Development of Language

1
Development of Language

• Language refers to our spoken, written, or
  gestured words and how they are combined to
  communicate.

2
Humans vs. Animals

• Most psychologists will say that only humans have
  the ability of language even though some animals
  (apes) can use sign language or respond to spoken
  commands.
• This is because animals cannot put symbols
  (letters and words) into grammatical sentences.

3
Language Building Blocks

• 1. Phonemes the smallest distinctive sound unit
  ex. th
• How many phonemes are in the word Cheat?
• 2. Morphemes the smallest unit that carries
  meaning may be a word or a part of a word (such
  as a prefix)
• How many Morphemes are in the word previewed?
• How many Morphemes are in the word rabbits?

4
Language The Rules

• Grammar a system of rules that enables us to
  communicate with and understand others. Includes
  semantics and syntax.
• Semantics the study of meaning rules for how
  we get meaning from morphemes, words, and
  sentences in a given language.
• I love my wife. vs. I love this pizza.
• Its raining cats and dogs.
• Syntax the rules for combining words into
  grammatically sensible sentences in a given
  language.
• Billy (subject) ? cooked (verb) ? pasta (object).

5
Examples of Language Rules

• Semantic Examples adding ed to the end of a
  word does what?
• Adding s to a noun does what?
• Syntax Examples In English, adjectives come
  before nouns, but the opposite is true in
  Spanish.
• Pretty girl
• Chica bonita

6
Stages of Language

• 1. Babbling Stage
• beginning at 3 to 4 months
• the stage of speech development in which the
  infant spontaneously utters various sounds at
  first unrelated to the household language
• 2. One word stage
• from about age 1 to 2
• the stage in speech development during which a
  child speaks mostly in single words

7
Stages of Language

• 3. Two-Word Stage
• beginning about age 2
• the stage in speech development during which a
  child speaks mostly two-word statements
• Telegraphic Speech early speech stage in which
  the child speaks like a telegram go car
  using mostly nouns and verbs and omitting
  auxiliary words

8
Language Summary
9
Overregularization

• The tendency for a child who has memorized
  irregular verbs and nouns (and thus uses them
  correctly) to suddenly begin to use them
  incorrectly after he/she has learned proper
  grammar rules (actually a good thing means they
  are learning more advanced grammar)
• Ex. At 3-years old I ran away.
• At 5-years old I runned away.
• Ex. At 3-years old I saw some geese!
• At 5-years old I saw some gooses!

10
Chomsky Believes Our Brains Are Hardwired With
Inborn Universal Grammar.

• Language is Enabled by a
• Language Acquisition Device humans are born
  with innate abilities to acquire language.
• Chomsky believed that there is a critical period
  for learning language (before age 7). After that,
  it will be much more difficult for a child to
  learn a language

11
Theory 1 Skinner Believed We Learn Language
Through Learning Techniques (Class. Cond., Op.
Cond, Observation) (Nurture Argument)

• Tools for learning language according to Skinner
• Association associate the sight of things with
  certain sound of words
• Imitation watch models speaking words and
  syntax and then we imitate them.
• Reinforcement given positive feedback and words
  of encouragement when we speak correctly.

12
Bilingualism Learning More Than One Language

• Bilingualism is spreading in the U.S. It is
  common in many countries around the world,
  especially in Europe. Surveys indicate that
  two-thirds of the worlds children are raised as
  bilingual speakers however, less than 7 of U.S.
  citizens are bilingual.

13
Bilingualism Learning More Than One Language

• Learning more than one language helps children
  learn their first language better.
• The best time to learn a second language? as
  early as possible. The earlier you start, the
  easier it will be to learn it and the better
  accent you will have.

14
Language Relativity and Doublespeak

• Double-Speak describes when language is used to
  disguise the actual meaning and possibly mislead
  people.
• Examples
• Downsizingmultiple firings of employees.
• Physical Persuasiontorture
• Collateral Damagedeath of civilians
• Concentration Camplabor/death camp