Lecture%20Outline

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• Lecture Outline
• Areas of Language Development
• Theories of Language Development
• Nativist
• Interactionist
• Language Development in Infancy/Childhood

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• Phonological Development
• Acquisition of knowledge about the sound system
  of a language

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• Syntactic Development
• Learning the rules for combining words in a
  language
• Ex Englishmany rules related to word order

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• Semantic Development
• Learning the system for expressing meaning in a
  language
• Ex learning what words mean

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• Pragmatic Development
• Acquiring knowledge about how language is used
  (cultural rules)
• Ex turn-taking

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• Nativist Theories (Chomsky)
• Language Acquisition Device (LAD) Innate set of
  rules common to all languages (universal grammar)
• Unique to humans

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• Evidence Consistent with Nativist Theories
• 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, dont show evidence of using syntax
  (rules)

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• Evidence (cont)
• Certain areas of the brain appear to be
  specialized for language
• Left hemisphere of cerebral cortex
• Hemispheric specialization present in
  infancysuggests that innate biological factors
  are involved in language development

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• Evidence (cont)
• Appears to be a critical period for language
  acquisition
• Critical period Time during which language is
  easily acquired and after which language
  acquisition is more difficult and less successful
• Suggests that innate biological factors are
  involved

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• Evidence for critical period
• Brain damage more likely to result in permanent
  language impairment if it occurs in adulthood
  than in childhood

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

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• Evidence (cont)
• 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

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• Criticisms of Nativist Theories
• 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

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• Interactionist Theories
• Children are motivated to communicate with others
• Children pay attention to clues available when
  language is used
• Helps them to learn language

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• Evidence Consistent with Interactionist Theories
• Children use a variety of strategies to learn the
  meaning of new words

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• Fast Mapping
• Process of rapidly learning a new word when a
  familiar and unfamiliar word are contrasted
• Ex chromium and red

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• Whole-Object Assumption
• Expectation that a novel word refers to a whole
  object (rather than a part or other aspect of the
  object)
• Ex Cat refers to whole cat, not its whiskers
  or other parts

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• Mutual Exclusivity Assumption
• Expectation that a novel word applies to an
  unfamiliar object
• Ex Show me the blicket

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• Linguistic Context
• Grammatical form of a novel word influences
  childrens interpretation of it
• Ex sibbing vs. a sib vs. some sib

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• 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

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• Pragmatic Cues
• Aspects of the social context that are used to
  infer the meaning of words
• Direction of gaze
• Intentionality

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• Criticisms of Interactionist Theories
• The rules involved in language are too complex to
  be learned simply through paying attention to
  clues available in language
• Especially true for syntactic development