W5 Flashcards
(44 cards)
Holophrastic-
expressing a complex idea with a single word or phrase
telegraphic-
omitting inessential words from speech
overextension-
when a child uses a single word to refer to multiple objects or concepts
underextension-
a failure to use a word across its full adult range
Taxonomic assumption-
a word learning bias that children use to extend a new word to similar objects
U-shaped learning-
a learning pattern where a learner first learns something, unlearns it, then relearns it
child-directed speech-
the way a person’s linguistic characteristics alter when speaking to an infant
nativism-
the concept that mental capacities and structures are innate as opposed to being acquired by learning
fast mapping-
a theory of language wherein children learn new words quickly by connecting them to concepts or meanings
language acquisition device (LAD)-
a hypothetical tool in the human brain that lets children learn and understand language quickly
mean length of utterance (MLU)-
the average number of morphemes per utterance
what did Nadig and Sedivy (2002) find
children, at a young age, are able to use others’ perspectives to interpret language in ways that go beyond simple word meaning
outline babbling stage
- 4-9 months
- Meaningless, speech-like vocalisations
- Simple structure
- Change in sound discrimination skill
- first sounds are universal, then more language-specific
- not independent of later speech development
- phonetic content found in babbling overlaps with phonetic preferences in later meaningful speech
outline two word stage
- different from idiomatic (unanalysed chunks) expressions such as thank you
- most often nouns
- lack of grammatical markers
- beginning of syntax
- combining words together
out line one word (holophrastic) stage
- names and objects in baby’s life
- nouns- physical objects they can see, touch, eat
- easy to produce
- high in frequency
outline telegraphic stage
- 24-30 months
- 3-word expressions
- Very quick progressions
how is phonology established before birth
- Foetuses hear impoverished sounds in womb
- High frequencies are blocked by amniotic fluid, so can’t hear individual words
- Can hear prosody, including rhythm, stress, intonation, duration
what did DeCasper & Spence (1986) find
- 16 mothers read the cat in the hat 2x daily during final 6.5 weeks of pregnancy
- Tested when born
- New-borns preferred familiar story
- Can distinguish prosody
how do newborns react to sounds
- New-born- head turns to noise, is calmed by voice (prefers mother’s voice), can discriminate between many different sounds
what are types of child directed speech
- Phonological differences- slower, higher in pitch, exaggerated, intonation, clearly segmented
- Shorter and simpler sentences
- Lots of repetition of words
- More diminutives (kitty/horsey)- especially talking to girls, possibly helps with acquiring noun morphology
does child directed speech help
- Can facilitate language learning, but might not be essential for it
outline the behaviourist approach to speech acquisition
- Skinner
- Language is learned in response to stimuli
- Children learn language through imitation and reinforcement
- New-borns are blank state
issues with behaviourist approach to speech acquisition
- Issue of poverty of the stimulus- the input is degenerate (full of dysfluencies, mispronunciations) and insufficient (not enough examples exposed to in order to work out the underlying rules)
- Issue of imitation/reinforcement- this is not always done or followed. Children often use ungrammatical language they have never heard before. Parents rarely correct grammar
outline nativist account of speech development
- Language capacity is innate- language acquisition device
- Children do not need instruction, don’t rely on imitation or reinforcement
- Children worldwide learn grammar approximately at the same age- universal grammar
