Week 9: Language Development

Question 1

What is language the interaction of?

Answer 1

Biology and environment:
We are all hard wired to learn language but our environment dictates what language we will learn

Question 2

How many languages are there in the world?

Answer 2

5000

Question 3

What are the four key language features?

Answer 3

1. Symbolic Main: We can envision what is communicated with language
2. Generative: The same basic language units can form different words or variation of words
3. Arbitrary: No inherent reason behind why words hold their meaning/reference
4. Displacement: Language can refer to things in the past, present and future

Question 4

What is the meaning of portmanteous?

Answer 4

The splicing together of two or more words to create one singular word with meaning
EX. Friend + Enemy = Frienemy

Question 5

What is Phonology?

Answer 5

Most basic sound unit of language

Question 6

What is a Phoneme?

Answer 6

The shortest sound unit of speech in a language

Question 7

How many phonemes do most languages have?

Answer 7

Between 30-45
Canada = 44
Hawaii = 11
African dialects = 60

Question 8

What is the general progression of phoneme detection in infants?

Answer 8

Birth - 6months: infants can detect phoneme changes in all languages
6-12months: infants become more skilled at discriminating phonemes within their own language and are worse with other languages
Post 12 months: infants become specialized in learning the languages that they are exposed to

Question 9

At what age do infants begin to respond more to caregivers actions and can respond to certain words such as “wave bye bye” ? What is the significance of this?

Answer 9

10-12 months
this suggests that infants understand language before they can produce it verbally for themselves

Question 10

What is perceptual scaffolding?

Answer 10

Tendency for children to learn language faster when they are first oriented to an object - learning of basic sensory patterns
EX: “Sophie look at this elephant” vs “This is an elephant”

Question 11

What is an infant’s phonological language progression?

Answer 11

0-7 months: baby makes first attempts at vocalizations typically using vowel sounds “oooooh” and “aaahhhh”

7-Months: Infants begin to babble alternating between cosonant and vowel sounds “dadada” “mamamama” - the repetition helps the baby to learn what sounds they are capable of

1yr + : Infant’s ability to understand and produce language accelerates very quickly 1 word to multiple words by age 2

Question 12

What part of the brain caters to an infant’s phonological limitations?

Answer 12

Left hemisphere

Question 13

What is a Minimal Word?

Answer 13

Marks an intermediate phase of development in which pronunciation is partly right and partly wrong
EX. Dinosaur - “Sinosaur”

Question 14

What is Morphology?

Answer 14

Basic unit of meaning in language
EX. “Truck” consists of four phonemes but only one morpheme
EX. Table has two syllables but only one morpheme

Question 15

What is Holophrase?

Answer 15

A single word that can have multiple semantic meanings
EX. “Doggie” can mean “I see dog” “I want to pet dog” “I like the dog”

Question 16

How many words does an infant use at 18 months old?

Answer 16

Approx 50

Question 17

How many words can a preschooler acquire per day?

Answer 17

10 new words /day

Question 18

What is Fast Mapping?

Answer 18

The ability for a child to link a word to it’s reference after only hearing the word once.

Question 19

What is joint attention helpful in teaching children new words?

Answer 19

At first, a child can only learn a new word if they and the speaker are both focused on the object

By 24-30 months an infant can fast-map on their own after hearing a word indirectly / passively

Question 20

What are processing constraints?

Answer 20

They help children to narrow down the meaning of a new word.

Question 21

What are scope constraints ? Give an example?

Answer 21

Type of processing constraint which refers to how far the meaning or effect in a linguistic element extends in a sentence.
EX. if you show a toddler a koala, they will assume that the word koala refers to the entire koala as opposed to one part of the koala

Question 22

What is a lexical constraint? Give example.

Answer 22

How contrasting word choices create meaning through opposition.
EX. If a parent says “look at the doggie, it’s a poodle” a child will conclude that a poodle is a type of dog (assuming they already know what a dog is)

Question 23

What are the two primariy mistakes children make during vocabulary exploration?

Answer 23

1. Overextension: extending a word to multiple things
   EX. Child calls any four legged fuzzy creature a dog
2. Underextension: Thinking that the term “dog” only applies to their family pet

Question 24

What is Phonological memory and what does it tell us ?

Answer 24

When a child is given a nonsense word and are asked to repeat it back to the examiner. Children who can do this task well are generally more fluent readers and children who cannot do this task well are at greater risk of developing dyslexia.

