Social-Pragmatic Approach to Language Learning

The smallest unit of sound in a language that creates a difference in meaning. For example, the sounds /p/ , /b/, /d/, /t/ in "pat", "bat", "bad", "pad".

The pattern of stress and intonation in a language, which can vary between languages. For example, English uses intonation for questions, while Mandarin uses tones.

The ability of humans to combine a limited number of sounds and words to create an infinite number of meaningful sentences and utterances.

Young infants can perceive and discriminate between all sounds, even those not present in their native language. This ability diminishes over time as they focus on the sounds of their native language.

The study of how words are put together to form phrases and sentences, focusing on the rules governing word order and grammatical structure.

Studies that familiarize infants with a specific stimulus and then measure their response to variations of that stimulus. This technique allows researchers to assess infant perception and learning.

Language is not just a tool for communication; it is also a defining feature of human social interactions, enabling us to establish relationships, maintain communities, and transmit culture.

The study of how language conveys meaning, exploring the relationship between words, concepts, and the world.

Words that have a grammatical function in a sentence, like articles ('a', 'the'), prepositions ('on', 'in'), and pronouns ('I', 'you').

The order of words in a sentence. It's a fundamental rule of language that helps us understand the meaning.

A language in which frequent words tend to appear at the beginning of a sentence.

A language in which frequent words tend to appear at the end of a sentence.

The ability to learn and apply abstract rules, like those governing grammar.

A pattern of syllables in which a sound is repeated (e.g., ABA or ABB).

The process of learning a language, which involves identifying sounds, patterns, words, and the rules of grammar.

The ability of infants to become attuned to the specific sounds and patterns of their native language.

The first words children learn often include nouns, verbs, social routines, and adjectives, but rarely things like articles.

At around 12 months, children start saying their first words, and by 24 to 30 months, they may have a vocabulary of around 500 words.

Children's first words are often nouns, which refer to objects or people. This pattern is observed in many languages.

This hypothesis suggests that early nouns are easier for children to learn because they refer to concrete objects that are easily identifiable in the environment.

Parents and caregivers provide a lot of support in helping children learn new words. This can involve pointing to objects and naming them, providing clear cues, and making the learning process easier.

Children start using words beyond their specific contexts, like using the word 'open' to ask for a door or a container to be opened. They also use words to describe properties like 'gone', 'more', or 'dirty'.

This occurs when a child uses a word too narrowly, only for a specific object or situation. For example, a child might only say 'bye' when putting the phone down, not other times.

This happens when a child uses a word beyond its true meaning. For example, calling a ball an apple. These errors are common until about 2.5 years of age.

An approach to language learning where children learn word meanings based on social cues in their environment, like routines, games, and shared attention.

The social-pragmatic approach proposes that word learning is constrained by the structured nature of the social world we live in, with routines, games, and patterned interactions.

The social-pragmatic approach emphasizes the role of social-cognitive skills, like joint attention and intention reading, in language acquisition.

Children learn language in familiar social contexts through repeated daily routines, like feeding, games, and book reading.

During joint attention, children attempt to understand the communicative intent of an adult's language, leading to word learning.

A theory of language development that posits that children's language abilities are innate and gradually mature over time.

A stage of development where children primarily use content words like nouns and verbs, omitting less important grammatical words.

A stage of development where children begin to incorporate more complex grammatical elements, including function words and inflections.

Utterances that focus primarily on content words and lack grammatical structures.

Utterances that incorporate grammatical features like function words and inflections.

The idea that children's language gradually becomes more complex over time due to an unfolding of innate grammatical knowledge.

The innate grammatical system that humans are believed to be born with, allowing them to learn language.

A model of language development where children's utterances become increasingly complex over time, reflecting the maturation of their innate grammatical knowledge.

Play is a fundamental and essential activity for children's development, recognized as a right by the United Nations.

Pretend play allows children to explore different roles, scenarios, and emotions, developing key skills like creativity, problem-solving, and social understanding.

Children imitate others, especially those they admire, to establish a sense of belonging and connection within a group.

