Week 8: Language Development Flashcards

Question

When do babies begin babbling?

Answer 1

By 6 months Repeating consonant-vowel combinations such as babababa and dadadadada

Answer 2

-Restrict their sounds to phonemes in the language they are hearing -pick up intonation patterns of that language

Answer 3

Even babies with hearing impairments typically begin to babble by around 6 months, following the same early vocal milestones as hearing babies. This is considered part of typical development and is largely driven by motor maturation. However, after this point, auditory input becomes crucial for continued language development. Without access to sound, deaf children often begin to fall behind in speech and language skills. This is why the timing of cochlear implantation is so important—the earlier the device is implanted, the better the chances of supporting typical language development. Importantly, early exposure to sign language can help reduce the negative impacts of auditory deprivation, offering a rich, accessible language input during a critical time for development. This is a strong example of a sensitive period in language development—an optimal window when the brain is especially responsive to language input, whether spoken or signed.

Answer 4

Babies arrive prepared for aspects of conversational behaviour. E.g. initiating interaction by making eye contact.

Answer 5

Babies start to gaze in the same general direction as adults are looking. This skill, which becomes more accurate by 10–11 months, facilitates joint attention

Answer 6

Joint attention is when two people (usually an adult and a child) focus on the same object or event at the same time, while also being aware that they’re sharing that focus. It usually involves gestures like pointing, showing, or eye-gazing, and happens alongside social cues like smiling or vocalizing. This is important for language development as it's important for understanding others intentions, holding conversations, supporting vocabulary growth and connection objects with their meaning Present at 10-11 months

Answer 7

Babies start to use pointing to communicate and employ two communicative pointing gestures: The protodeclarative gesture: In which they point to, touch, or hold up an object to draw others’ attention to it. The protoimperative gesture: In which the baby gets another person to do something for them by pointing to or reaching for an object (often with accompanying sounds).

Answer 8

the baby points to, touches, or holds up an object to draw others’ attention to it.

Answer 9

the baby gets another person to do something for them by pointing to or reaching for an object (often with accompanying sounds).

Answer 10

the respective roles that nature and nurture play when it comes to language acquisition.

Answer 11

Emphasises the role of nature * Universal Grammar: “A built in storehouse of rules common to all human languages” (Berk, 2013, p. 361). * Common components or properties of language include: -The notion that words can be classified into different groups, e.g. nouns and verbs -The notion that sentences will follow a particular structure. For example: * Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) in English * Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) in Japanese

Answer 12

* Language Acquisition Device (LAD): “A set of linguistic processing skills believed to be innate … that enables a child to infer the rules governing others’ speech and then use these rules to produce language” In other words, it’s a built-in mental structure or storehouse of universal grammar—the basic principles shared across all languages. When sensory input/exposure to language interacts with the LAD, it leads to the development of the child’s grammatical competence—their ability to understand and produce language according to grammatical rules.

Answer 13

* The “learnability factor” = Children acquire a very complex communication system very rapidly without formal instruction (you don't sit down and tell a child of 18 months syntax rules but they have inferred them) * A universal sequence = Language development appears to follow a species wide maturational plan (all children seem to progress through the same stages at the same time) * A sensitive period for language development * E.g. Those who learned ASL in adolescence or adulthood never became as proficient at any aspect of language as those who learned in childhood e.g. Jeanie (extreme deprivation case) -> never learnt grammar, could only learn vocab

Answer 14

No agreement on universal grammar rules across languages Contradicts observation of development * More experimentation and learning involved in language development than Chomsky assumed (development of language in children is not as simple as unfolding an inborn grammar blueprint) * Theory lacks comprehensiveness - Ignores quality of language input (richness and clarity of input - how much and how adults talk to children matters a lot) - Ignores role of social experience (children learn best in social settings through shared attention, back and forth conversation + emotional connection).

Answer 15

“Children’s biologically based competencies and their language environment interact to shape the course of language development” Social Interactionist Theories Language learning is the product of: * A strong desire to understand others and to be understood by them (nature), AND * Immersion in a rich language environment (nurture)

Answer 16

A structure located in the left frontal lobe that of the cerebral cortex that supports grammatical processing and language production.

Answer 17

A language structure located in the left temporal lobe of the cerebral cortex that plays a role in comprehending word meaning (mental dictionary -> matches input with store)

Answer 18

1st birthday

Answer 19

specific parts of the brain have distinct functions Yes and no. Broca's and Wernicke's both have distinct function but communication between the areas is also vital

Answer 20

convey meaning by the way you say words e.g. up at end of sentence to make question

Answer 21

12-18 months * First recognisable words appear at around 12 months * These first words: - Reflect the sounds a child is able to produce -Often start with a consonant and end with a vowel, e.g. ma, da -Often include repeated syllables, e.g. mama, dada - Use the same consonant syllables used in earlier babbling - Holophrase: A single word used to express an entire sentence’s worth of meaning.

