The development of language

1
The development of language

• Structural and functional perspectives

2
Overview

• (1) What is language? Brother Johna case
  study.
• (2) Language structure.
• (3) The development of linguistic structures.
• (4) Language function.
• (5) The development of language use.

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I Brother John

• Discussion.
• What is language?
• What does Brother Johns disorder tell us about
  the relationship between language, thinking, and
  social functioning?

4
I Brother John
A complex rule-governed behavior that people use
to influence the thoughts and feelings of other
people.

• Discussion.
• What is language?
• What does Brother Johns disorder tell us about
  the relationship between language, thinking, and
  social functioning?

5
I Brother John
A complex rule-governed behavior that people use
to influence the thoughts and feelings of other
people. Combines perceptual, motor, social skills.

• Discussion.
• What is language?
• What does Brother Johns disorder tell us about
  the relationship between language, thinking, and
  social functioning?

Language can be dissociated from thinking and
certain aspects of social functioning.
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II Language structure
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(1) Phonemes

• Smallest unit of sound that can affect meaning.
• Cat versus bat.
• Cah and bah are phonemes.

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(2) Morphemes

• Smallest unit of language that carries meaning.
• Includes prefixes and suffixes that are used to
  create plurals, past tenses, etc.

Bounce
ed
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(3) Words

• An ordered set of consonants and vowels that is
  associated with specific meaning or referent.

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(4) Grammar

• Rules that specify how words can be arranged to
  form propositions.

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(5) Metalinguistic awareness

• Refers to the ability to reflect on language as
  an object.
• Involved in alphabetical spelling for example.

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III Development of linguistic structure

• For each structural feature of language, Ill
  provide a brief empirical sketch and then discuss
  theories.
• Theories?
• (1) Learning perspective
• (2) Cognitive perspective
• (3) Linguistic/nativist perspective
• (4) Social Interactionist approach

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IIIa Phonological development

• Systematic age-related changes in the ability to
  perceive and produce the elementary sounds of
  language.

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Phonological development

• Systematic age-related changes in the ability to
  perceive and produce the elementary sounds of
  language.

Categorical phoneme perception _at_ 1 month Vowel
discrimination _at_ 2 months Loss of the ability to
discriminate non-native phonemes by the end of
the 1st year
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Phonological development

• Systematic age-related changes in the ability to
  perceive and produce the elementary sounds of
  language.

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Phonological development

• Systematic age-related changes in the ability to
  perceive and produce the elementary sounds of
  language.

6-8 weeks ? cooing (vowel-like sounds with
consonant produced by closure of the back of the
mouth (e.g., g or k) Later, comes to include
consonants produced by closure of the front of
the mouth (e.g., m or b)
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Phonological development

• Systematic age-related changes in the ability to
  perceive and produce the elementary sounds of
  language.

3 to 6 months ? Emergence of babbling, the
production of consonant-vowel combinations like
da and ba Reduplicated babbling ? Repetition
of C-V combinations 9 to 10 months ? More complex
combinations
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Phonological development

• Systematic age-related changes in the ability to
  perceive and produce the elementary sounds of
  language.

• Interesting babbling facts
• Cross-linguistic consistency in the timing of the
  onset of cooing and babbling, although some
  cross-linguistic differences in the sounds
  produced
• Deaf infants babble in the first months of life

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Theories

• Nativist view emphasize the fact that early
  expressive and receptive abilities appear to be
  universal, suggesting the role of innate factors.

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Theories

• Social-interactionist theory emphasizes the
  effect of social interaction on phonological
  development
• Loss of non-functional categories (Werker Tees,
  1984).
• Cross language differences in patterned speech.
• Premature infants babble at the same age as full
  -term infants.

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IIIb Learning words
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IIIb Learning words

• Familiarize
• tupirogolabubidakupadotitupirobidakutupiro

(Saffran et al., 1996)
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IIIb Learning words

• Familiarize
• tupirogolabubidakupadotitupirobidakutupiro
• Test tupiro (word)
• golabu (word)
• dapiku (nonword)
• tilado (nonword)

(Saffran et al., 1996)
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IIIb Learning words

• Word learning active or passive?

