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What is the relationship between language exposure and domain-specific development?
What is the relationship between language exposure and domain-specific development?
What is the outcome when parents and children put puzzles together and use more spatial words?
What is the outcome when parents and children put puzzles together and use more spatial words?
What is the relationship between mental-state words in input and the ability to reason about people's mental states?
What is the relationship between mental-state words in input and the ability to reason about people's mental states?
What is the debate surrounding the role of language in thought and cognition?
What is the debate surrounding the role of language in thought and cognition?
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What is the argument made by Chomsky regarding language development?
What is the argument made by Chomsky regarding language development?
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What do interactionists suggest is an explanation for human language development?
What do interactionists suggest is an explanation for human language development?
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What is the relationship between language and abstract thought?
What is the relationship between language and abstract thought?
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What is the effect of domain-specific language input on cognitive development?
What is the effect of domain-specific language input on cognitive development?
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What is the primary reason language development receives special attention?
What is the primary reason language development receives special attention?
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What is the focus of the nativist approach to language development?
What is the focus of the nativist approach to language development?
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Which aspect of language is concerned with the principles of language use in conversation?
Which aspect of language is concerned with the principles of language use in conversation?
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According to the empiricist approach, how is language acquisition achieved?
According to the empiricist approach, how is language acquisition achieved?
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What is the central aspect of language development that has sparked the biggest debates?
What is the central aspect of language development that has sparked the biggest debates?
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Which approach to language development emphasizes the role of domain-general maturation and cognitive/social learning?
Which approach to language development emphasizes the role of domain-general maturation and cognitive/social learning?
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What is the name of the scientist who proposed that language acquisition occurs through positive reinforcement for saying words and sentences?
What is the name of the scientist who proposed that language acquisition occurs through positive reinforcement for saying words and sentences?
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What are the four aspects of language development?
What are the four aspects of language development?
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What predicts language acquisition at 17 months?
What predicts language acquisition at 17 months?
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Who proposed that humans have an inborn capacity for language learning?
Who proposed that humans have an inborn capacity for language learning?
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What is a key feature of human language, according to Noam Chomsky?
What is a key feature of human language, according to Noam Chomsky?
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What is an example of a complex sentence structure, according to Noam Chomsky?
What is an example of a complex sentence structure, according to Noam Chomsky?
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What is a key distinction between human language and other primate communication systems, according to Noam Chomsky?
What is a key distinction between human language and other primate communication systems, according to Noam Chomsky?
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What is the name of the set of perceptual and cognitive abilities that analyse linguistic input, according to Noam Chomsky?
What is the name of the set of perceptual and cognitive abilities that analyse linguistic input, according to Noam Chomsky?
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What is an example of a sentence that demonstrates recursive sentence structure?
What is an example of a sentence that demonstrates recursive sentence structure?
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Who argued that reinforcement learning and learning-through-action mechanisms cannot explain the acquisition of human language?
Who argued that reinforcement learning and learning-through-action mechanisms cannot explain the acquisition of human language?
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According to Carey, what is the first component of core knowledge for numbers?
According to Carey, what is the first component of core knowledge for numbers?
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What is the purpose of language in learning maths, according to Carey?
What is the purpose of language in learning maths, according to Carey?
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What is the characteristic of categories, assumed by children and adults, according to Gelman?
What is the characteristic of categories, assumed by children and adults, according to Gelman?
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What is the effect of labeling an individual as a member of a category, according to Gelman?
What is the effect of labeling an individual as a member of a category, according to Gelman?
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What is the significance of generic language, according to Gelman?
What is the significance of generic language, according to Gelman?
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What is the difference between 'Sarah is a carrot-eater' and 'Bec eats carrots', according to Gelman?
What is the difference between 'Sarah is a carrot-eater' and 'Bec eats carrots', according to Gelman?
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What is the relationship between language and numerical thought, according to Carey?
What is the relationship between language and numerical thought, according to Carey?
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What is the characteristic of two-year-olds' counting, according to Carey?
What is the characteristic of two-year-olds' counting, according to Carey?
