Part 4. Language Development

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Part 4. Language Development
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Attributes of Language

• Generativity
• many utterances can be generated from a limited
  set of rules
• Arbitrariness
• sounds are arbitrarily used to refer to things
• Displacement
• utterances can be generated in the absence of
  what they are referring to

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Theories of Language Development

• Learning theories
• Skinners operant conditioning theory
• Nativist theories
• Noam Chomsky's LAD (language acquisition device)
• Steven Pinker's language instinct theory
• Transactional theories
• Jerome Brunners meaning making theory

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Phonology

• Phonology
• the sound system of a language
• Phoneme
• the smallest meaningful sound unit of a language

• English
• p, b, t, d, k, g
• ch, th, s
• a, o, au, ou
• Example
• pet, land
• bath, bathe, birthday
• cow, low

• Chinese
• p, b, t, d, k, g
• s, sh, c, ch, x, xh, z, zh
• a, o, au
• Example
• ma1, ma2, ma3, ma4
• si1,si2, si3, si4

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Phonological Development Speech Comprehension

• Kisilevksy, Low Muir (1996)
• fetus hears 100 db white noise at 28 weeks
• Decasper Fifer (1980)
• mother versus. stranger reading the same story
• Decasper Spence (1986)
• mother reading old and new stories

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Phonological Development Speech Comprehension

• Werker Desjardins (1995)
• Infants raised in English- or Hindi-speaking
  homes
• reinforced head turn paradigm

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Phonological Development Speech Production

• Stage 1 (0-2 months) crying
• Stage 2 (2-5 months) cooing
• Stage 3 (6-12 months) babbling
• echolalia (e.g., bababababa)
• bisyllabic (e.g., balabalabala)
• multi-syllabic (e.g., balamawa)
• vocables (e.g., "ooo"-car)
• Stage 4 (above 12 months) patterned speech

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Syntax

• Syntax
• the rules of a language that determine how words
  and sentences are formed

• English
• tense present, past, future, present progressive
• articles definite, indefinite
• prepositions in, on
• plurality
• gender

• Chinese
• no tense
• no article
• no plurality
• no gender

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Syntactic Development

• Research methods
• Naturalistic observation
• The Wug Test
• This is a wug.
• Here are two ____
• They targ.
• He ___.

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Syntactical DevelopmentGrammatical Morphemes

• 1. present progressive -ing
• 2. preposition in/on
• 3. plural -s
• 4. possessive -s
• 5. be are/was/am
• 6. articles the/a
• 7. 3rd person singular -s
• 8. 3rd person irregular has, does

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Syntactical Development Sentence

• Holophrastic period (1 word stage, 1-2 years)
• Telegraphic period (2 word stage, 2-2.5 years)
• no mama, no milk, no pee
• all done now, all gone outside
• more hot, more high, more walk
• Complete sentence period (multi-word period,
  2.5-5 years)
• Later development (above 5 years)

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Syntactic Development Mean Length of Utterance
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Semantics

• Semantics
• the meaning system of a language
• Reference meaning
• Taxonomy constraint
• a new word refers to a class of novel objects,
  not a specific individual

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Semantics

• Reference meaning
• Whole object constraint
• a new word refers to the whole of a novel object,
  not its parts

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Semantics

• Reference meaning
• Mutual exclusivity constraint
• two new words must refer to two different things

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Semantic Development Word Spurt
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Semantic DevelopmentNaming Explosion

• 1-general names (dog)
• 2- specific names (mommy)
• 3-action words
• 4-modifiers (red)
• 5-personal/social (yes, no, please)
• 6-functional (what)

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Semantic DevelopmentWord Invention

• to broom (to sweep)
• to fire (to burn)
• to scale (to weigh)
• a fix-man (a mechanic)
• a tooth-guy (a dentist)
• a locker (a lock)
• bum wiper (bathroom tissue)
• yester-minute (a minute ago)

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Semantic DevelopmentOverextension
Underextension

• Overextension
• bird bird, cows, dogs, cats, any moving animals
• mooi moon, cakes, round marks on window, round
  shapes in books
• lie lie, mistake, broken promise
• Underextension
• daddy my father
• doggie my dog

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Pragmatics

• Pragmatics
• the use of a language in communicative settings
• Maxims of communication
• Maxim of Quality to inform, not misinform
• Maxim of Quantity to say as much as needed
• Maxim of Relevance to convey relevant
  information
• Maxim of Manner to be unambiguous
• Politeness Rules to be amicable, give options,
  do not impose

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The Development of PragmaticsAudience Adaptation

• Shatz Gelman, (1974)
• Subjects 4-year-olds
• Conditions talking to child or adult

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Development of PragmaticsContext Adaptation

• Cameron Lee (1996)
• conveying a puzzle's solution over the phone or
  face-to-face

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Development of PragmaticsPoliteness

• Becker (1986) politeness study
• 1. give me a penny (loud, negative tone) vs (soft
  neutral tone)
• 2. I want a penny vs. I would like to have a
  penny.
• 3. Gimme a penny vs. I really like a penny.
• 4. I need a penny vs. May I have a penny.
• 5. Will you give me some pennies? vs. Do you have
  any pennies left?

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Development of PragmaticsPoliteness
Understanding of white lies

• Lee, Cavanaugh, Board (1997)
• 3, 4, 5 years
• an unsavory drink an unsavory cake
• Does she really like it?
• Is the drink/cake yummy or yucky?
• Why did she say she likes it?

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Lee et al. (1997)
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Lee et al. (1997)
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Development of PragmaticsPoliteness Telling
white lies

• Talwar Lee (2002)
• Do children tell white lies about anothers
  unusual appearances?
• 3- to 7-year-olds
• Experimental Condition
• The Reverse Rouge Task
• Do I look okay?
• Does she look okay?
• Control condition

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Did children tell white lies?
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Could university students detect white lies?
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Could trained coders find any differences?
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Development of PragmaticsPoliteness Telling
white lies

• Talwar, Murphy, Lee (2001).
• Do children tell white lies about undesirable
  gifts?
• Participants 3-7-year-olds
• Procedure
• Parent gift-receiver/parent coaching condition
• Child gift-receiver/parent coaching condition
• Child gift-receiver/no coaching condition

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Do children tell white lies?
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Critical Period in Language Development

• First language
• Evidence from deprived children
• Brain surgery evidence
• Second language
• Johnson Newport (1989)