Development of Language Language refers to our spoken

Development of Language ▶ Language: refers to our spoken, written, or gestured words and how they are combined to communicate.

Language: Building Blocks 1. Phonemes: the smallest distinctive sound unit. ▶ How many phonemes are in the word: Cheat? Tom? Brady?

2. Morphemes: the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix) ▶ How many Morphemes are in the word “previewed? ” ▶ How many Morphemes are in the word “rabbits?

Language: The Rules ▶ Grammar: a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others. Includes semantics and syntax. ▶ Semantics: the study of meaning; rules for how we get meaning from morphemes, words, and sentences in a given language. ▶ Semantic Examples: adding –ed to end of word does what? ▶ Adding –s to a noun does what?

Examples of Language Rules ▶ Syntax: the rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences in a given language. ▶ Syntax Examples: In English adjectives come before nouns but the opposite is true in Spanish. ▶ Pretty girl ▶ Chica bonita

▶ Overgeneralization: Applying a specific language rule to all situations: ▶ Ex. Add –ed to make past tense: “I walked to the store. ” “ I rided to the store. ”

Stages of Language 1. Babbling Stage: 1. 2. beginning at 3 to 4 months the stage of speech development in which the infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language One word stage: 1. 2. from about age 1 to 2 the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly in single words, but those words carry meaning

Stages of Language 1. Two-Word Stage beginning about age 2 2. the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly two-word statements **Telegraphic Speech 1. early speech stage in which the child speaks like a telegram – “go car” – using mostly nouns and verbs and omitting “auxiliary” words -Occurs later in two-word stage 1.

Language Summary of Language Development Month (approximate) Stage 4 Babbles many speech sounds. 10 Babbling reveals households language. 12 One-word stage. 24 Two-word, telegraphic speech. 24+ Language develops rapidly into Complete sentences.

Theories of Language Development: B. F. Skinner vs. Noam Chomsky A. K. A. Dudes I Need to Know For the Test ▶ VS.

Theory 1: Skinner Believed We Learn Language Through Learning Techniques (Class. Cond. , Op. Cond, Observation) (Nurture Argument) Tools for learning language according to Skinner: 1. Association: associate the sight of things with certain sound of words 2. Imitation: watch models speaking words and syntax and then we imitate them. 3. Reinforcement: given positive feedback and words of encouragement when we speak correctly.

Theory 2: Chomsky Believes Our Brains Are Hardwired With Inborn Universal Grammar. (Nature Argument) Language is enabled by a: ■ Language Acquisition Device: humans are born with innate abilities to acquire language. ■ the rate they acquire words and grammar without being taught is too astonishing ▶ Believes Our Brains Are Hardwired With Inborn Universal Grammar. (Nature Argument) ▶ Subscribed to idea of the “critical period, ” a time when something must happen for development to proceed normally.

Benjamin Whorf: Language and Thinking ▶ Linguistic Determinism (linguistic relativity): ▶ idea that language determines the way we think. ▶ English has many self-focused emotions vs. Japanese which has many words for interpersonal emotions.

Linguistic Relativity and Doublespeak ▶ Double-Speak: ▶ ▶ describes when language is used to disguise the actual meaning and possibly mislead people. Examples: ▶ ▶ “Downsizing”=multiple firings of employees. “Physical Persuasion”=torture “Collateral Damage”=death of civilians “Concentration Camp”=labor/death camp

▶ Whorf video