Language DevelopmentLanguage Development

Four Components of LanguageFour Components of Language

Phonology sounds

Semantics meanings of words

Grammararrangements of words into sentences

Pragmaticssocial uses of speech

Phonology

Phonemes: the smallest units of sound that can change the meaning of a word

– /d/ “dog”

– /l/ “log”

• Children’s mastery of the different sounds of their language is not a mechanical skill.

• The mastery of different sounds, or phonemes, develops along with the child’s growing understanding of the meanings of words.

Phonology

–/v/ vote

–/b/ boat

–/ee/ sheep

–/i/ ship

PhonologySemantics

the study of the meanings of words

PhonologySemanticsGrammar

Morphology: use of grammatical markers

Syntax : arrangement of words into sentences

MorphemesMorphemes

Smallest units of meaning

MorphemesMorphemes

–child

–speak

–unspeakable

–childless

SyntaxSyntax

• Susan loves Joe

• Joe loves Susan

• Susan Joe loves

SyntaxSyntax

English: I love you

Spanish: I you love

English: the green tree

Spanish: the tree green

PhonologySemanticsGrammar

Pragmatics

The communicative and social uses of speech

Is the door shut?

Is the milk in the fridge?

Is your room clean?

Language DevelopmentLanguage Development

Prelinguistic period

– Newborns distinguish the sound of human voice

– 6 - 8 weeks: cooing

– 4 - 6 months: babbling

• The progression of cooing and babbling follows a universal pattern.

• Babies, until around 6 months old, can produce sounds/phonemes that their parents cannot produce or distinguish

• Nature/Biology plays an important role in the emergence of cooing & babbling.

• The form of the child’s vocalization is also affected by the linguistic environment.

Semantic Development

• 12 months first words

• age 2 years 200 words

• age 6 years 15,000 words

HolophraseHolophrase

Single word that seems to represent

an entire sentence

First Words

• Important people

• Objects that move

• Objects that can be acted upon

• Familiar actions

• Nouns before verbs

Word ExtensionWord Extension

The appropriate limits of

the meaning of words

ExtensionExtension

Underextension– applying a word too narrowly

Overextension– applying a word too broadly

Errors of segmentation

Where does one word end and another begin?

Fast-mapping

using the context to guess

the meaning of a word

Other Strategies for Determining the Other Strategies for Determining the Meaning of a WordMeaning of a Word

Object-scope constraint– words refer to whole objects rather than to parts of

objects

Taxonomic constraint– words refer to categories of similar objects

Mutual exclusivity constraint– each object has one label & different words refer

to separate, non-overlapping categories of objects

Morphological DevelopmentMorphological Development

• Single morphemes

• -s to form plural nouns

• -ed to form past tense

• -s to form 3rd person singular

• Contraction of verb “to be”

OverregularizationOverregularization

feet foots

mice mouses

went goed

broke breaked

Syntactical DevelopmentSyntactical Development

• Telegraphic speech:– leave out the smaller and less important words, like articles

and prepositions

– Boy street

– Billy chair

– Mommy come

– More cookie

Is this really grammar?

Language ExplosionLanguage Explosion

• The language explosion is not just the result of simple semantic development; the child is not just adding more words to his/her vocabulary.

• Child is mastering basic syntactic and morphological rules.

THE CAT BITES THE DOGTHE CAT BITES THE DOG

• the cat bit the dog

• the cat didn’t bite the dog

• did the cat bite the dog?

• wasn’t the dog bitten by the cat?

The gorpy wug wasn’t miggled by The gorpy wug wasn’t miggled by the mimsy zibberthe mimsy zibber

• The wug is gorpy

• The zibber did not miggle the wug

• The zibber is mimsy

Wug zibber mimsy by gorpy the Wug zibber mimsy by gorpy the miggled the wasn’tmiggled the wasn’t

QuestionsQuestions

yes/no questions– Is this a doggie?

Wh- questions– Why...?– When...?– Where...?

Yes/No QuestionsYes/No Questions

• Mommy go?• I play?

• Did mommy go?• Can I play?

• Mommy did go, didn’t she?

Wh- QuestionsWh- Questions

• What daddy eating?• What mommy doing?

• What daddy is eating?• What I did yesterday?

• What is daddy eating?

• What?

• Where?

• Who?

• Why?

• When?

• How?

Negative SentencesNegative Sentences

• no milk

• no I go

• I not drink milk

• that not milk

• I don’t drink milk

Process of Language AcquisitionProcess of Language Acquisition

• ENVIRONMENTALIST (e.g., Skinner)

Language is acquired through a combination of the following mechanisms:

• classical conditioning

• operant conditioning

• imitation

Problems with ImitationProblems with Imitation

Parents do not usually provide feedback for grammatically incorrect sentences.

They do provide feedback for the truth value of sentences.

Child: I no like spinachMom: Yes, I know

Child: Doggie runned awayMom: Yes, the doggie ran away

Child: I’m sleepingMom: No, you’re not, you’re awake

Problems with ImitationProblems with Imitation

Even when parents provide feedback, it doesn’t work!

child nobody don’t like me

mom no, say “nobody doesn’t like me”

child nobody don’t like me

mom listen carefully, “nobody doesn’t like me”

child oh, nobody don’t likes me!

Problems with ImitationProblems with Imitation

Children can only imitate phrases that they can already produce

Problems with ImitationProblems with Imitation

Children can produce a vast array of sentences they have never heard before.

Problems with ImitationProblems with Imitation

Children’s mistakes are systematic

I goedDoggie runned away

These systematic mistakes reflect rule-following behavior

NATIVIST (ChomskyNATIVIST (Chomsky)

• Humans are biologically predisposed to acquire language.

• The capacity to comprehend and produce language is innate.

Language Acquisition Device Language Acquisition Device ((LADLAD))

• Biologically based system, programmed to recognize the universal rules that underlie any language the child might hear.

• It contains a universal grammar

NATIVISMNATIVISM

• The capacity to recognize the rules that underlie language is innate.

• However, the linguistic environment dictates which particular language a child will speak.

• The specific language is NOT genetically transmitted.

Support for Nativist TheorySupport for Nativist Theory

• Language is acquired rapidly • Language is acquired with little explicit teaching• Children around the world reach language milestones at

around same age• Sensitive period for language acquisition

Eric LennebergEric Lenneberg

Sensitive period for language acquisition: between the ages of 2 and puberty

brains are not fully specialized for language until around puberty

implications on bilingualism