Language & Social Cognition Flashcards
Describe the differences between speech, language, and communication
speech: output of sounds from one human intended for another
language: set of learned codes that can be used to express our needs to others and understand others’ needs
communication: conveying ideas to one another
phoneme
• Phonemes: basic units of sounds of a language, used to build words, phrases, sentences
ex: bat is different from cat
morpheme
• Morphemes: meaningful unit of a language, that cannot be further divided
ex: -ed is a morpheme: walk is different from walked
syntax
Syntax: grammar that dictates how words can be combined
ex: colorless green ideas sleep furiously is syntactically correct
Although the sentence is syntactically correct, no obvious understandable meaning can be derived from it, and thus it demonstrates the distinction between syntax and semantics
semantics
• Semantics: meanings of words and how they can change in context of phases and sentences
ex: colorless green ideas sleep furiously is semantically nonsensical
Although the sentence is syntactically/grammatically correct, no obvious understandable meaning can be derived from it, and thus it demonstrates the distinction between syntax and semantics
pragmatics
pragmatics: rules of when to use language in particular
circumstances
ex: taking turns in conversation
Explain why the sentence “Colorless green ideas sleep furiously” is interesting to people
interested in language
Although the sentence is grammatically correct, no obvious understandable meaning can be derived from it, and thus it demonstrates the distinction between syntax and semantics
Explain what Patricia Kuhl means when she says that infants are born as “citizens of the
world”
Infants are born as “citizens of the world” (Patricia
Kuhl), able to recognize phonemes/acquire any
language
Explain why infants’ ability to learn words is so impressive and describe how statistical learning works broadly and how it might help explain how infants are able to learn words, especially how they’re able to decipher the beginnings and ends of words
Statistical learning: acquisition of structured
information by passive observation; no feedback,
reinforcement, or instruction required
Word segmentation cues: words in isolation,
pauses, prosodic cues (e.g., stresses on syllables),
correlations with objects/events in environment,
statistical cues
Transitional probabilities
— cute baby vs. cute puppy
Define an oronym
Oronyms: words or phrases that sound the same but
mean something quite different; typically the result
of breaking up sounds into different units
ex: madgab
- The stuff he knows can lead to problems
- The stuffy nose can lead to problems
Have a broad sense of developmental milestones in vocalization/speech and in language comprehension, i.e., you don’t need to know that at x months, a baby can do y, but you should know the general progression
vocal play —> babbling —> comprehension —> word production
Vocal play (4-6 mths) Babbling (6-10 mths) Single words (10-18 mths) Two words, telegraphic speech (~18-24 mths)
Adult-like sentences (~2.5 yrs)
Vocabulary of ~10,000 words by age six
Comprehension precedes production: Can understand many more words before they can speak them
, e.g., vocal play early on before babbling, and how comprehension precedes production
Have a broad sense of developmental milestones in vocalization/speech and in language comprehension, i.e., you don’t need to know that at x months, a baby can do y, but you should know the general progression
vocal play (4) —> babbling (6) —> single words (10-18) —> two words (18-24) —> adult-like sentences (2 years)
Vocal play (4-6 mths) Babbling (6-10 mths) Single words (10-18 mths) Two words, telegraphic speech (~18-24 mths) Adult-like sentences (~2.5 yrs) Vocabulary of ~10,000 words by age six
Comprehension precedes production: Can understand many more words before they can speak them
babies begin to use vocal play as they gain more control over their oral structures. They put vowels and consonants together and make true speech sounds. They also start to make non-speech sounds such as raspberries, yelling, and growling —> Reduplicated babbling is the repetition of a syllable several times, such as “ba ba ba ba”. Babies are now able to make several in one breath and will attempt to imitate adult sounds.
e.g., vocal play early on before babbling, and how comprehension precedes production
Describe the Wug test and what it demonstrated about language learning
gave kids nonsense words and prompted to complete a statement about it
ex: This is a WUG. Now there is another one. There are two of them. There are two________
A child who knows that the plural of witch is witches may have heard and memorized that pair, but a child responding that the plural of wug is wugs, has apparently inferred the basic rule for forming plurals
conjugations, possessives, and other common derivational morphemes
even young children possess implicit knowledge of linguistic morphology
——
Gleason’s major finding was that even very young children are able to connect suitable endings—to produce plurals, past tenses, possessives, and other forms—to nonsense words they have never heard before, implying that they have already internalized systematic aspects of the linguistic system which no one has necessarily tried to teach them
“Wug test” demonstrated that children can apply rules they’ve learned to novel situations, i.e., they don’t just imitate grammatical forms they’ve already heard others say.
Describe some typical errors children make when learning language
Overextension: tendency to use specific words to refer
to a broad class of objects (e.g., ”truck” to refer to all
motor vehicles)
Under-extension: tendency to use a general word to
refer to a smaller set of items (e.g., ”cereal” to refer to
Cheerios but not Fruit Loops)
Over-regularization: tendency to overuse grammatical
rules when they don’t apply (e.g., “two mouses,” “I
sawed the bird in the tree,” “I undarked it.”)
Errors parsing/understanding words, e.g., “I am have!”
(in response to “Behave!”); “I don’t want to go to your
ami” (in response to “We’re doing to Miami.”); “I want
boy cheese” (not “girl cheese,” aka grilled cheese)
Describe what characterizes “parentese”
Child-directed speech: • Slower • More animated • Wider pitch variations • Wider vowel contrasts • Heavier on questions and commands (fewer declarative sentences) • Preferred by newborns • Near universal, i.e., used by parents and non-parents in almost all cultures
** Parentese is not baby talk (“goo-goo, ga-ga”)
Describe the debate over whether language is learned vs. innate and some evidence for both sides
learned:
- language learned through imitation and reinforcement
- Children are excellent statistical learners
innate (linguistic nativism):
-babies are not blank slates, but instead come wired for language
-“Poverty of the input”: children don’t hear enough
examples of language to build a working model
from scratch
Best idea is it’s a mixture of both: Babies do seem
primed for language learning, but they need input
