms: Physical Relationships: ◼Short/tall, soft/hard, same/different, more/less = challenging! ◼1st learn terms are opposites, and then what dimension - 1st = positive member of pair ◼Modulating factors: - Conversational skills - Attentional skills (focus on different perceptual dimensions) Relational Terms: Kinship Relationships: ◼Limited knowledge 1) Terms for specific people based on child’s experience 2) Features / definition of person, but not the relationship ◼Parent terms (mommy)→sibling terms (brother) ◼10 years: understand kinship terms

Answer 22

- Age of acquisition - Input / exposure to languages - Environment - Social prestige of language - Differences / similarities of languages - Individual factors (motivation, aptitude, maternal SES)

Answer 23

◼Prior to 3 years ◼Rate is comparable to monolinguals ◼Social experiences are important ◼ Stages: 1) Two separate lexicons 2) Two separate lexicons, but same syntactic rules for both 3) Integrated lexicon, correct lexical and syntactic forms ◼Interdependence between languages - Transfer: use L1 sounds to produce L2 words and vice-verse - Deceleration: phonological development is slower than in monolingual peers

Answer 24

◼Most bilinguals, especially in schools ◼Stages 1) L1 use in L2 environment 2) Receptive knowledge, but little expression 3) Expression (takes time: 3-5 years) ◼Interlanguage: L1 influences L2 grammar and pronunciation ◼Omissions, over-extensions

Answer 25

◼ Early neurobiological growth ◼ Family history / genetics ◼ Hearing problems ◼ Temperament challenges ◼ Males ◼ SES (more parental education = more teaching, less parental education = teachers teaching) ◼ Poverty (household density, family instability, lack of structure, noise levels, etc.)