Since toddlers are naturally drawn to imitate, they tend to be more faithful in their copying when they want to express a desire to be like someone or fit in.

Children are very sensitive to being excluded, even if they are not the ones being ostracized.

Witnessing social exclusion increases a child's desire to belong and connect with others, leading them to engage in more affiliative behaviors.

Children are aware of their reputation and strive to act in ways that maintain their social standing, especially when being watched.

This illustrates how children actively manage their reputation, by being more conforming to social norms when they believe they are being observed.

Researchers use this method to test if infants can tell the difference between two things. They train infants to respond to a change (e.g., a new sound) and observe their reactions.

The focus on stress and intonation in a language, which can vary between languages. For example, English uses intonation for questions, while Mandarin uses tones to distinguish meaning.

Children readily extend a novel noun to an object that shares the same physical attribute. For example, if a purple elephant and a purple dog are labeled as "blickets." children will readily recognize a purple horse as a blicket.

Children do not extend a novel adjective to either the category or the property it describes. For example, if a purple dog and a purple elephant are called "blickish," children won't consistently categorize a new object as "blickish" based on either color or animal type.

Children learn to use structural cues in sentences to understand the meaning of verbs. For example, if a child sees a man running with a dog and the sentence is "The dog is meeking the man," they can deduce that "meeking' likely means "following."

Children's understanding of words is affected by their prior knowledge of other words and categories. For example, to understand the structure of a sentence, they need some basic understanding of nouns, verbs, and adjectives.

Even though children seem sensitive to sentence structure, it's still not completely clear what aspects of structure they understand and when they develop this understanding.

The linking problem in language development refers to the challenge children face in connecting their innate knowledge of grammatical categories (e.g., nouns, verbs) to the words they hear in their environment.

Semantic bootstrapping is a proposed solution to the linking problem which assumes children are born with innate grammatical knowledge and use the meaning of words to map them onto these categories.

Linking rules in semantic bootstrapping are innate principles that connect the meaning of words to their grammatical categories. For example, a child might use the meaning of an action word to classify it as a verb.

The linking problem highlights the challenge of connecting innate knowledge of grammar to the specific words children encounter. Semantic bootstrapping proposes that children use word meaning as a bridge.

Semantic bootstrapping emphasizes the role of meaning in word categorization. It suggests children use semantic cues to map words onto innate grammatical categories.

Children may know what is right or wrong but choose not to act on their knowledge.

Children use language like "No, that's not how it goes" to correct others who break rules.

Children enforce norms even when they are not directly affected by the norm violation.

Children struggle to resolve conflicts when there are two conflicting rules, especially at younger ages.

Children across cultures enforce norms and rules. The way they do it varies.

Children are quick to protect their own property and are more hesitant to defend the property of others.

Even though children know right from wrong, they still break rules sometimes.

Children are very aware of their reputation and try to behave well, especially when they are being watched.

The ability to suppress actions or thoughts that are not relevant to the current task.

A task that challenges one's ability to inhibit knowledge of reality and consider what someone else might believe, even if it's false.

A model suggesting that the difficulty children have understanding false beliefs is related to their limited executive function, particularly their inability to suppress knowledge about reality.

Children's understanding that their own beliefs are not necessarily a reflection of reality but are rather internal representations of it.

The ability to use words in different contexts, not limited to specific situations, and for describing properties or qualities.

Children's early language learning, where they primarily use nouns to refer to objects in their environment.

The child repeats motor actions on objects, like pushing a car back and forth.

The child builds things, like towers with blocks or using playdough.

The child uses their imagination to create a pretend world, like pretending to be a doctor or cooking with play food.

Children are more likely to play with an object they are uncertain about if they discover how it works through play.

Even young children expect the world to behave in certain ways, and when they are surprised, they try to figure out why.

When an adult shows a child a new function of an object, the child may be less likely to explore it on their own compared to when they discover the function accidentally.

Children are naturally drawn to discover new things, but they also pay attention to others who might suggest there's something interesting to discover.

Adults can signal to children that there is something interesting to discover by saying things like "Look!" or "Watch this!".