Language Development PSYCH 320 Lecture 11 PDF

Language Development PSYCH 320 Lecture 11 Implications  Can use word order of nouns around verbs to figure out who is doing what  Can use structure to figure out what type of verb  Success with both familiar and novel verbs suggests that they under...

Language Development PSYCH 320 Lecture 11 Implications  Can use word order of nouns around verbs to figure out who is doing what  Can use structure to figure out what type of verb  Success with both familiar and novel verbs suggests that they understand how verbs and sentences work in general 18 But is it really abstract? This suggests that children’s knowledge of verbs and sentence structures is general (abstract) Alternative view: Children’s knowledge of verbs does not always look that abstract, even at older ages 19 Abstract syntactic representations Nor general - does not mean vague. They have rules in their heads that are not tied to words  Specified for syntactic category  Not specified for lexical content  Any word of the correct category can fit in the slots equation that has slots that accepts certain words = abstract syntactic representation. [NP V NP NP] (The boy gave the man the ball) (My teacher gave me a grade) (My best friend sent me a letter) 2 all have the same structure (rule structure in your head that is meant abstract by 20 Observational evidence against abstraction some other people who think children do not have these abstract representations  Diary studies (Tomasello’s child, 15-24 mos)  Similar verbs were only used in different types of phrases these J diff contexts where  “cut paper” and “you rip” words would occur. Why only does the  But not “rip paper” and ”you cut” child not know the different contexts that the words can be used in. 21 Observational evidence against abstraction early on , certain 3  Similar pattern for nouns: determiners first appear, certain determiners appear only with certain nouns (Pine & Lieven, 1997) the pear a banana J were thought these. Strange patterns being more NOT a pear why aren't flexible they w how + when they the banana use words? 22 Experimental evidence production and better than ↳ can't rely on recordings be perception is to other words. Didn't have occasion to use these because they don't have the reasons say words that way  How to test for abstract knowledge of words in production?  Can children use novel verbs in novel ways? ↳ and then test if they can use it in other ways 23 Experimental evidence (Tomasello)  Novel verb  “blick”  Novel action  A person using a machine that shapes playdough  Introduce novel verb with intransitive sentences  “Look at the dough blick!” svo Tuo  “The dough is blicking in the machine.” L location, not an Object 24 Experimental evidence (Tomasello)  Test: prompt child with question  Neutral question: “What’s happening?”  transitive biased question: “What is the girl doing?”  [expected response: “She is blicking the dough.”] ⑨  > 3 years of age verb  many children produced transitive sentence happy to use where there new is a Any  children > 3 have abstract knowledge Slot in the sentence for the < 3 years of age verb   Do not produce transitive sentence ↳just say blicking ↳ only use same type of sentence heard before they 25 General finding  “under 3 years of age…they [children] use some of their verbs in the transitive construction—namely, the ones they have heard in used in that construction— but they do not use other of their verbs in the transitive construction—namely, the ones they have not heard in that construction.” 26 Item-based learning > don't - generalizethathese types of senta  Children learn about verbs individually > no - abstract learning  Do not appear to realize that if two words are both verbs they can be used in the same ways  Each item (word) undergoes its own development (item-based learning)  Pattern persists until child turns ≈ 3 ↳then they start using verbs 27 Item-based learning  Explains experimental results: children only use verbs in the sentence types in which they have been previously heard  If they learn a verb in transitive sentence, continue to use it that way  If they learn a verb in intransitive sentence, do not generalize to transitive sentence 28 What does this mean?  About early syntactic knowledge? Is it abstract or not?  On this hypothesis, No.  Early syntactic knowledge is ITEM-BASED ↳ memorize kind of sentences they hear other people use. 29 Item-based approach  Children start with specific words  Adults end up with an inventory of categories (e.g., verb) and structures (e.g., SVO)  How do they go from one point to the other?  Realize similarities across items time. fill up abstract knowledge over 30  Item-based approach: example “He kicks the ball.” “Billy punches the bag.” thing kicking; thing punching; thing being kicked thing being punched subject verb object “The girl hits the ball.” realize over time that they are all the same types of sentences. thing hitting; thing being hit 31  What type of grammatical knowledge do infants and young children have?  Abstract? > - rules, grammatical knowledge  Item-based? > - know how specific words work- 32  Abstract syntactic knowledge? al months?  Comprehension data -videos they are + infants asyoung as 16 months look live understanding what is going on which suggests they have rules for this to abstract  Infants use sentence structure to interpret meaning of novel verbs  Suggests abstract understanding of verbs and sentence frames Couldn't have ↳ learned this from their input be novel veb is used “The duck is gorping the bunny.” 33 Abstract syntactic knowledge?  Production data  Children do not produce verbs in structures they haven’t already heard them in  Suggests item-based understanding of verbs and frames (not abstract) don't have abstract until 36 ↳ don't have general rules in their months according to head this ↳ completely contradictory  How do we reconcile these? ↳ comprehension vs. production 34 What’s going on?  Do comprehension results overestimate knowledge? ↳ somehow cheating in video knowledge out. Or cheating be they heard studies- weak knowledge where videos bring both are doing task at video where they a word' and and know it means both. so look  Infants may have weak sense of how verbs work in sentences, or be using strategies  Allows them to succeed in very simple comprehension tasks 35 What’s going on?  Do production results underestimate knowledge?  Lack of generalization may be due to being conservative about meaning, not lack of knowledge about verbs sleep is a verb for an that does not allow ↳know in general but waiting for evidence to see Maybe kids are Object after it. if particular verbs can go in know this already. so smart that they specific sentences.  Younger children responded less overall, may reflect confusion about the task or type of answer required ↳ might not know what is being asked of them ↳ debate that does not have a clear answer 36 Other evidence for abstract knowledge  Syntactic priming 37 Syntactic priming “The woman gave the man a present.” double object ↳recipient first and then Order is switched around.  the gift. recepient - indirect object " tea right next to eachother = double “The woman gave a present to the man.” &  prepositional phrase ↳ gift first and then the recipient. 38 First, the basic finding with adults  Hear sentences with a particular structure: ↳ same structure  “The man gave a dress to the woman.” ↳ diff words ↳ prime sentences - getting a sentence  “The boy read a book to the girl.” structure active in someones head.  “The teacher showed a map to the student.” 39  Then describe a picture "girl throws bone to a "girl threw the most common [ dog" dog a bone" from adults. use same kind of sentence as familiar "dogis getting a bone from the girl" to structures that were sentences activated in priming slide. on previous 40 Basic finding with adults  Hear sentences with a particular structure:  “The man gave the woman a dress.”  “The boy read the girl a book.”  “The teacher showed the student a map.” 41 Then describe a picture 42 Syntactic priming and abstract representations The man gave the woman a flower The boy showed the dog a treat John told his sister the joke 43 Syntactic priming and abstract representations The man gave the woman a flower The boy showed the dog a treat John told his sister the joke 44 Syntactic priming and abstract representations The man gave the woman a flower The boy showed the dog a treat John told his sister the joke 45 Syntactic priming and abstract representations The man gave the woman a flower The boy showed the dog a treat John told his sister the joke 46 Syntactic priming and abstract representations in adultsnot children The man gave the woman a flower The boy showed the dog a treat John told his sister the joke [NP V NPrecipient NPdirectobject] 47 Syntactic priming and abstract representations  Tend to use the same syntactic structure as sentences you heard previously  The person threw a bone to the dog  The person threw the dog a bone  Suggests that you have activated the syntactic structure and now use it with other words  Evidence for abstract knowledge of sentence structure 48