Language Acquisition and Development

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Questions and Answers

What concept explains the ability of infants to distinguish between similar sounds such as 'Fly' and 'Fry' before they learn to speak?

  • Syntactic awareness
  • Morphological awareness
  • Contrastive analysis
  • Phonological discrimination (correct)

Which milestone in language acquisition is characterized by the production of basic sounds by infants?

  • Birth (correct)
  • Canonical babbling
  • First words
  • Two-word stage

In Chomsky’s perspective on language acquisition, what is primarily responsible for guiding infants’ understanding of grammar?

  • Universal grammar (correct)
  • Subconscious reinforcement from caregivers
  • Conditioned head turn procedure
  • Phonological narrowing

What happens to infants’ ability to distinguish non-native language sounds around the age of 8–10 months?

<p>It decreases (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

During which stage do infants typically experience a vocabulary explosion, rapidly expanding their knowledge of words?

<p>Vocabulary spurt stage (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What process is used to measure infants' phonological discrimination through a reward system?

<p>Conditioned head turn procedure (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What does the term 'morpheme' refer to in the context of language development?

<p>The smallest unit of meaning in a language (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following elements is not typically analyzed in understanding language as discussed in language studies?

<p>Metrical (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Flashcards

Arbitrary Language System

Language uses random connections between sounds and meanings.

Language Components

Language has parts like sound (acoustic), words (lexical), sentence structure (syntactic), pronunciation (phonological), and meaning (semantic).

Language Differences

Different languages have unique sounds, structures, and meanings.

Morphology

Creating new words by combining smaller units called morphemes (like 'un' + 'happy' = 'unhappy').

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Syntax

The way words are put together to make grammatically correct sentences.

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Infant Language Development

Babies learn language through stages, from basic sounds to complex sentences, at roughly the same pace globally.

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Vocabulary Explosion

A period around 12 months where children rapidly learn new words.

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Chomsky's Innate Grammar

The idea that humans are born with an understanding of basic language rules, enabling quick acquisition.

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Study Notes

Language Acquisition

  • Language is an arbitrary system, associating sounds with meanings.
  • Language analysis involves acoustic, lexical, syntactic, phonological, and semantic components.
  • Languages are contrastive, differing in sounds, structure, and meanings.
  • Morphology involves creating complex words from morphemes.
  • Syntax involves building complex sentences from words.

Time-Course of Language Development

  • Language development follows similar timelines across cultures, including sign languages.
  • Children's language skills develop robustly, regardless of language type.
  • Birth: Infants produce basic sounds.
  • 3 months: Infants begin producing vowels.
  • 6–7 months: Infants produce "canonical babbling" (e.g., repeated CV syllables).
  • 8–10 months: Babbling becomes more complex (e.g., CVC syllables).
  • 12 months: First words (one-word stage).
  • ≈18 months: Two-word stage (imitative and active speech).
  • >24 months: Increased sentence length, use of inflections and articles.

Vocabulary Development

  • A vocabulary explosion occurs around 12 months, leading to rapid word knowledge growth.

Explaining Infant Language Learning: Innate vs. General Purpose Learning

  • Innate Core Knowledge: Supported by universal grammar (Chomsky's theory).
    • Infants possess innate universal grammar for language.
    • Understanding of grammar and language sounds occurs before spoken language.
  • General Purpose Learning: Infants are adept learners beyond language, with learning reinforced by caregiver responses.

Phonological Discrimination

  • Infants can discriminate between different sounds (e.g., "fly" vs. "fry," "till" vs. "dill").
  • Conditioned Head Turn Procedure: A method to evaluate infant sound discrimination.
    • Infants wear headphones, and they turn their head in response to a change in sound, which is rewarded.
  • Perceptual Narrowing:
    • Infants can distinguish native and non-native sounds early (6-8 months).
    • By 8-10 months, a decline in the ability to distinguish non-native sounds occurs.

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