Language

 vNDOiE vNDOiE  D2vNeqY D2vNeqY

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

1. Phonemes: the smallest distinctive sound unit.  How many phonemes are in the word: Cheat? 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?”

 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. Syntax: the rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences in a given language.

 Semantic Examples: adding –ed to end of word does what?  Adding –s to a noun does what?  Syntax Examples: In English adjectives come before nouns but the opposite is true in Spanish.  Pretty girl  Chica bonita

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

1. Two-Word Stage  beginning about age 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

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

 VS.

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.

Language is enabled by a:  Language Acquisition Device: humans are born with innate abilities to acquire language.  Argued although children do learn the language of their environment, the rate they acquire words and grammar without being taught is too astonishing to be explained purely from external learning principles.  Subscribed to idea of the “critical period,” a time when something must happen for development to proceed normally.  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.”

Linguistic Determinism (lingusitic relativity): Benjamin Whorf’s idea that language determines the way we think.  English has many self-focused emotions vs. Japanese which has many words for interpersonal emotions.

 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