Question 25

What are the different types of learning styles?

Answer 25

Referential: The thought that words are mostly for naming objects *typical in first borns* Expressive: Involves a more diverse vocabulary *typical of younger children*

Question 26

What is the Monological Myth?

Answer 26

The mistaken assumption that learning one language is better than learning multiple languages. Early on, researchers believed that children only had the mental capacity to learn one language and that by learning a second, this would take away from knowing their original language. In the 1970s, researchers found these initial findings to be false and determined that bilingualism benefits include: 1. Enhance Executive Control Functions 2. Better at seeing other's perspectives and adapting other's perspectives when need be 3. Superior in picking up non-verbal cues

Question 27

What are semantics?

Answer 27

The meaning of words and sentences

Question 28

What is syntax?

Answer 28

Combining of morphemes and words to produce grammatically correct sentences and phrases

Question 29

What was the key takeaway from the Wug study?

Answer 29

Tested 4-5yrs olds Shows that we do not learn language by memorizing words but rather through general rules and we apply these rules to new words when heard

Question 30

What is the difference between syntactical use in preschool vs with 5 and 6 yr olds?

Answer 30

Preschool: applying grammatical rule without realizing exceptional cases EX. "The sun goed down" vs "The sun went down" Elementary: Most are using grammatically correct rules similar to adults

Question 31

What did the key study on semantics reflect?

Answer 31

Key takeaway: 4and 5 year olds misinterpret passive construction - common to assume that the first noun in a sentence is an agent and the second is the object

Question 32

What are pragmatics?

Answer 32

learning how language is used in a particular context?

Question 33

What are the key skills related to pragmatics?

Answer 33

1. Acquiring convo skills 2. Clear communication 3. Narrative building 4. Sociolinguistic Understanding

Question 34

What is a turnabout?

Answer 34

Speaker replied then adds something "How are you? "I am good, you?"

Question 35

What is Illocutionary Intent?

Answer 35

What someone means to say beyong what they actually say

Question 36

What are referential communication skills?

Answer 36

ability to produce clear verbal messages and recognizing when the messages we receive are unclear.

Question 37

What are the three different types of narrative phases ?

Answer 37

1. Leapfrog (3-4yrs): presumes more shared information than the listener has 2. Chronological (5yrs): Can tell narrative in chronological order but will still skip over key information 3. Classical (6yrs): Use of connective words and provides key info + clear resolution to the story

Question 38

What is an example of sociolinguistic understanding?

Answer 38

learning to be polite when making requests by using "please" and "thank you"

Question 39

What is the behaviourist view on how children acquire language?

Answer 39

Children learn language through observation and imitation. Greatest emphasis is on a child's environment

Question 40

What are the key flaws to the behaviourist view of how children acquire language?

Answer 40

children do not always repeat what they hear and rather, apply general syntax rules parents are not always explicitly teaching their children language

Question 41

What is the nativist view on how children acquire language?

Answer 41

Noam Chomsky Children master language spontaneously even with minimal language exposure because they are equipped with the necessary brain structures that help them to learn language

Question 42

What are the key brain structures that help children acquire knowledge according to Noam Chomsky?

Answer 42

1. Broca's Area: located in left frontal lobe - essential in language production - where the plan for speech is carried out and processed - When this area is damaged, the person's speech is either absent or severely damaged 2. Wernicke's Area: Junction of the parietal and temporal lobes - necessary for understanding the meaning of language - When we want to speak, we formulate what we want to say in the Wernick's area which then transmits the plan to the Broca

Question 43

What is Broca's Amnesia?

Answer 43

When someone knows what they want to say but has immense difficulty saying it - may get out only a few nouns

Question 44

What are the key factors to Nativist perspective?

Answer 44

1. Only humans learn grammar readily 2. There is a strong link between growth of vocab and mastery of grammar - arises out of social necessity 3. There is a critical period for learning language

Question 45

What is the language acquisition device? (LAD)

Answer 45

Inborn linguistic processor that is activated by verbal input in whatever language they are exposed to Once children have acquired a sufficient vocab, their LAD permits them to combine words into grammatically consistent, novel utterances and to understand the meaning of sentences that they hear

Question 46

What is the social interactionist perspective on how children acquire language?

Answer 46

languages arise from a combination of biological maturation and environmental experiences. Conversations are more important than exposure to talking. Emphasis on reading stories in an interactive way with kids.