1. Language

2.  Our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them as we think and communicate  Human essence: the qualities of the mind are unique to humans  Allows us to transmit civilizations accumulated knowledge across generations  Kevin Office Clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFiHaMdP PZE

3. Language Structure  Phonemes  Morphemes  Grammar

4. Phonemes  A set of basic sounds  Within a language, changes in phonemes produce changes in meaning B and T (ex): bat, bet, bit, bite, etc  People who grow up learning one sett of phonemes usually have difficulty pronouncing those of another language Native English speaker & German

5. Morphemes  The smallest unit of language that carries meaning

6. Grammar  A system of rules in a given language that enables us to communicate and understand one another  Semantics: set of rules we use to derive meaning from morphemes, words, and even sentences  Syntax: order words into sentences

7. When do we learn language?  Receptive Language (the ability to comprehend speech) By 4 months of age babies can discriminate speech sounds (Even before 4 months, cooing occurs at around 3 to 5 weeks of age-repeat basic vowel sounds without consonants)

8. When do we learn language?  Productive Language Around 4 months babies enter the babbling stage ○ Utter a variety of sounds, includes sounds various languages ○ Video clip: conversational babbling https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JmA2ClUvUY By 10 months their babbling has changed so that a trained ear can identify the language of the household ○ Without exposure to other languages, babies become deaf to speech sounds outside their native language

9. Productive language  Around 12 months children enter the one- word stage  At About 18 months, children’s word learning explodes from a word per week to a word per day  At about 24 months, enter a two-word stage Utter two-word sentences in telegraphic speech (want juice)  After 24 months children begin uttering longer phrases and begin to understand complex sentences

10. Explaining Language Development  Skinner: operate learning Can explain language development with familiar learning principles such as association, imitation, and reinforcement Skinner argued babies learn to talk in many of the same ways that animals learn to peck keys and press bars (nature-evolution)

11. Explaining Language Development  Chomsky: Inborn Universal Grammar Given adequate nurture, language will naturally occur We come prewired with a sort of switch box (language acquisition device). It switches on and off for us to understand and produce language

12. Explaining Language Development: Nature vs. Nurture Debate  Skinner’s emphasis on learning helps explain how infants acquire their language as they interact with others  Chomsky’s emphasis on our built-in readiness to learn grammar rules helps explain why preschoolers acquire language so readily and use grammar so well  Biology and experience working together

13. Statistical Learning and Critical Periods  Childhood seems to represent a critical (or sensitive) period for mastering certain aspects of language http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2XBIkHW954 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXWGnryjEaY  Children who have not been exposed to either a spoken or written language gradually lose the ability to master any language  After the window for learning language closes, learning a second language seems more difficult May master the basic words but never become as fluent as native speakers/signers

14. Language influences Thinking  Whorf contended that language determines the way we think (linguistic determinism), different language impose different conceptions or reality  A person may think differently in different languages  Many bilinguals repot that hey have different sense of self, depending on what language they are using

15. Language influences thinking  Our words influenced our thinking  To expand language is to expand the ability to think  It pays to increase your word power  Bilingual children who learn to inhibit one language while using the other are also better able to inhibit their attention to irrelevant information

16. Thinking in images  Mental practice has become a standard part of training  Mental rehearsal can also help you achieve an academic goal  Much of info processing occurs outside of consciousness

17. Thinking and Language  Thinking affects our language, which them affects our thought!