Language Development: Background Jan. 8, 2009

What is language? Text: systematic and conventional use of sounds (or signs or written symbols) for the purpose of communication or self- expression. OED: the system of spoken or written communication used by a particular country, people, community, etc., typically consisting of words used within a regular grammatical and syntactic structure

Definition cont. Others:  concrete act of speaking  abstract system underlying the collective totality of the speech/writing behaviour of a community  the biological faculty which enables individual to learn and use their communication systems  a defining feature of human behaviour Definitions can indicate biases

Parts of Language Phonetics and phonology: the constituent sounds of a language Fen /fεn/

Parts of Language Semantics: meanings of words Lexicon: vocabulary and knowledge of derivational morphology (word building) Fen Low land covered wholly or partially with water; boggy land; a marsh. Fenny

Parts of Language Grammar: the structural organization of words and morphemes (inflectional morphology)  Morphology: combining units of meaning (words and morphemes)  Syntax: combining words into sentences Fen Fens The word fen comes from Old English. English fen the Old comes word from. John accidently walks into the fen John accidently walk into the fen.

Parts of Language Pragmatics: understanding meaning of others beyond words (communicative function) Sociolinguistics: transmittal of information to others in socially appropriate ways Much overlap Fen Eww. My ball went into the fen. Go get it for me. Fens are ugly and smelly. Oh, my ball mistakenly went into the fen and I am wearing my new shoes. What can I possibly do? Fens are hardy and stark ecosystems and the strong odour indicates the cycle of life.

Language Development 5-year-olds are old fogies.

Why study language? Extremely complex, so need to explain its fast acquisition.  Cognition.  Nature versus nurture. Human.  Social needs. Indicator of status. Variation.  Linguistic.

History of language research: Origin stories Religions/mythologies of many cultures have language origin stories. Hindu: Brahma punished world tree by cutting off branches, new trees = new cultures/lang. Native American: post-flood or over a dispute. Greeks: Hermes gave differing speech to people to invoke discord Africa: post-famine The people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do; and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.

History of language research: Ancient First experiment: Psammetichus Plato: Cratylus, arbitrary (conventional) or intrinsic (natural)?  Important to get to Forms.  Reflected in Confucius’ thinking as well. India: much phonetic and morphology research arose out of need to read Vedic texts.

History of language research: Pre-modern Wild children in 17 th century  Debate between Rousseau and Locke; Locke won.  Origins of sign language research.  Critical periods.

History of language research: Modern Functionalist Era ( )  Baby biographies. Darwin: that perfection of structure and co- adaptation that justly excites our admiration Leopold: bilingual infant  Normative studies  Behaviourism Skinner: correct grammar is positively re-enforced and will be used in the future, and incorrect grammar is negatively re-enforced and will be not be used again.

History of language research: Modern Psycholinguistic/Cognitive Science Era (1957-present)  Chomsky Argument against Skinner:  All possible sentences (infinite) would be impossible to learn through imitation and reinforcement.  Children acquire language quickly and effortlessly, and at identical stages across cultures.  Words like goed, thinked, and eated aren’t spoken by parents. Innate ability: LAD and UG. Internal to the mind/brain.

History of language research: Modern Psycholinguistic/Cognitive Science Era (1957-present)  Other approaches. Biological: genetic bases, structures and processes  Critical periods, brain imaging, evolution Linguistic: Chomskyan. Social learning: neo-behaviourist, looking at how socialization (other people) aids in language learning Cognitive: domain-specific versus domain-general