1. CHAPTER Language Development

2. WHAT IS LANGUAGE? The Characteristics of Language
Human language is different from animal communication in that it
has semanticist
is productive
has quality of displacement
Language: an arbitrary system of symbols that is rule-governed and allows communication about things that are distant in time and space
Comprehension often outpaces production
Instinctive drive exists to acquire language

3. Language’s Rule Systems
What is Language?
Language’s Rule Systems
Phonology
Morphology
Syntax
Sound system of language; how the sounds are used and combined – phoneme is smallest unit of sound
morphemes are units of meaning involved in word formation
Ways words are combined to form acceptable phrases and sentences
Semantics
Meanings of words and sentences
Pragmatics
Appropriate use of language in context; can be very complex

4. WHAT IS LANGUAGE? The Structure of Language
Language consists of five different rule systems: phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics Phonology refers to important speech sounds and rules for combining basic sounds into larger units - phoneme is individual unit of speech sound - English has about 45 phonemes - majority of phonemes mastered by age 2

5. WHAT IS LANGUAGE? The Structure of Language
Morphology refers to rules for combining smallest units of meaning into words - smallest unit of meaning is morpheme - dogs has 2; dog and s - can be single syllable or consist of more than one syllable - knowledge of morphology allows for formation of different grammatical expressions

6. WHAT IS LANGUAGE? The Structure of Language
Syntax refers to knowledge of how to combine words to form phrases and sentences - consists of rules of grammar
“home ran cowboy the”
- allows production of almost infinite number of novel sentences
- basic rules learned fairly early in childhood
- more complex rules learned later

7. WHAT IS LANGUAGE? The Structure of Language
Semantics refers to knowledge of meanings associated with words - complicated task that takes years - word use by child may involve different understanding than adult Pragmatics refers to use of language to express thoughts and feelings, accomplish things, and communicate with others

8. THEORIES OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Three basic theories that attempt to explain language development: 1. Learning theory 2. Nativist theory 3. Interactionist perspectives

9. LEARNING THEORY: Language as a Learned Skill
Learning theory based on behaviorist theories of learning - operant conditioning, modeling and imitating Language viewed as behavior learned like other skills Shaping explains how humans come to produce speech as parents reinforce attempts Parents also provide models of advanced language that child then imitates

10. LEARNING THEORY: Language As A Learned Skill
Criticisms of theory: - shaping by parents is inconsistent parents do not explicitly teach rule systems - language heard is often not good model - novel words and uses difficult to explain through learning principles - does not explain pace of language development - ignores evidence that humans biologically predisposed to detect language stimuli

11. NATIVIST THEORY: Born to Talk
Noam Chomsky first to propose theory that language is innate human capability Chomsky proposed that humans born with language acquisition device (LAD) – brain mechanism specialized for detecting and learning rules of language Also proposed that LAD contains innate (inborn) knowledge of universal grammar

12. NATIVISTS THEORY: Born to Talk
Recent nativist accounts propose that LAD contains operating principles rather than innate knowledge of grammar systems
Children pay attention to certain parts of the language
All nativist theorists see role of environment as initiating maturation of a physiologically based LAD; environment does not shape/train

13. NATIVIST THEORY: Born to Talk
If language acquisition is biologically programmed, it should show developmental patterns similar to other systems - all physically intact humans develop language quickly and easily - other species require more time and effort, show less success in learning language

14. NATIVIST THEORY: Born to Talk
Specific physical structures in humans specialized for producing/processing language
No single organ is LAD;
Best thought of as several brain areas that are specialized to process linguistic input and their connections
Left side of temporal lobe
Wernicke’s area, Broca’s area, arcuate fasciculus, angular gyrus

15. Biological Influences
Biological and Environmental Influences
Biological Influences
Evolution and the brain’s role in language
Broca’s area — area of brain’s left frontal lobe involved in speech production
Wernicke’s area — area of brain’s left hemisphere involved in language comprehension
If damaged — fluent incomprehensible speech produced

17. LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT: Interactionist Theories
Both Skinner and Chomsky appear right about some aspects of language development Some see both as too extreme in views Interactions perspective seeks to describe how multiple factors interact in language Some emphasize cognitive factors and others underscore role of social interactions

18. INTERACTIONIST THEORIES: Cognitive Approaches
Those emphasizing cognition feel that only when children develop cognitively to the point where they need symbols will they have need to develop language Cognitive skills interact with environmental demands and language experience to produce increasingly mature language skills Recent cognitive approaches based on connectionist models from information processing

