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ambiguity
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multiple meanings
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cronyms
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nasa, t.v.
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Dissimilation
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the opposite of assimilation
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allomorph
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an alternate (phonological) realization of a morpheme in a particular enviornment. -ed has 3 realizations. talked, loved, and wanted. all sound diff.
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Broca's area
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classical brain language area
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IPA
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International Phonetic Alphabet, based on one-to-one correspondence between sound and symbols
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category: number
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contrasts basic quantities (singular/plural/dual)
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productivity
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language can combine existing morphemes into new words, or create new ones altogether
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allophone
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a contextually determined variant pronunciation of a phoneme (e.g. aspirated k in kit and unaspirated k in skit)
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clipping
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cutting long words.. e.g. fax
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productive
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some morephological rules are productive meaning that they can be used freely to form new words.
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category: mood
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expresses speaker’s belief, etc. About the content of an utterance, such as whether a proposition is likely or doubtful (e.g. imperative, subjunctive)
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Pidgin
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a rudimentary contact or trade language which has a basic vocabulary and grammar
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connectionism
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general learning mechanisms, such as sensitivity to distributional patterns in input, are sufficient for language acquisition, esp. syntax. Argue that the brain’s ability to detect regularities without innate knowledge is enough to form rules, even irregular ones
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cooing
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vowel-like sounds of very young infants which are generally interpreted as signs of pleasure and playfulness (2nd-5th month)
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predicate
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the verb phrase of a sentence
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stop
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articulating by closing the vocal tract, stopping air from flowing
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phone
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a speech sound considered without reference to its status as a phoneme
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suprasegmentals
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aspects of speech that influence stretches of sound longer than a single segment (e.g. length, tone, intonation, syllable structure, and stress)
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monomorphemic
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a word w/ only one morpheme
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affixes are what kind of morpheme?
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bound
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nativism
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(Chomsky) – language is the result of an innate capacity (language acquisition device) in the brain. Arguments based on rapid, uniform acquisition across cultures and the poverty-of-stimulus – input alone is inadequate to support language learning
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syntax
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the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences
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overgeneralization
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misapplying a rule to an exceptional case (e.g. goed instead of went)
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constituency
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you can substitute units for more complex units (e.g. she -> the woman)
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overextension
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kids messing up, like calling all four-legged creatures dogs
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sister languages
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languages derived from a single language
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Suppletion
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the partial or total substitution of one lexical stem for antoher to indicate grammatical contrast (e.g. go/went (total), bring/brought (partial))
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backformation
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formation of a shorter word by removing an affix from a longer word
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sonorant
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speech sound made by air resonance rather than obstruction of airflow (e.g. vowels, glides, nasals, and some liquids)
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affricate
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sound comprised of stop plus fricative (e.g. ch and j)
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obstruent
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speech sound made by obstruction of airflow in the vocal tract (e.g. oral stops, fricatives, and affricates)
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borrowing
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the adoption of elements from one language or dialect into another
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category: aspect
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indicates temporal property of an action or state (e.g. –ing)
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cooperative overlap
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when, in conversation, the second speaker talks over the first, not to interrupt, but to signal enthusiastic listenership
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sound symbolism
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in language, words whose pronunciation DOES suggest the meaning of the word.
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morpheme
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the smallest unit of language that carries meaning or serves a grammatical function. boys=2 morphemes.
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eponyms
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words that are coined from proper names and are of the many creative ways that the vocabular of language expands. e.g. sandwhich, robot, gargantuan, jumbo.
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MLU mean length of utterances
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acquisition of syntax.
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what is overgeneralization
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acquisition of morphology. children's treatment of irregular verbs and nouns as if they were regular. foots, gived
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stage 6
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complex questions. it's better, isn't it? why can't you go? (negative) can you tell me what the date is today? (embedded question)
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onomatopoeic words
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words that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to. e.g. buzz, or murmur.
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dialect
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a particular form of a language that is peculiar to a specific social group or region
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linguistic relativity
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weaker form of S/W Hyothesis, language is believed to influence how individuals think about what they talk about
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diglossia
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a situation in which two languages or varieties are used under different conditions in a community often by the same speakers (e.g. speaking to your uppers, colloquial vs formal, etc.)
