Language

LanguageO Defining Characteristic of humans!O Developmentally it is amazing that

they are born without knowing any words yet in a few years are fluent in a language.

Infants and children face an especially important developmental task with

the acquisition of language

How Do Children Acquire Language?

O Innateness theory of language –Children learn language mainly by following an inborn program for acquiring vocabulary and grammar

O Steven Pinker believes that language is an innate human ability. It is instinct.

O Steven Pinker and language acquisition

Noam Chomsky

O He proposed that children are born with mental structures that make it possible for them comprehend and produce speech.

O Language acquisition device (LAD) – Structure in the brain innately programmed with some of the fundamental rules of grammar

O Lies in Broca’s area in the cerebral cortex. O It is not fixed but flexible

More ChomskyO Universal Grammar-The system of

categories, operations, and principles shared by all human languages and considered to be innate.

O Critical period- the idea that a child will be able to learn language from birth to about the age of puberty. (remember Genie?)

Language Development Chart

How Children Acquire Language

O Early stages of language acquisition include the following:• The babbling stage• The one-word stage• The two-word stage• Telegraphic speech (short, simple

sentences)• The naming explosion

Babbling

O Infants have natural ability to perceive speech sounds and to produce language sounds

OComes form the vocal apparatus that is biologically adapted for speech.

O“mamama”OUses conversational rulesODuring this stage babies make nearly all

sounds heard in all languages. However, learning will narrow to language the baby hears.

OExample of conversational rules

Acquiring Vocabulary and Grammar

O Children are excellent language learners!

O Age 2-1000 wordsO Age 6-10000 wordsO One word stage: mama, dada, agua,

meO Two word stage: “share me”O Telegraphic speech: more complex

sentence structure. Ex: “Please share the cupcake with me”

Naming ExplosionO 18 mos. of age is when children’s word

learning accelerates.O This stage is when children begin to acquire

new words at a rapidly increasing rate.O Vocab. Spurt! O It then moves from naming objects to why

and how. (describing what they do and how.)

O Important cornerstone for judgment and reasoning.

Rules of GrammarO Grammar –

The rules of a language, specifying how to use words, morphemes and syntax to produce understandable sentences.

O Morphemes –Meaningful units of language that make up words

(ed, ing, un), Children make mistakes because they do not know how to apply rule.

O Overregularization –Applying a grammatical rule too widely and thereby creating incorrect forms(e.g. using “hitted” and “feets”)

Other language SkillsO Social rules of conversation includes taking

turns talking, listening and making meaningful contributions

O The use of abstract words (e.g. hope, truth) will develop overtime.