Language Development

1
Language Development
2
Three Minute Review

• LANGUAGE
• Sounds ? phonemes ? morphemes ? words ? sentences
  ? meaning
• phonology
• sample problem mondegreens
• morphology
• syntax
• sample problem ambiguous grammar
• semantics
• deep meaning
• Language in the brain
• Brocas aphasia vs. Wernickes aphasia
• How much does language influence thoughts?
• do words enable concepts?
• Sapir-Whorf linguistic relativity hypothesis

3

• NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION
• thin slices of behavior can be excellent
  predictors
• 65-95 of communication is nonverbal
• interpersonal distance
• intimate-personal-social-public
• affected by relationship, situation, status,
  gender, which direction people are facing
• physical touch (haptics)
• affected by relationship
• facial expression
• common across cultures
• similar among primate species
• cant always be totally faked, esp. smiles

4
Test Yourself

• The words bear and bare involve
• different morphemes and phonemes
• the same morphemes and phonemes
• different morphemes but the same phonemes
• the same morphemes but different phonemes

5
Zygomatic Smile
6
How do we learn grammar?

• B. F. Skinner
• language and grammar are learned through operant
  conditioning

• Noam Chomsky
• there is an innate language module or instinct
  -- Language Acquisition Device (LAD)
• there are too many combinations to learn
• kids say things theyve never heard adults say,
  e.g., I gived it to her
• people can determine whether novel nonsense is
  grammatical, e.g., Colorless green ideas sleep
  furiously

7
Grammar Learning in Children

• generalization and overextension
• words
• Baby Kates door-door
• rules
• children can generalize (the wug test)
• sometimes they overgeneralize
• kick ? kicked
• play ? played
• blink ? blinked
• think ? thinked (thought)
• drink ? drinked (drank)

8
Acquisition of Language in Humans

• critical period for phonemes
• babies under 6 mos. can learn to distinguish
  phonemes from any language
• after that, it is very difficult to learn
• adult Japanese have a hard time distinguishing
  /l/ and /r/
• word learning
• babbling
• ba-ba-ba, dee-dee-dee
• ba-dee, dah-dee
• 0 to 60,000 words

9
Acquisition of Language in Humans

• critical period for grammar

• Genie
• discovered in 1970 at age 13 in L.A. suburb
• blind mother, highly-abusive mentally-ill father
• 4 6, 59 lbs., severely neglected and abused
• had been confined to a small bedroom her whole
  life, tied to a chair, caged in a crib
• could speak in only a few words, e.g., Stop
  it! and No more and could not speak in full
  sentences
• received language tutoring from linguists and
  psychologists
• learned a large vocabulary
• learned to speak in immature, pidgin-like
  sentences
• At school scratch face.
• Applesauce buy store.
• Neal come happy Neal not come sad.
• problems with grammar such as the man was
  bitten by the dog

For proper grammar, language has to be acquired
before 6
10
Can Animals Learn Language?

• non-human primates do not have vocal apparatus
  for speech
• changes to human ancestors about 250,000 years
  ago enabled speech
• larynx became lower
• enabled speech
• risk of choking

11
Can Animals Learn Language?
Nim Chimpsky (chimp) sign language
Washoe (chimp) sign language
Koko (gorilla) sign language
Kanzi (bonobo) symbolic language
12
How good is animal language?

• some researchers (e.g., the Gardners who raised
  Washoe) were very secretive about their data
• apes sign language was a very coarse
  approximation of real American Sign Language
• vocabulary estimated at 25 - 125 words
• Jane Goodall remarked that many of the signs were
  also seen in chimps in the wild
• bonobos might be better than common chimps (Kanzi
  learned when mom was trained unsuccessfully)
• its communication, but is it language?

13
How good is animal language?

• typical two-year old human child
• Look at that train Ursula bought.
• Nim Chimpsky
• Nim eat Nim eat
• Tickle me Nim play
• Me banana you banana me you give
• Banana me me me eat
• Give orange me give eat orange me eat orange
  give me eat orange give me you
• Jean Chretien
• "A proof is proof. What kind of a proof? It's a
  proof. A proof is a proof and when you have a
  good proof it's proven" (Sept. 2002)
• They say that the money we promised three years
  ago -- bo be new money this year -- is no longer
  new money. We have not paid it yet and its old
  new money versus new money. For me new money is
  new money. (Feb. 2003)

14
Evolution of Language?

• One theory (Giacomo Rizzolatti)
• through evolution, a brain area in left frontal
  cortex (F5 in monkey Brocas in human) becomes
  specialized for
• own hand actions
• others hand actions
• others gestures
• others verbal communication

• mirror neurons
• monkey see, monkey do

15
but what about that damn bird?

• Alex Pepperberg
• African Grey Parrot
• identifies 50 objects, shapes, colors,
  material, numberslt7
• can answer comparison and combination questions
• babbles at dusk