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IIIb Learning words

• Word learning active or passive?

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IIIb Learning words

• Evidence of word-comprehension _at_ 6 months
  (Tincoff Juszyck, 1999) .

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Mommy
Tincoff Jusczyk, 1999
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Tincoff Jusczyk, 1999
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IIIb Learning words

• Evidence of word-comprehension _at_ 6 months
• By 6, children understand over 5,000 different
  words.
• 20 new words a week for 5 years!!!

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IIIb Learning words

• Words learning begins during mother-infant
  interaction.
• Best when child focussed on object, and mother
  labels it.
• Association formed.
• How does child know what the word refers to?

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IIIb Learning words

• Markman ? Children apply constraints when
  learning the meaning of new words.

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IIIb Learning words

• Markman ? Children apply constraints when
  learning the meaning of new words.

Mutual Exclusivity Bias
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IIIb Learning words

• Markman ? Children apply constraints when
  learning the meaning of new words.

Show me the lax
Mutual Exclusivity Bias
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IIIb Learning words

• Markman ? Children apply constraints when
  learning the meaning of new words.

Show me the lax
Mutual Exclusivity Bias
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IIIb Learning words

• What are the words that infants first learn?
• Nelson (1973) ? First words name objects (65),
  or actions (14).
• Do infants first words have the same meaning
  they do for adults?

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IIIb Learning words

• No Often different from adult meanings.
• Overextensions.
• Meaning of a word overgeneralized.
• "Dog" for any animal with 4 legs.
• Underextensions.
• Meaning of a word too constrained.
• Car refers only to childs fathers car.

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IIIb Learning words

• Most frequently used words? Gopnik (1982)
• Longitudinal, home-observation study.
• Before 24 months, children most frequently use
  words that provide commentary on their ongoing
  activity.
• "Gone", "there", "oh dear", "down".

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IIIb Learning words ? Theories

• Learning theory ? Word learning governed by
  mechanisms of behavioural learning.

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IIIb Learning words ? Theories

• Learning theory ? Word learning governed by
  mechanisms of behavioural learning.
• (1) Classical conditioning
• Sight of object paired with sound of words...word
  learned.

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IIIb Learning words ? Theories

• Learning theory ? Word learning governed by
  mechanisms of behavioural learning.
• (1) Classical conditioning
• Sight of object paired with sound of words...word
  learned.
• (2) Operant conditioning
• Parents shape their children's first words.

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IIIb Learning words ? Theories

• Learning theory ? Word learning governed by
  mechanisms of behavioural learning.
• (1) Classical conditioning
• Sight of object paired with sound of words...word
  learned.
• (2) Operant conditioning
• Parents shape their children's first words.
• (3) Imitation
• Repeat what others say

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IIIb Learning words ? Theories

• Challenge Word learning seems to be constrained
  by children's cognitive development.

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IIIb Learning words ? Theories

• Cognitive developmental theory Gopnik Melzoff
  (1986)
• Acquisition of "there" correlated with
  performance on means-ends tasks.
• And "gone" correlated with performance on object
  permanence tasks.
• Stage of cognitive development constrains
  word-learning.

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IIIb Learning words ? Theories

• Nativist theory Fodor
• We are born with certain concepts (e.g.
  authority).
• These concepts constrain the sort of words that
  appear in our vocabulary.

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IIIb Learning words ? Theories

• Interactionist view Emphasizes the importance of
  social interaction for word learning
• Evidence?

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IIIb Learning words ? Theories

• Interactionist view Emphasizes the importance of
  social interaction for word learning
• Evidence?

Huttenlocher et al., 1991 Frequency of
mother-child talk predicts vocabulary size
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IIIb Learning words ? Theories

• Interactionist view Emphasizes the importance of
  social interaction for word learning
• Evidence?

Hart Risley, 1995 Investigated the association
between social class, home environment, and
childrens vocabulary. All 3 variables highly
correlated.
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IIIcThe development of grammar

• Telegraphic speech ? Early 2-word speech that
  contains few modifiers, prepositions, or
  connectives.
• Like a telegram.

