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Lecture Outline Components of Language Development

Lecture Outline Components of Language Development Theoretical Perspectives on Language Development Nativist Evidence and Criticisms Interactionist Evidence and Criticisms. Components of Language Development Phonological Development

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Lecture Outline Components of Language Development

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  1. Lecture Outline • Components of Language Development • Theoretical Perspectives on Language Development • Nativist • Evidence and Criticisms • Interactionist • Evidence and Criticisms

  2. Components of Language Development • Phonological Development • Acquisition of knowledge about the sound system of a language • Phonemes: The smallest sound units that distinguish meaning • Ex: rake and lake differ by one phoneme (/r/ versus /l/)

  3. Syntactic Development • The learning of the syntax (grammar) of a language • Syntax: Rules in a language that specify how words from different categories (nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.) can be combined

  4. Semantic Development • Learning the system for expressing meaning in a language, including word learning

  5. Pragmatic Development • Acquiring knowledge about how language is used (cultural rules)

  6. Nativist Perspectives on Language Development • Universal Grammar: A set of highly abstract, unconscious rules that are common to all languages (Noam Chomsky) • Unique to humans

  7. Evidence Consistent with Nativist Perspectives: • Children master language with little explicit training • Non-human primates require extensive training to master the most basic language skills • Although some non-human primates may combine symbols, they do not show evidence of using syntax • Indicates that only humans can acquire language and also suggests that innate factors are involved in language development

  8. Evidence (con’t): • Certain areas of the brain appear to be specialized for language • Left hemisphere of cerebral cortex • Hemispheric specialization is present in infancy—suggests that innate factors are involved in language development

  9. Evidence (con’t): • Appears to be a “critical” period for language acquisition: • Critical period: Time during which language develops readily and after which language acquisition is much more difficult and less successful • Suggests that innate factors are involved in language development

  10. Evidence for “critical period”: • Brain damage is more likely to result in permanent language impairment if it occurs in adulthood than if it occurs in childhood

  11. Less hemispheric specialization occurs when a second language is learned at 4 years or older than if it is learned earlier

  12. Knowledge of grammar is related to the age at which individuals begin learning a second language, not the length of their exposure to the language • Individuals exposed earlier show greater knowledge as adults

  13. Evidence Consistent with Nativist Perspectives (con’t): • Congenitally deaf children whose parents are not proficient in sign language: • Develop larger vocabularies (gestures) than their parents • Spontaneously impose syntax (grammatical structure) when signing • Suggests that innate factors are involved in language development

  14. Criticisms of Nativist Perspectives: • Universal grammar common to all languages has not been identified • Focus on syntactic development and neglect other aspects of language development • Ignore role of social environment in language development

  15. Interactionist Perspectives on Language Development • Language development is strongly influenced by children’s motivation to communicate with others • Because of this motivation, they pay attention to “clues” in language and the social context in which language is used • Allows them to master language

  16. Evidence Consistent with Interactionist Perspectives: • Children show sensitivity to a variety of “clues” in language and the social context in which language is used

  17. Fast Mapping: • Process of rapidly learning a new word when a familiar and unfamiliar word are contrasted • Ex: “chromium” and “red”

  18. Linguistic Context • Grammatical form of a novel word influences children’s interpretation of it • Ex: “sibbing” vs. “a sib” vs. “some sib”

  19. Syntactic Bootstrapping • Inferring the meaning of a word based on the grammatical structure of the sentence in which it is used • Ex: “The duck is kradding the rabbit” OR “The duck and rabbit are kradding”

  20. Pragmatic Cues • Aspects of the social context that are used to infer the meaning of words • Children use direction of gaze or other gestures to learn word meanings • Will assign a new word to the object that an adult is looking at when saying the word (even if the child cannot see the target object) • Intentionality/Emotional Reactions of the speaker • Ex: “Let’s find the gazzer!”

  21. Criticisms of Interactionist Theories • Language is too complex to be learned only by paying attention to “clues” available in language and the social context in which it is used • The evidence of children’s sensitivity to “clues” involves mainly semantic development, not syntactic development

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