Answer 22

A single word used to express an entire sentence’s worth of meaning. Can often be interrupted by the listener in many ways

Answer 23

From about 18 months, children tackle challenging words by using strategies that enable them to utilise their limited pronunciation capacities to produce words that resemble adult utterances. E.g. Final consonant deletion: Gi me my du ba →Give me my duck back E.g. weak syllable deletion - child often articulate only the weak part of word i.e. nana instead of banana

Answer 24

Minimal words, focus on: * Stressed syllable & its vowel consonant combination Add ending consonant Adjust vowel length Add unstressed syllables Produce full word, correct stress pattern

Answer 25

* Children’s comprehension develops ahead of production -> this reflects a difference in memory processes i.e. the difference between recognition and recall - comprehension only needs recognition whereas production requires both Production * Initially vocab gains are slow (1-3 words per week) * Rapid vocab gains between 18-24 months (1-2 words per day)

Answer 26

Object and action -More objects than actions -Objects are easier concepts, adults rarely name verbs -Influenced by culture and language (i.e. Asian countries tend to use more action words than nouns/ objects so action words develop faster) State -Modifiers or labels for attributes – size, color, possession -Learn general distinctions before specific

Answer 27

. bottle, car, digger, shoe

Answer 28

ta, up, cuddles, out

Answer 29

. red [car], big [dog], my [bag], dump [truck]

Answer 30

Using a word to refer to a wider set of objects, actions, or events than is appropriate. * E.g. A toddler calling all furry, four-legged animals “doggie” -Very common

Answer 31

Using a word to refer to a smaller set of objects, actions, or events than is appropriate. * E.g. A toddler using the word “doggie” only to refer to a particular type of dog – schnauzers for example.

Answer 32

Children may overextend word meanings not because they misunderstand but because they only have small vocabularies. * By 2 ½ -3 these types of semantic errors → less common i.e. children just want to communicate and dont have the vocab so it's better to do it even its wrong

Answer 33

Steven pinker -> leader in language acquisition Children learning new word every couple of hours (at 18 months)

Answer 34

assimilation from Piaget's theory - Using existing concepts to explain new stimuli

Answer 35

Gender (girls slightly ahead than boys due to faster physical maturation meaning better coordination of head jaws and mouth) Temperament (if shy might hold back on speaking and can effect how much interaction you get) Language environment (quality of home literacy experiences - enriched better than insufficient and things like reading books has a huge impact because it exposes children to language that they don't normally get to experience in everyday life) Language style * Referential = A style of early language learning in which children use language mainly to label objects -> fast acquisition of words, vocab grows fast * Expressive = A style of early language learning in which children use language mainly to talk about their own and others feelings -> means the child is highly sociable

Answer 36

Big vocabulary increase (exponential from grades 1 to 3 to 5) * Due to Fast-mapping: The process whereby children begin to understand the meaning of a new word after only hearing it once (this ability disappears in adulthood) * The role of reading which also grows vocab fast beyoung the words that we hear everyday Use words precisely, understand multiple meanings – metaphors, puns

Answer 37

18–24 months This is known as telegraphic speech _> Early 2-word sentences that consist primarily of content words and omit smaller, less important one. E.g. more milk, all gone, no juice * Similar to holophrases: The same telegraphic phrase can convey a variety of messages * Used by children all over the world

Answer 38

-Three-word sentences appear. -From 2 ½ –3, children’s speech indicates that they have begun to master the grammatical categories of their language. -* Foots and goed (shows that children have begun to recognise grammatical rules like adding s for plural and ed for past tense) -> these are exceptions to the rules (overregularisation)

Answer 39

- The over application of regular grammatical patterns to words that patterns to words that require irregular irregular modification.

Answer 40

Gleason devised the Wug Test to gauge children's acquisition of morphological rules. Target word Is paired with plausible sounding word that carries a morphological rule– they are not real words though which means they can't have memorized the pairs For example, this is a wug, now there is another one. There are two of them. There are two ______ answer is wugs

Answer 41

Nonexistence * No biscuit; All gone chips Rejection * No wash hair; No eat carrots Denial * That not my dog Appear from 2 ½ –3 years

Answer 42

Rising intonations Subject–auxiliary verb inversion * The dog is here. (Statement) * Is the dog here? (Question) Correct yes–no questions precede wh- questions

Answer 43

Connectives * I got up and then I had my breakfast. Tag questions *You’re John, aren’t you? Passive sentences *The window was broken by Sarah. Appear between 3 ½ –6 years

Answer 44

Recasts: Adult responses that restructure children’s grammatically incorrect speech into correct form (Berk, p. 389) e.g.I Gotted new shorts -> I got new shorts * Expansions: Adult responses that elaborate on children’s speech, increasing its complexity (Berk, p. 389) e.g. Daddy home -> Daddy is home → Often used in combination

Week 8: Language Development Flashcards

(69 cards)