Language Development & Communication Basic Components of Language: 1. Phonology – 2. Semantics – 3. Syntax – 4. Pragmatics –

Language Development & Communication

Basic Components of Language:

1. Phonology –

2. Semantics –

3. Syntax –

4. Pragmatics –


Basic Components of Language:


Theories of Language Development

1. Learning Perspective

• Imitation and reinforcement

• Evaluation of perspective



2. Nativist Perspective

• Noam Chomsky

• Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

• Language-Making Capacity (LMC)



Support for Nativist perspective

a. Broca’s & Wernicke’s areas



Support for Nativist perspective

a. Broca’s & Wernicke’s areas

b. Infant phonetic

discrimination

c. Sensitive period

d. Invention of language



Problems with Nativist perspective

a. Plasticity retained

b. Rhesus monkeys can discriminate sounds

much like human infants

c. Do invented languages occur without adult intervention?

d. LAD not very helpful concept



3. Interactionist Perspective

• Biology + Environment

Environmental Support for Language Development

a. Joint activities (zone of proximal development)



3. Interactionist Perspective

• Biology + Environment

Environmental Support for Language Development

a. Joint activities (zone of proximal development)

b. Motherese / Child Directed Speech

c. Expansions/recasts

d. Conversation is critical


SEQUENCE OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

Prelinguistic Period (until 10 to 13 mos)

A. Making sounds

1. Cooing

2. Babbling

3. Vocables


Prelinguistic Period (until 10 to 13 mos)

A. Making sounds

B. Learning the rules

1. Taking turns

2. Gestures & non-verbal communication

3. Receptive vs. productive language


Holophrastic Period

(from 10-13 mos to 18-24 mos)

Holophrastic period –

Holophrase –

Naming explosion -


Holophrastic Period


Referential style –

Expressive style –

Cultural and birth order effects….


Holophrastic Period


Overextension – use relatively specific words to refer to a broader set of

objects, actions, or events than adults do.

Underextension – use general words to refer to a smaller set of objects,

actions or events than adults do.


Telegraphic Period (from 18-24 mos to about 30 mos)

Early sentences (two words or more) consist solely of content words and omit the less meaningful parts of speech.

For example: More candy

See kitty We go


Universal Milestones in Language Devel.

Milestone Approx. Age

Cooing 2-3 mos.

Babbling 5 mos.

First Words 10-14 mos.

Ten Words 12 mos.

Two-word 21-24 mos. sentence

Two-hundred 24 mos. words


Preschool Period

(from 2 ½ to 5 years)

• Grammatical development

• Overregularization – overgeneralize grammatical rules to irregular cases (see cartoon).

• Semantics

• Pragmatics & Communication Skills


Middle Childhood & Adolescent Period

(6-14 years)

• Use larger words

• Produce longer & more complex sentences

• Think about language and manipulate it in new ways

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

The Importance

of Reading to Children

(Whitehurst et al. 1988)

• Toddlers

• Control group –

•Experimental group –

•After one month, the children in the experimental group had a larger gain in vocabulary

• Replicated in Mexico (Valdez-Menchaca & Whitehurst, 1992)


American Sign Language

Sign constructed from a limited set of gestural components (same way that the spoken word is constructed from a finite number of distinctive sounds or phonemes).



Sign constructed from a limited set of gestural components (same way that the spoken word is constructed from a finite number of distinctive sounds or phonemes).

Components of ASL:

1. Position of hands

2. Configuration of hands/fingers

3. Motions of hands/fingers



Deaf children acquire ASL much like hearing children acquire their oral language.

1. Babbling –

2. Holophrastic phrases (action words, naming objects, modifiers).

3. Telegraphic statements

4. Same stages



Deaf children acquire ASL much like hearing children acquire their oral language.

When deaf children are raised with deaf parents:

Babbling – 7-11 mos.

Pointing – 8-9 mos.

Word/Sign – 12 mos.


Bilingualism

Two Critical Issues:

1. Expose to both? Best way to do this?

2. What is the best way to acquire a second language for school?


Bilingualism

Exposing child to two languages at the

same time:

• Slower at first, catch up

• Don’t mix up


Bilingualism

Bilingual Education:

• What’s most effective when child does not speak language of school?

• Not Immersion

• Not ESL Programs

• Some basic instruction in native language in first year or two


Bilingualism

Advantages:

• Increased language proficiency

• Increased concept formation

• Increased nonverbal intelligence

• Increased metalinguistic awareness

Note: These positive effects result from bilingual immersion and also foster an appreciation for diversity!

Two-way bilingual education?


Critical Period for Language Acquisition?

Critical Period Hypothesis: Notion that human beings are most proficient at learning language before puberty.

• Prepubescent children

• Brain damage

Summary


Critical Period for Language Acquisition?

Wild Children

• Number of cases recorded

• Number of cases that acquired language

• Number that did not learn any language (Reich, 1986)

• Most famous case

Language Development & Communication Basic Components of Language: 1. Phonology – 2. Semantics – 3. Syntax – 4. Pragmatics –

Documents

invention of language

productive language

critical slide

pragmatics slide

capacity lmc slide

helpful concept slide

mos overextension

sensitive period