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complementary schismogenesis
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the process by which each speaker’s linguistic behavior drives the other to increasingly exaggerated forms of an opposing behavior, in an ever-widening spiral (annoying each other more and more)
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category: gender
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distinguishes two or more classes of nouns by sex
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Derivation
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forming a new word by modifying an existing one (e.g. humid = humidify)
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velar
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sound made with a constriction of the tong body against the velum (soft palate) (e.g. k, g)
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Inflection
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modifying the form of a lexeme to signal grammatical contrast
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Zero derivation
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shifting a word from one lexical category to another without altering the form of the word in any way (e.g. cook (v) -> cook (n))
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dental
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sound made by bringing tongue tip or blade into contact with upper teeth (eg. th)
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morphosyntactic variations
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variations in how words are put together into sentences (e.g. gotten vs got)
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labiodental
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sound made by bringing the lower lip into contact with upper teeth (e.g. f)
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stage 4
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inversion of wh- + 'yes/no' questions. wher eis the sun? is there a fish in the water?
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inflectional morpheme
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a bound grammatical morpheme that is affixed to a word accoarding to the rules of syntax. suffix -s must be attached to the third person singular present form of verb.
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stem
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when a root is combined w/ an affix
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accidental gaps
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well formed, but non exciting word. such as chomskyan
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Compound
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the combining of two or more words to form a new word (e.g. toe, nail, toenail)
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category: tense
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situates an event or state in relation to a point in time
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articulatory phonetics
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study of how the vocal tract produces speech sounds
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universal grammar
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the idea that children are born with natural grammar that guides their language acquisition
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Ablaut
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a vowel change in a root that signals a grammatical contrast (e.g. speak/spoke)
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discreteness
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the range of sounds we can produce is continuous, but language breaks them into segments
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back formation
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the formation of a shorter word by removing an affix from a longer word
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Sapir/Whorf Hypothesis
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what we think is strongly affected by the language we speak
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phonology study def
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study of the pronunciation of words and sentences; what basic sounds are used by a language, what regular patterning occurs in a language.
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semantics study def
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the study of hte meaning of sentences.
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syntax study def
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study of the grammatical form of sentences.
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anthropological linguistics study def
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study of the relationships between language and culture.
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head and compliment
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head is the word whose lexical category defines the type of phrase. everything else in the phrase is the complement. "tell john to go to bed" tell=head. "john to go to bed"=verb compliment.
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separate systems hypothesis
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the child builds separate grammars and separate lexicons for each language.
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theories of bilingual acquisition
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unitary system hypothesis an separate systems hypothesis
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stage 5
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inversion in wh- questions. how do you say x? what's the boy doing?
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Great Vowel Shift
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a sound change in which the long vowels of middle English unconditionally but systematically raised in early English
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reliance on context
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since words are arbitrary, we rely on context to derive meaning; that is, we rely on form (what is said) and context (when, by whom, etc.) to communicate more than is contained in a sequence of words
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derivational morpheme
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morpheme added to a stem or root to form a new stem or word, possibly changing the syntactic category. drive--> driver
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bilingualism as a first language
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majority of human beings are bilingual. mixing is common. this is a normal process.
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function words
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and, or, but, he, she. words with no grammatical relation and have little or no semantic content. aka: closed class words
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behaviorist view (acquisition)
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b.f. skinner. we start with a blank slate. children learn to produce correct sentences b/c they are positively reinforced when they say something right and negatively reinforced when they say something wrong.
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what do children acquire when they acquire a language
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grammar, phonological, morphoological, syntactic and semantic rules. they also acquire pragmatic rules and they acquire the lexicon. at a very young age, children begin to acquire different styles and even different patterns of variation.
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what is a teaching grammar
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a grammar used to learn another language or dialect.
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plato's problem (acquisition)
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chomsky. how can we know so much given that we have such limited evidence.
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order of acquisition of english morphemes
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-ing, plural -s, irregular past, possesive 's,copula (to be), aritcales 'the', 'and,' regular past -ed, third person singular -s, auxiliary 'be.'
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functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI)
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form of medical imaging to look at activity in the brain
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do children learn through structured input
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no. children do not learn language because their mothers talk to them in a special way "motherese"/CDS child directed speach/babytalk.
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critical period for SLA (second language acquisition)
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there is no critical period. we acquire second language in the same way we acquire the full grammatical system of a first language. children and adults acquire languages differently. children have access to universal grammar. adults learn languages in the same way they learn anything else complicated.
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children tend to learn deictic later. what are they and why?
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they are abstract words whose meanings change each time you use them. e.g. she, there, yesterday.
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do children learn language through imitation?
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no. b/c they say sentences that they would not have heard from their enviornment.
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