1. Chapter 8

2.  19th Century focus on the mind  Introspection  Behaviorist focus on overt responses  arguments regarding incomplete picture of human functioning  Empirical study of cognition – 1956 conference  Simon and Newell – problem solving  Chomsky – new model of language  Miller – memory

3.  Properties of Language  Symbolic  Semantic  Generative  Structured

4.  Phonemes = smallest speech units  100 possible, English – about 40  Morphemes = smallest unit of meaning  50,000 in English, root words, prefixes, suffixes  Semantics = meaning of words and word combinations  Objects and actions to which words refer  Syntax = a system of rules for arranging words into sentences  Different rules for different languages

5.  Initial vocalizations similar across languages  Crying, cooing, babbling  6 months – babbling sounds begin to resemble surrounding language  1 year – first word  similar cross-culturally – words for parents  receptive vs. expressive language

6. Table 8.2 Overview of Typical Language Development

7.  18-24 months – vocabulary spurt  fast mapping  over and underextensions  End of second year – combine words  Telegraphic speech  Mean Length of Utterance (MLU)  End of third year – complex ideas, plural, past tense  Overregularization

8.  Research findings:  Smaller vocabularies in one language, combined vocabularies average  Higher scores for middle-class bilingual subjects on cognitive flexibility, analytical reasoning, selective attention, and metalinguistic awareness  Slight disadvantage in terms of language processing speed  2nd languages more easily acquired early in life  Greater acculturation facilitates acquisition

9. Figure 8.4 Age and second language learning