LEARNING GOAL 9.5: COMPARE AND CONTRAST SKINNER'S AND CHOMSKY'S THEORIES OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT Language Development

Stages of Language Learning Babbling (4 months – 1 year)  Imitate sounds they’ve heard their parents say (  By 10 months, experts can identify the language spoken at home based on the baby’s babbling One-word (1 year – 2 years)  Start with one-syllable words and work their way up  Learn a new word every day Two-word (2 years and up)  Start building simple sentences, usually following appropriate grammar rules  Learn ~5,000 words a year (13 per day)

Theories of Language Acquisition B. F. Skinner (the pigeon guy!)  Humans learn language through operant conditioning (described on next slide) Noam Chomsky  Humans are hard-wired to automatically process vocabulary and grammar – we’re predisposed to language

Conditioning and Language (Skinner) Association: linking certain sounds to certain people, objects, or feelings Imitation: speaking the way others speak Reinforcement: getting rewarded for our successful attempts at language (with smiles, hugs, etc.)

Overgeneralization Overgeneralization occurs when a child applies a grammatical rule too broadly  Example: “I goed to the store” or “There are 20 childs in my class” Supports Chomsky’s theory that we naturally internalize these rules, even without being taught

First vs. Second Languages Key components of first language acquisition:  Babbling  words  sentences  Necessary for communication  Listening/understanding  speaking  reading/writing  Formal grammar is absorbed, not taught  Language isn’t translated, but applied directly to the world; there are no other linguistic rules to interfere

Critical Period Critical period hypothesis: language learning is optimized prior to age 10 Why?  The brain finishes lateralization (where the two hemispheres specialize in different tasks) around puberty  Speech muscles finish developing around age 5  Memory recall peaks fairly early on in life  Egocentrism during the sensorimotor stage prevents children from being embarrassed to make mistakes in their language

Critical Period Case Study Genie (the “wild child”)  Locked in isolation most of her life (20 months old – 13.5 years old)  Father came in only to feed her, barked and growled at her, and beat her when she made any noise  Despite significant efforts, never learned to speak fluently  =hmdycJQi4QA =hmdycJQi4QA