Language Acquisition Flashcards
(41 cards)
innate
determined by factors present from birth
innateness hypothesis
a hypothesis that humans are generally predisposed to learn and use language
Imitation Theory
child language acquisition theory that claims that children acquire language by listening to the speech around them and reproducing what they hear
Reinforcement Theory
theory of child language acquisition which 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
Active Construction of a Grammar Theory
theory of child language which says that children acquire language by inventing rules of grammar based on the speech around them
Connectionist Theories
theory of language acquisition which claims that children learn language through neural connections in the brain. A child develops such connections through exposure to the language and by using language
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
linguistic universals
property believed to be held in common by all natural languages
Universal grammar
the theory that posits a set of grammatical characteristics shared by all natural languages
critical period
age span, usually described as lasting from birth to the onset of 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
feral child
child who grew up in the wild without care by human adults, often with animals
neglected child
child who is neglected by caretakers, often resulting in significantly lower exposure to language as a child
homesign system
a rudimentary visual-gestural communication system that is developed and used by deaf children and their families when a signed language is not made available for their communication
rules
formal statement of an observed generalization about patterns in language
child-directed speech
speech used by parents or caregivers when communicating with young children or infants. In Western society characterized by slow and high-pitched speech with many repetitions, simplified syntax, exaggerated intonation and simple, concrete vocab
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 sued to draw conclusions about discrimination abilities
Conditioned Head-Turn Procedure
experimental technique used with infants between five and eighteen months with conditioning and testing phase. Conditioning phase= infant learns to associate a change in sound with the activation of visual reinforcers, 1st presented at same time, then in succession so that the infant begins to anticipate the appearance of visual reinforcers and look at them before they are activated. Testing phase= when infant looks to the visual reinforcers immediately after a change in sound, it suggests that the infant has perceived a change in sound, thereby demonstrating the ability to discriminate between the two sounds involved
voice onset time (VOT)
The length of time between the release of a consonant and the onset of voicing, that is when the vocal folds start vibrating
articulatory gestures
movement of a speech organ in the production of speech. (i.e. velum moves to produce a nasal consonant)
babble
phase in child language acquisition during which the child produces meaningless sequences of consonants and vowels. Generally begins around the age of six months
canonical babbling
continuous repetition of sequences of vowels and consonants like [mamamamama] by infants. (repeated babbling)
variegated babbling
production of meaningless consonant vowel sequences by infants
holophrastic stage
stage in first language acquisition during which children can produce only one word at a time
telegraphic
phase during child language acquisition in which children use utterances composed primarily of content words