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IIIcThe development of grammar
1. Telegraphic speech

• Examples (Brown, 1973)
• (1) Agent-action "Tommy hit"
• (2) Action-object "Give cookie"
• (3) Possessor-possession "My car"
• (4) Questions Where daddy?

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IIIcThe development of grammar
1. Telegraphic speech

• Is telegraphic speech grammatical?

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IIIcThe development of grammar
1. Telegraphic speech

• Is telegraphic speech grammatical?

Braine, 1976 ? Pivot grammar Pivot word open
word e.g., More ________
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IIIcThe development of grammar
1. Telegraphic speech

• Is telegraphic speech grammatical?

Braine, 1976 ? Pivot grammar Pivot word open
word e.g., More ________
Bloom, 1990 ? No wild grammars (e.g., Big
he)? Gross violations rare (e.g., Daddy eat
vs Eat daddy)
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IIIcThe development of grammar
2. Inflectional morphology
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IIIcThe development of grammar
2. Inflectional morphology

• Rules governing the use of morphemes like
  inflections (e.g., -s, -ed, -ing) that alter the
  syntactical function of specific words

Example Past tense Acquired in a regular sequence
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IIIcThe development of grammar
2. Inflectional morphology

• Rules governing the use of morphemes like
  inflections (e.g., -s, -ed, -ing) that alter the
  syntactical function of specific words

Example Past tense Acquired in a regular sequence
Not all past tenses formed through use of the
stem -ed rule E.g., Run/Ran
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IIIcThe development of grammar
2. Inflectional morphology

• Rules governing the use of morphemes like
  inflections (e.g., -s, -ed, -ing) that alter the
  syntactical function of specific words

How do children learn the exceptions?
Example Past tense Acquired in a regular sequence
Not all past tenses formed through use of the
stem -ed rule E.g., Run/Ran
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IIIcThe development of grammar
3. Irregular past-tense
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IIIcThe development of grammar
3. Irregular past-tense

• Developmental U-shaped curve

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IIIcThe development of grammar
3. Irregular past-tense
Developmental U-shaped curve

• Developmental U-shaped curve

Proportion correct
Time
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IIIcThe development of grammar
3. Irregular past-tense

• Developmental U-shaped curve

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IIIcThe development of grammar
3. Irregular past-tense

• Developmental U-shaped curve
• Irregular form learned first. Ran
• Then over-regularization occurs. Runned
• Finally, irregular forms reappear. Ran
• Why does this occur?

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IIIcThe development of grammar
3. Irregular past-tense

• Competing mechanisms
• Irregulars first learned through association.
• Then, children learn the past-tense rule.
• Over-applied.
• Must re-learn the exceptions.

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Theories of grammar development

• Behavioural theory ? Language acquired through
  learning (e.g., operant conditioning, imitation)
• Parents and teachers model grammatically correct
  language and provide feedback
• Evidence?

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Theories of grammar development
1. Behavioural theory

• Evidence more contrary than supportive.

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Theories of grammar development
1. Behavioural theory

• Evidence more contrary than supportive.

• Brown and Hanlon (1970) ? 3 findings
• Ungrammatical sentences rarely corrected

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Theories of grammar development
1. Behavioural theory

• Evidence more contrary than supportive.

• Brown and Hanlon (1970) ? 3 findings
• Ungrammatical sentences rarely corrected

ChildDoggie bited daddy Mother Yes, thats
right
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Theories of grammar development
1. Behavioural theory

• Evidence more contrary than supportive.

• Brown and Hanlon (1970) ? 3 findings
• Ungrammatical sentences rarely corrected
• Sentence corrected only if they are untrue

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Theories of grammar development
1. Behavioural theory

• Evidence more contrary than supportive.

• Brown and Hanlon (1970) ? 3 findings
• Ungrammatical sentences rarely corrected
• Sentence corrected only if they are untrue

Child (sees a car)Deres a truck Mother No,
thats a car
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Theories of grammar development
1. Behavioural theory

• Evidence more contrary than supportive.

