2. 36.1 – Describe the structural components of language.
Language: our spoken, written, or gestured work, is the way we
communicate meaning to ourselves and others.
The Building Blocks of Language
1) Phonemes: the smallest basic unit of sound that can influence the
production of speech.
Example
“Hat” has three phonemes
H – A – T
Humans are capable of producing approximately 100 different recognizable sounds
Not all sounds are used in all languages
ENGLISH: approximately 40 phonemes (26 letters of the alphabet + several variations)

3. 36.1 – Describe the structural components of language.
2) Morpheme: the smallest unit of meaning in language. Example Milk = milk Pumpkin = pump.kin Unforgettable = un.for.get.table Approximately 50,000 morphemes in the English language Includes root words, as well as prefixes & suffixes Contributes to the meaning of the entire word

4. 36.1 – Describe the structural components of language.
3) Grammar: a system of rules that enable us to communicate with and understand others. a) Syntax: the rules associated with the organization of a sentence. Example In English, syntactical rule states that adjectives come before nouns WHITE HOUSE In Spanish, this rule is reversed… CASA BLANCA b) Semantics: rules that establish the meaning of a sentence. Adding –ed to the word laugh means that the laugh happened in the past

5. 36.2 – Identify the milestones in language development.
Receptive Language: a baby’s ability to understand what is said to and about them.
Productive Language: a baby’s ability to produce words, matures after their receptive
language.
1) Babbling Stage: this is the child’s initial attempt to communicate.
2) One-Word Stage: one word is used to mean multiple objects or a more complex
meaning.
3) Two-Word Stage: the child increases his vocabulary and begins to string words
together in a manner that resembles a telegraph (telegraphic speech – early speech in
which a child speaks like a telegram using mostly nouns and verbs).
4) Three-Word Stage: the use of three-word sentences that are typically composed of a
subject, verb, and an object.

6. 36.2 – Identify the milestones in language development.

7. 36.2 – Identify the milestones in language development.
Using words incorrectly…
Overextension
Using a word to describe a wider set of objects or actions than it is meant to
Example
The word ball may be used to describe anything round – oranges, apples, the moon, etc.
Underextension
Using a word to describe a narrower set of objects or actions than it is meant to
The word doll may be used to refer to only a single doll
Overregularization
Occurs when grammatical rules are incorrectly generalized to irregular cases where they do not apply
“The girl goed home!”
“He is the baddest!”
“My foots hurt!”
Usually appears between the ages of 2 ½ and 3

8. 36.3 – Describe how we acquire language.
Explaining Language Development
Operant Learning
B.F. Skinner
Verbal Behavior (1975)
Argued that children learn language the same way they learn everything else; through association, imitation and reinforcement
Example
As children grow older, parents may insist on closer and closer approximations of the word water before supplying the requested drink

9. 36.3 – Describe how we acquire language.
Explaining Language Development
Inborn Universal Grammar (Noam Chomsky) – suggested that language acquisition is inborn, which helps explain why we pick up language so quickly as children.
Language Acquisition Device: humans are born with a build-in predisposition to learn grammar rules.
Universal Grammar: all languages do share some basic elements (i.e. – nouns, verbs, and adjectives are grammatical building blocks).
Critical Period
Childhood is a critical period for fully developing certain aspects of language.
Children never exposed to any language (spoken or signed) by about age 7 gradually lose their ability to master any language.

10. 36.4 – Identify the brain areas involved in language processing and speech.
The Brain and Language
Aphasia: impairment of language, usually cause by left hemisphere damage either to Broca’s area (impaired speaking) or to Wernicke’s area (impaired understanding).
Broca’s Area: controls language expression – an area of the frontal lobe, usually in the left hemisphere, that directs the muscle movements involved in speech.
Wernicke’s Area: controls language reception – a brain area involved in language comprehension and expression; usually in the left temporal lobe.

11. 36.5 – Describe the relationship between language and thinking, and discuss the value of thinking in images.
Language Influences Thinking
Jean Piaget
Concepts precede & aid in the development of language
A child has the concept or mental schema for mother before being able to learn the word “mama”
Concepts are “pegs” upon which words are “hung”
“Collective monologue”

12. 36.5 – Describe the relationship between language and thinking, and discuss the value of thinking in images.
Lev Vygotsky
Language helps concepts to develop
Once a child learns the word “mama,” the various elements of “mamaness”– warm, soft, food, safety, etc – can come together around that word
“Private speech”

13. 36.5 – Describe the relationship between language and thinking, and discuss the value of thinking in images.
Language Influences Thinking
Linguistic Determinism (Benjamin Whorf) – suggested that language determines the way we think. Not all cultures share the same words. In some cultures a given word may not exist, and therefore a member of that culture may not cognitively process the same information. Linguistic determinism states that culture dictates language, and language dictates thought and ultimately perception (also called “Whorf’s Hypothesis”).
When language provides words for objects or events, we can think about these objects more clearly and remember them.
It is easier to think about two colors with two different names than colors with the same name.