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What occurs during the vocabulary explosion in early childhood?
What occurs during the vocabulary explosion in early childhood?
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What is the primary role of language in learning concepts of relations, according to Gentner's Natural Partitions Hypothesis?
What is the primary role of language in learning concepts of relations, according to Gentner's Natural Partitions Hypothesis?
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At what age does a child's vocabulary typically grow from 100-2000 words to 5000-20,000 words?
At what age does a child's vocabulary typically grow from 100-2000 words to 5000-20,000 words?
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What is the result of describing the first row as 'daddy, mommy, baby' in Gentner's experiment with 3-year-olds?
What is the result of describing the first row as 'daddy, mommy, baby' in Gentner's experiment with 3-year-olds?
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What is the primary difference between object concepts and relation concepts, according to Gentner's Natural Partitions Hypothesis?
What is the primary difference between object concepts and relation concepts, according to Gentner's Natural Partitions Hypothesis?
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What is the main idea behind Gentner's Natural Partitions Hypothesis?
What is the main idea behind Gentner's Natural Partitions Hypothesis?
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What is the significance of the 'blanket', 'bucket', and 'broom' examples in Gentner's Natural Partitions Hypothesis?
What is the significance of the 'blanket', 'bucket', and 'broom' examples in Gentner's Natural Partitions Hypothesis?
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What is the relationship between words and concepts, according to the content?
What is the relationship between words and concepts, according to the content?
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Study Notes
Language Development
- Language development is a critical aspect of human development, as it is essential for thinking, problem-solving, socializing, and cultural transmission.
Aspects of Language
- There are four aspects of language:
- Phonology: the sounds used by the speakers of a language
- Semantics: the meaning of words and utterances
- Grammar/Syntax: the form or structure of a language, rules for combining words into meaningful sentences
- Pragmatics: the principles specifying how language is used in conversation, how discourse is structured
Approaches to Language Development
- There are three approaches to language development:
- Empiricist/Behaviorist Approach: language development is a result of learning and environment (e.g., Skinner, Bandura)
- Nativist Approach: language development is influenced by innate language knowledge and learning guidelines (e.g., Chomsky, Pinker)
- Interactionist/Constructivist Approach: language development is a result of domain-general maturation and cognitive/social learning (e.g., Bates, Tomasello)
Empiricist/Behaviorist Approach
- According to Skinner, language acquisition occurs through positive reinforcement for saying words and sentences
- The more children are exposed to language in a particular domain, the faster they tend to develop in that domain
Nativist Approach
- Chomsky argued that language is too complex to be learned by the learning mechanisms of behaviorism and Piaget, thus language must have an innate special learning device
- Language Acquisition Device (LAD): a set of perceptual and cognitive abilities that analyze linguistic input
- Recursion: sentences can be embedded within sentences, a feature unique to human language
How Language Helps Us Think
- Language may be necessary for abstract thought, to understand relations among objects and events, and specifically to understand numbers
- Language can attribute essences to categories and individual category members
- Domain-specific language input increases domain-specific cognitive development
Cognitive Development and Language
- Piaget's theory: vocabulary explosion (approx 2-6 years) and children's vocabulary grows from 100-2000 words at age 2 to 5000-20,000 words at age 7
- The meanings of words are concepts, but can we have concepts without words?
- Gentner's Natural Partitions Hypothesis: language is not needed to form object concepts, but is critical for learning concepts of relations
Learning Numbers
- Carey's theory: core knowledge for numbers (shared by infants and animals) includes two components: precise number of small sets and analog magnitude scale
- Language provides a new conceptual system for learning math
- Children can count to 10 and beyond, but this doesn't mean they know what those words mean
Conceptual Essentialism
- Gelman's theory: when children form categories, they assume they are not arbitrary sets and have underlying essences
- Labels can create stronger stereotypes, and children think that labels indicate an essence to a category and assign the category's essence to individuals
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Description
This quiz covers major theoretical approaches to language development and how language helps us think, focusing on the critical differences between humans and other animals.