40 Questions
What is the relationship between language exposure and domain-specific development?
The more children are exposed to language in a particular domain, the faster they tend to develop in that domain.
What is the outcome when parents and children put puzzles together and use more spatial words?
Quicker spatial reasoning development
What is the relationship between mental-state words in input and the ability to reason about people's mental states?
More mental-state words in input predicts increased ability to reason about people's mental states.
What is the debate surrounding the role of language in thought and cognition?
Language plays a crucial role in shaping thought and cognition.
What is the argument made by Chomsky regarding language development?
Language is too complex to be learned by behaviorist mechanisms.
What do interactionists suggest is an explanation for human language development?
Brain maturation and domain-general cognitive and social learning mechanisms
What is the relationship between language and abstract thought?
Language is necessary for abstract thought.
What is the effect of domain-specific language input on cognitive development?
Domain-specific language input increases cognitive development in that domain.
What is the primary reason language development receives special attention?
It is critical for thinking and problem solving
What is the focus of the nativist approach to language development?
Innate language knowledge and learning guidelines
Which aspect of language is concerned with the principles of language use in conversation?
Pragmatics
According to the empiricist approach, how is language acquisition achieved?
Via positive reinforcement for saying words and sentences
What is the central aspect of language development that has sparked the biggest debates?
Grammar/Syntax
Which approach to language development emphasizes the role of domain-general maturation and cognitive/social learning?
Interactionist/Constructivist
What is the name of the scientist who proposed that language acquisition occurs through positive reinforcement for saying words and sentences?
Skinner
What are the four aspects of language development?
Phonology, Semantics, Grammar, Pragmatics
What predicts language acquisition at 17 months?
Frequency of maternal responsiveness at 9 months
Who proposed that humans have an inborn capacity for language learning?
Noam Chomsky
What is a key feature of human language, according to Noam Chomsky?
Infinite generativity
What is an example of a complex sentence structure, according to Noam Chomsky?
The man who likes cats is tall.
What is a key distinction between human language and other primate communication systems, according to Noam Chomsky?
Human language is infinitely generative, while other primate systems are limited
What is the name of the set of perceptual and cognitive abilities that analyse linguistic input, according to Noam Chomsky?
Language Acquisition Device
What is an example of a sentence that demonstrates recursive sentence structure?
The man who likes cats that went to the store yesterday to pick up a new tie to match his shirt is tall.
Who argued that reinforcement learning and learning-through-action mechanisms cannot explain the acquisition of human language?
Noam Chomsky
According to Carey, what is the first component of core knowledge for numbers?
Precise number of small sets
What is the purpose of language in learning maths, according to Carey?
To provide a new conceptual system
What is the characteristic of categories, assumed by children and adults, according to Gelman?
Underlying essences
What is the effect of labeling an individual as a member of a category, according to Gelman?
Assigns the category's essence to the individual
What is the significance of generic language, according to Gelman?
It reveals an underlying essence
What is the difference between 'Sarah is a carrot-eater' and 'Bec eats carrots', according to Gelman?
One assigns an essence, the other is a description
What is the relationship between language and numerical thought, according to Carey?
Language provides a new conceptual system for maths
What is the characteristic of two-year-olds' counting, according to Carey?
They can count to 10, but don't understand the meaning
What occurs during the vocabulary explosion in early childhood?
Children's vocabulary grows from 100-2000 words at age 2 to 5000-20,000 words at age 7
What is the primary role of language in learning concepts of relations, according to Gentner's Natural Partitions Hypothesis?
It is necessary to form concepts of relations
At what age does a child's vocabulary typically grow from 100-2000 words to 5000-20,000 words?
From age 2 to age 7
What is the result of describing the first row as 'daddy, mommy, baby' in Gentner's experiment with 3-year-olds?
Children pick the same relative middle object
What is the primary difference between object concepts and relation concepts, according to Gentner's Natural Partitions Hypothesis?
Object concepts are formed through perception, while relation concepts are formed through language
What is the main idea behind Gentner's Natural Partitions Hypothesis?
The world is divided into objects and relations, and language is more important for relations
What is the significance of the 'blanket', 'bucket', and 'broom' examples in Gentner's Natural Partitions Hypothesis?
They demonstrate the perceptual cohesiveness of objects
What is the relationship between words and concepts, according to the content?
Words are not necessary to form concepts, but they can help to clarify them
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
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.
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