Spoken Language - Language Acquisition
Language is communication but not all communication is language.
1)Language is arbitrary
-No natural relationship between words and the object or concept
2)Language is conventional
-It is agreed upon by a cultural community
3)Language is recursive
-Can modify sentences
-Language has no boundaries
-Can continue to add
4)Language is productive
-Language can be endlessly novel and creative
5)Language has displacement
-Past, future, abstract, history, geography and microbiology
6)Language is acquired through cultural transmission – social interactions
-Language needs company
-Language needs community
-Language needs a trigger
-Language needs to be generated by a need to share
Human language is driven by complex rules but there are exceptions to the rules
Syntax- is the set of rules, all humans share. It is our ability to hierarchically organize information.
Do animals have language?
-No – as they communicate, which is the process of exchanging messages
-No species other than humans that have infinite amount of creativity, or create symbolic representations
-Animal behaviour is innate
Language elements:
1)Phonemes – smallest sound unit 13 – 60 depending on language
2)Morphemes – smallest unit that carries meaning
-Conveys information about semantics
-Dog – 1 morpheme Dogs – 2 morphemes (plural)
Suffixes/prefixes Dog + s must exist together
3)Syntax – rules for constructing sentences
-Idealized form of language
-Word order, morphological markers, sentence structure
4)Extra-linguistics information
-Needed to interpret semantics of the situation
5)Dialects
Language Development:
1)Auditory input by 5th gestational month
2)Pre-linguistic communication
(sounds, facial expressions, gestures, imitation)
3)Babbling
Intentional vocalization, lacks meaning
Deaf babies manually babble (same neural centres)
4)Phoneme perception
-Critical period for perceiving (and later producing) phonemes
-Need social interaction for neural connections to remain open – need interaction
-Need facial perception – that face matches information
-Comprehension precedes production
5)First spoken words (10 – 14 months)
-Clear, consistent name to person/object
-Culture affects type of first words
-Reflects what they hear
English focus on nouns
Other cultures focus on verbs
6)Building vocabulary – 18-24 months (Vocabulary spurt)
-Discontinuity – progression of words
-Fast mapping – disambiguation of meaning
-Extended mapping – retention, deeper processing
7)Holophases
-Single word to communicate ‘sentences’
8)Telegraphic speech
-Two-word combinations
-8-12 months after first words
-No conjunctions or prepositions
-Word order of English is correct
Linguistic Inaccuracies
Under-extension
-Words used too restrictively
Over-extension
-Words used too broadly
Syntactic Development
-Comprehension precedes production
9)Private speech
-Vygotsky (theorist)
-Speech is internalized after 8 years old
10)Social speech
-Direct speech to others
-Want others to listen
-Frustration when not understood
-Metalinguistic awarenessneeded