Language

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Language Development

• At birth—infants can distinguish all contrasting sounds in human language

• 6 months—can only distinguish those sounds in language being spoken around them

• 4-6 months—begin to babble speech sounds

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Language Milestones

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Theories of Language Development

• Behaviorist explanations– learn to talk through reinforcement, shaping,

and extinction– limits:

(1) parents don’t spend much time teaching grammar,

(2) children generate more grammatical sentences than they hear,

(3) errors children make do not duplicate what they hear

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7.1 Theories of Language Development

• Nativist explanations– language acquisition device

(LAD)– “wired” to learn grammar

“Talkin’ babies” – Sci Amer, segment 18 (nature-nurture influences in language acquisition; babbling)

“Born to talk” – Sci Amer, segment 2

(Grammar acquisition as a function of brain/environment interaction)

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Theories of Language Development

• Interactionist explanations–how does innate, biological capacity for

language combine with environmental experience?

• parents tailor verbal interactions with children in ways that simplify language acquisition

• deaf children NOT taught sign language often develop own system of hand signals

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Genes design the mechanisms for a language, and experience activates them as it modifies the brain

Genes

Environment --spoken language

heard

Brain --Mechanisms for

understanding andproducing language

Behavior – Mastery of native

language

provides input to

design

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Theories of Language Development

• Neurological specialization

– Broca’s area (involved in language production)

– Wernicke’s area (involved in language comprehension)

“Language centers in the brain” – Psych DVD Segment 16

(A look at brain surgery that tries to spare language)

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Animal language• Can other species learn human language?• Washoe taught sign language

– learned 160 words; could construct simple sentences

• Primates can learn signs for concepts they understand (not abstract)

• Current language research (Great Ape Trust) – video– http://www.greatapetrust.org/