LanguageLanguage Turning Thoughts into Words

What is Language? Language consists of symbols that convey meaning, plus rules for combining those symbols, that can be used to generate an infinite variety of messages. Language is: Symbolic

The Structure of Language Is hierarchical and composed of: Phonemes- smallest speech units in a language that can be distinguished perceptually (English has 40) Morphemes- smallest units of meaning in a language Ex: Fire (1) unfriendly (3)

More Structure Syntax- a system of rules that specify how words can be arranged into sentences. Ex: A sentence must have a noun phrase and a verb phrase An article(such as the) must come before the word it modifies (the swimmer)

Language Milestones 3 months babies can distinguish all the sounds of all possible languages. Eventually they lose this ability and only hear their own languages. 1st 6 months: Infants vocalize but its mostly crying, cooing, laughing and babbling.

More Milestones months: Utter sounds that correspond to words (dada, mama, papa) These sounds are easy to produce months: Typically say words Receptive vocabulary Productive vocabulary Understand more than you can say Nouns(objects) before verbs(action)

….And more Milestones months: Vocabulary spurt Fast mapping Overextensions Underextension 2 years: combine words into sentences Telegraphic speech 3 year: More complex sentences with plural and past tenses overregularizations

Cultural Influences Does a cultural group’s language determine their thought? Will you perceive the world differently if you are Chinese or American?

Benjamin Whorf’s Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis One’s language determines the nature of one’s thought Ex: English language has one 1 word for snow while the Eskimo language has many words for it (falling snow, wet snow etc) Critics of him say that Whorf ignored the variety of English words for snow such as slush, sleet etc.

Is Language Innate or Learned? Language acquisition is a process involved in acquiring language. Behaviorists (Skinner) children learn vocabulary and how to construct it by watching others Nativists (Noam Chomsky) humans have an inborn tendency to learn language (LAD)

Noam Chomsky & Eric Lenneberg All children have the same innate capabilities and work at the same time periods. Eric Lenneberg (1967): Critical Period Hypothesis: There is a developmental deadline for learning language, if not acquired by puberty it is too late. Strong version Weak Version

Eric Lenneberg (1967): Critical Period Hypothesis: There is a developmental deadline for learning language, if not acquired by puberty it is too late. –Oxana: C_wM C_wM –Relates to the Genie Case

Interactionist Theories Both biology and experience is important Neural circuits supporting language are not prewired but emerge gradually We are biologically equip to learn language Social exchanges are important