Development Language How are human communication systems distinct from that of other animals? Animal Communication systems (e.g., Bee Dance) 1. limited number of forms (displays) 2. limited number of messages most forms are innate Human Communication systems 1. limited number of basic forms (avg. = 40) 2. unlimited number of combinations 3. all languages share the basic forms; combinations differ across languages 4. infinite number of messages 5. high transmission rate 6. all humans learn languages (unless organic problem) speakers develop Internalized Rule System; native intuition Language Development Children must master four basic components of language: Phonology: How words sound and are produced Semantics: The meanings of words and word combinations Syntax: Rules used to put words together into sentences Pragmatics: Conventions and strategies used in effective and socially acceptable verbal interactions Theoretical Perspectives of Language Development
Complex language systems are quickly acquired in childhood Early theorists did not provide an adequate explanation
Mostly proposed modeling and reinforcement
Newer theoretical perspectives: Nativism, Info. Processing, Sociocultural, Functionalism) Nativism inherited mechanism facilitating acquisition of language
Sensitive Periods (Genie, Late-learners of ASL, 2nd Lang.) Tends to focus on syntactic development
Language Acquisition Device (compared to other theories that believe Lg develops out of more general cognitive abilities); evidence from cases of children with Williams Syndrome See Fig. 9.1 Information processing perspective... From an early age infants pay attention to human speech
infant can discriminate between /pat/ vs. /bat/ Japanese no distinction between /l/ vs. /r/ Can Infants Discriminate among speech sounds? later vs. rater
Newborn YES, can detect most common contrasts across all languages (Japanese infant can detect /l/ vs. /r/ 6-8 mos. Losing ability to discriminate non-essential contrasts. By age 1, they can only distinguish for their own language sounds (e.g., Japanese cannot detect /l/ vs. /r/; English speaking baby has only one /s/)
Sociocultural Perspective Social interaction and culture aid in language development; tends to focus on semantic development Functionalism: Language development provides practical benefits to children; language is so essential for humans that they will create it (e.g., Nicaraguan Sign Language); the desire to communicate is result of heredity and env't Language Development Milestones Cooing (onset 1- 2 mos.) Babbling (onset 4-6 mos.) At 7 mos., Babbling now more language-specific
Sample audiofiles: http://childes.psy.cmu.edu/topics/clips/clips.html Infants babble in both signed and spoken language modalities ("Equipotentiality"/"Amodal") Timing of early babbling seems to be due to maturation infants all babble vocally, even if they are deaf
all infants "sign babble", even if they have not been exposed to sign http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~petitto/nature.html Early repertoire of vocal babbling is limited initially; then broader range of sounds (even broader than target language) consisting of the phonemes and syllables that are most common across languages, but by 10 mos. it begins to match pattern of target language.
Summary: Evidence suggests that babbling is "hardwired" (unfolding with maturation) and "amodal" (i.e., it comes out both vocally and manually in all children regardless of input). Language Development Milestones preverbal gestures 1st Word (range 8-18 mos, and babbling still continues.) Word + Gesture Gesture recedes, words become dominant Two-word combination
Cooing and Babbling language milestones are fairly universal, yet still individual differences in first word, two word milestones One-word Stage limited by sounds they can control - by 15 months, 10 words, one at a time lasts for six or more months, until vocab. size is about 50 deaf children do not spontaneously produce/acquire spoken words a possible 1st word advantage in sign language? Signing babies produce first sign earlier? Controversial research. [textbook is wrong about 18-22 mos on p. 351] Types of words (Nelson, 1973) object names (Nouns) like "doggie", "mommy" makes up 66% of early vocab. actions (Verbs) like "give", "bye-bye" Modifiers (Adj) like "mine", "dirty"
social words like "yes" or "no", "whassat?" Function words Two word stage (18 - 24 months) vocabulary growth......