• Brown and Hanlon (1970) ? 3 findings
• Ungrammatical sentences rarely corrected
• Sentence corrected only if they are untrue
• Ungrammatical requests as likely to be fulfilled
  as ungrammatical requests

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Theories of grammar development
1. Behavioural theory

• Evidence more contrary than supportive.

Imitation?
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Theories of grammar development
1. Behavioural theory

• Evidence more contrary than supportive.

Imitation? Adults dont use telegraphic
speech Adults dont over-regularize verbs
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Theories of grammar development
1. Behavioural theory

• Evidence more contrary than supportive.

Imitation? Adults dont use telegraphic
speech Adults dont over-regularize verbs
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Theories of grammar development

• Nativist/linguistic perspective
• Acquisition of grammar too complex, too rapid to
  be the result of learning
• Poverty of the stimulus
• Chomsky Language Acquisition Device
• Genetically-specified grammatical processor
• Recent evolutionary adaptation
• Evidence?

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Theories of grammar development
1. Nativist/linguist perspective

• Cross-linguistic ? Languages of the world conform
  to a Universal Grammar (Chomsky)
• Genetic ? Grammatical impairments run in families
  (Pinker)
• Comparative ? Our closest evolutionary ancestors
  (Chimps) cannot learn grammar
• Dissociations ? Language and general intelligence
  dissociate in Williams Syndrome
• Developmental ? Grammar acquired effortlessly and
  systematically

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Theories of grammar development
1. Nativist/linguist perspective Criticisms

• Cross-linguistic ? No consensus about whether a
  Universal Grammar can be described
• Genetic ?Defect motoric not grammatical
• Comparative ? Kanzi, timing, social context
• Dissociations ? Language in Williams Syndrome
  good but not intact

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Metalinguistic Awareness

• The ability to reflect on language as an object.
• Allows individuals to consider both the meaning
  and formal structure of words.
• Slow to develop.

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Metalinguistic Awareness

• Papandropoulou Sinclair, 1974
• Asked 5 to 6-year-olds to give examples of long
  and short words

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Metalinguistic Awareness

• Papandropoulou Sinclair, 1974
• Asked 5 to 6-year-olds to give examples of long
  and short words
• Examples were based on the referent rather than
  the form
• Long word "Train"
• Short word "Pebble"

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IV The development of language function

• Structure/function distinction.
• What language is versus how it is used.
• Language used to effect changes in others.
• Used to change behaviour, emotion, and thoughts.
• Requires a sensitivity to audience
  characteristics.

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Development of function
1. Modulating others behaviour

• First reflected in use of communicative gestures
  at the end of the 1st year.
• Protodeclarative comment
• Protoimperative request

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Development of function
1. Modulating others behaviour

• Bruner (1983) investigated the development of 2
  types of requests
• Requests for
• (1) objects
• (2) social activity

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Development of function
lt 8 months ?Vocalization but no clear
referent 8-12 months ?Gestures (e.g., hand
opening and closing) help to identify
referent 16 months ?Gesture/word combinations
used to request absent objects 20 months
?Gestures drop out
1. Modulating others behaviour

• Bruner (1983) investigated the development of 2
  types of requests
• Requests for
• (1) objects
• (2) social activity

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Development of function
1. Modulating others behaviour

• Bruner (1983) investigated the development of 2
  types of requests
• Requests for
• (1) objects
• (2) social activity

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Development of function
1. Modulating others behaviour

• Bruner (1983) investigated the development of 2
  types of requests
• Requests for
• (1) objects
• (2) social activity

13-14 months ? Play requests (e.g., reading,
window, games, etc.) 18-19 months ? Requests for
assistance (e.g., bringing chair inside, opening
boxes etc.) . Emergence of collaborative
problem-solving
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Development of function
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Development of function
2. Modulating others emotions

• Example Humour.
• Develops in 4 stages (McGhee, 1979)

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Development of function
2. Modulating others emotions

• Example Humour.
• Develops in 4 stages (McGhee, 1979)

Stage 2
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Development of function
2. Modulating others emotions

• Example Humour.
• Develops in 4 stages (McGhee, 1979)

• Stage 2
• 24 months First verbal jokes
• Calling something by its wrong name.
• Example Calling the dog a cow.

