© Richard Goldman October 31, 2006 Module 22 Language Chapter 7, Pages 265-274 Essentials of Understanding Psychology- Sixth Edition PSY110 Psychology © Richard Goldman October 31, 2006

Grammar: Language’s Language Phonology – Study of basic parts of speech Phonemes: 58 different sounds used in English 869 different sounds used world wide Smallest language uses 15 phonemes Largest uses 141 phonemes Syntax – Rules of sentence structure Semantics – The meaning of words

Language Development 3 months – 1 year 6 months – 8 months ~1 year Babbling – practicing making sounds Can differentiate and imitate all 869 phonemes 6 months – 8 months Start to specialize on sounds in their environment Begins to lose ability identify unheard phonemes (Makes it very difficult or impossible to acquire the ability to “hear” (perceive) or create these sounds later in life.) ~1 year Stop producing sound not being heard

Language Production ~1 year ~2 year ~2 ½ years ~3 years ~5 years Comprehension precedes production (They can understand some of what you say before the can speak.) Start with short words with b, d, m, p, & t. ~2 year Vocabulary of ~50 words Start grouping words together ~2 ½ years Vocabulary of several hundred words Telegraphic Speech - Start short sentences (Subject and predicate without other parts of grammar) ~3 years Can pluralize nouns and create past tense Many overgeneralization errors ~5 years Has acquired basic rules of language

Language Acquisition Learning-theory Approach Language is learned through reinforcement and conditioning. The more parents speak to their children the more language they learn Language-acquisition Device (neural system) Humans are born with an innate linguistic capability. All languages share a universal grammar.