19. INTERACTIONIST THEORIES: Social Interactionist Theory
Sees language development as result of interplay between biological predisposition and social interactions - we seek social interaction and communicate - parents use - recasts - expansions - role of special interactions called formats - importance of child-directed speech

20. How Language Starts: Perceptual Skills
During first year of life, perceptual skills that enable infant to perceive and discriminate speech sounds improve
Use habituation techniques to verify this
Ability to make discriminations not required by native language gradually lost

21. How Language Starts: Social Interactions
Children begin to understand sounds that communicate needs, control others’ behavior through social interactions
Requires joint focus of attention: both people focus attention on same object or event at the same time
Essential for development of important pragmatic language skills
Taking turns in conversation

22. How Language develops
Speech milestones

23. Infancy Babbling, gestures, and other vocalizations
How Language Develops
Infancy
Babbling, gestures, and other vocalizations
Crying - from birth
Cooing - 1 to 2 months
Babbling - around 6 months
Gestures - 8 to 12 months

24. How Language Starts: Speech Production in Infancy
First sounds are reflexive, nonintentional
Sounds become increasingly differentiated and intentional
Cooing: 2 months, notes pleasure and comfort
True babbling begins at about 6 months
Repeated consonant-vowel syllables
Mamama; gagaga
Comes to resemble sounds of native language

25. How Language Starts: Speech Production in Infancy
Echolalia (8 and 12 months)
Immediate imitation of others’ sounds or words
Variegated babbling (9-18 months)
Syllables differ from one another
Badagapa
Jargon babbling (9-18 months)
Has the rhythm and intonation of adult speech
Protowords evident by 9 to 10 months
Consistent patterns of sound for specific objects or people

26. Language in Early Childhood: Semantics
Single words appear around one year of age
Gestures, babbling, and protowords used along with real words for several months
Average child produces
50 words by 18 months of age
200 words by 24 months
10,000 words by age six; comprehend more than they can produce
; sequence of types of words

27. Language in Early Childhood: Semantics
Children learn word meanings through parents’ modeling and labeling of events
Children also use fast mapping
Get partial meaning with one hearing
Overextensions
Every animal that flies with wings is a parrot
Underextensions
Only the family pet is a parrot

28. Language in Early Childhood Semantics
Learning of word meanings aided by
Syntactical bootstrapping: placement in sentence gives clue to meaning
Constraints: assumptions that children automatically make about possible meaning of a word
Holophrases: single words used to express an entire idea or sentence

29. Language in Early Childhood: Grammar
Between 18 and 24 months, children put 2 and 3 word sentences together
Telegraphic speech: using only essential words
Not universal
Rules of transformational grammar acquired gradually over early childhood
Overregularization errors quite common
“I saw 2 mouses in the garage.”
Semantic bootstrapping useful in learning grammar

30. Language in Early Childhood: Grammar
Important aspects of pragmatics acquired
Social rules of discourse: guidelines that people follow when they are having a conversation
Turn taking; learned early
Answer-obviousness; learned later
Referential communication: saying something that the hearer will understand
Changing your wording or tone to fit the hearer

31. Language in Middle Childhood
Vocabulary continues to increase; receptive vocabulary is about 40,000 words by age 10
Phonemes mastered and aspects of intonation better understood
Examples
Increases in mastery of grammar and syntax
Improvement in pragmatic skills

32. Language in Middle Childhood
Development of metalinguistic awareness
A single word can have many meanings
Self-monitor and correct the speech they produce and receive
Correlation between a higher metalinguistic awareness early and higher reading ability
Increasing sophistication in language play
Developing use of language in humor and jokes

33. Language in Adolescence
80,000 words in high school
Children begin to use language as tool for identifying peer groups and for excluding those outside their peer group
Adolescent register includes slang terms
Registers change quickly; terms may fade away or become part of larger culture
Genderlects: different ways that males and females talk
Personal narratives: stories people tell about what happens to them

34. ISSUES IN LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT: Bilingualism – Learning Two Languages
Children become bilingual simultaneously or sequentially
If second language learned by about age 3, fluency will match that of first language
Code switching: using words from both languages in the same sentence
Rate of language acquisition slightly slower, but learning two languages may provide some cognitive advantages

35. ISSUES IN LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT: Social Dialects
A dialect is a consistent and systematic variety of a single language that is shared by a certain subgroup of speakers Evolve from the unique cultural and historical background of those who speak it Common dialects include African American English, Hispanic English, and Asian English No one dialect inherently better or worse