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Development of function
2. Modulating others emotions

• Example Humour.
• Develops in 4 stages (McGhee, 1979)

Stage 4
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Development of function
2. Modulating others emotions

• Example Humour.
• Develops in 4 stages (McGhee, 1979)

• Stage 4
• 6-year-olds Increasing awareness of lexical
  ambiguity (both phonological and semantic)
• Example Why did Billy's aunt mail him 3 socks?

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Development of function
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Development of function
3. Modulating others thoughts

• Beginning around 2.5 - 3 years of age, children
  become aware of others mental states (knowledge,
  beliefs, feelings, etc.)
• Important consequence for communication
• Growing realization that language can be used to
  modify others mental states (e.g., deception)
• Early skills very rudimentary ? E.g., Referential
  communication

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Development of function
3. Modulating others thoughts

• Referential communication refers to the ability
  to precisely direct the mental activity of
  another person
• Assessed in referential communication tasks

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Referential Communication Task
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Referential Communication Task
Pick the green one
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Referential Communication Task
What the hell?
Pick the green one
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Development of function
3. Modulating others thoughts

• Referential communication refers to the ability
  to precisely direct the mental activity of
  another person
• Assessed in referential communication tasks

Young children are quite poor at using language
to precisely direct someone elses thinking
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Development of function
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Development of function
4. Saying what the audience wants to hear

• Pragmatics The ability to appropriately tailor a
  spoken message in light of contextual demands.

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Development of function
4. Saying what the audience wants to hear

• Pragmatics The ability to appropriately tailor a
  spoken message in light of contextual demands.

Example 1 Are listeners paying attention?
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Development of function
4. Saying what the audience wants to hear

• Pragmatics The ability to appropriately tailor a
  spoken message in light of contextual demands.

Example 1 Are listeners paying
attention? Wellman Lempers, 1977 ? Even
2-year-olds use a variety of strategies to ensure
that their audience is listening
102
Development of function
4. Saying what the audience wants to hear

• Pragmatics The ability to appropriately tailor a
  spoken message in light of contextual demands.

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Development of function
4. Saying what the audience wants to hear

• Pragmatics The ability to appropriately tailor a
  spoken message in light of contextual demands.

Example 2 How old is the listener?
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Development of function
4. Saying what the audience wants to hear

• Pragmatics The ability to appropriately tailor a
  spoken message in light of contextual demands.

Example 2 How old is the listener? Dunn, 1988 ?
Like adults, 2 and 3-year-olds use a different
tone of voice when talking to infants than to
older children or adults.
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Development of function
4. Saying what the audience wants to hear

• Pragmatics The ability to appropriately tailor a
  spoken message in light of contextual demands.

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Development of function
4. Saying what the audience wants to hear

• Pragmatics The ability to appropriately tailor a
  spoken message in light of contextual demands.

Example 3 Being polite Bock Hornsby, 1981?
Older children more likely than younger children
to use please when asking for things
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Development of function
4. Saying what the audience wants to hear

• Pragmatics The ability to appropriately tailor a
  spoken message in light of contextual demands.
• Conclusion

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Development of function
4. Saying what the audience wants to hear

• Pragmatics The ability to appropriately tailor a
  spoken message in light of contextual demands.
• Conclusion Considerable social-linguistic
  competence evidenced early in development

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Development of function Theories

• Learning theory
• Operant conditioning and modeling important for
  shaping politeness, manners.
• Evidence?
• Grief Gleason, 1980 ? Most parents prompt and
  model the use of please and thank you

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Development of function Theories

• Cognitive perspective
• Emphasize advances in childrens theory of mind
  and working memory for effective use of language

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Development of function Theories

• Nativist perspective
• Karmiloff-Smith, et al. 1995 ? Suggest the
  existence of a social module.
• Face processing, language and TOM
• Innate cognitive mechanism that supports
  social-linguistic functioning.
• Evidence of preservation in Williams syndrome and
  impairment in autism.

112
Summary

• Language must be studied both structurally and
  functionally.
• Many theories about how language develops.
• Each has some specific relevance.