Speech and Language Development Exam #1 – Flashcards
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What is the difference between speech and language?
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Speech = oral communication of language/ movement of articulators Language = main way to communicate (structure of content); includes writing, verbal language, and visual symbols
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What is an example of speech?
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Verbally giving a presentation for class
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What is an example of language?
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Writing a paper for school
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How do speech and language relate to communication?
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Communication is possible through language and oral language is possible through speech.
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What is the speech chain?
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sort out thoughts/decide what and how to express them - Put thoughts into language - Brain sends out messages to speech muscles - Movement of speech structures to create sound waves - Sound waves hit listener's ear drums - Sound waves are neural impulses that are analyzed/interpreted by listener's brain
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What is special about human speech and our physiology?
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- Hockett's 13 design features of human language - no other creature has all the features
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What are Hockett's 13 design features of language?
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1. Vocal-auditory channel (convenient and efficient) 2. Broadcast transmission and directional reception (sound goes in all directions and anyone can hear and localize) 3. Rapid Fading (speech is created and immediately fades) 4. Interchangeability (any human can say anything) 5. Total Feedback (can monitor what/how we say things) 6. Specialization (speech is only for communication) 7. Semanticity (can produce specific messages) 8. Arbitrariness (nothing to account for meaning with word) 9. Discreteness (each sound is discrete from other speech sounds) 10. Displacement (can talk about things that aren't present) 11. Productivity (can create new words and sentences) 12. Duality of patterning (infinite words can be made with finite # of sounds) 13. Traditional transmission (language is learned from other humans)
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What are features that Hockett missed in his Origins of Speech?
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1. Recursion (Ability to create with language) 2. Indexicality (Ability to use past experiences/context to understand) 3. Prevarcation (Ability to intentionally deceive others) 4. Reflexiveness (metalinguistic ability) 5. Learnability (Environment shapes learning)
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What is neural plasticity and how does it relate to the brain's self-organizing neural network?
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The neural circuits change as we develop and learn more. Neural self-organization puts new info into safe storage and is logical and retrievable.
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What are examples of how the environment supports learning language and/or parts of language?
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...
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Behaviorist Theory (primary person, essential ideas, primary focus)
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- Skinner - Language is learned by selective reinforcement - Nurture (environment) is primary in language learning - Differences in language learning come from differences in environment - Language is used passively and constantly shaped into more adult-like forms - Focused on observable behaviors - Children imitate, but do not initiate, therefore language comes from environment - Language is what you DO not what you HAVE - General focus
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Nativist Theory (primary person, essential idea, primary focus)
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- Chomsky - Language is processed by universal and innate rules governing deep and surface structure - Extreme biological perspective - Language is innate/biologically based - Knowledge leads to performance - Looks for commonality across language rules - Focuses on the rules that govern how language is structured - Syntax
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Interactionist/ Case Grammar Theory (primary person, essential idea, primary focus)
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- Filmore - A level beneath deep structure includes universal semantic concepts that determine relationships between nouns and structure - deep structure composed of universal concepts that determine noun/verb relationship - explains importance and influence of semantics on the form of language - Semantics
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Interactionist/ Cognitive Theory (primary person, essential idea, primary focus)
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- Piaget - Language and thought develop as parallel processes - Thought
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Interactionist/ Information Processing Theory (primary person, essential idea, primary focus)
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- Bates and MacWhinney - Function, not abstract grammar, generates language structure -children aren't born "hard-wired" but have potential for connections - connections can be firm or fade depending on experience - language is dynamic (changes) - language emerges from the interaction of an individual's brain and the environment - language forms compete with each other for a place in the brain - Structure by function
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Interactionist/Social Theory (primary person, essential idea, primary focus)
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- Bruner/Vygotsky - Language develops through social interaction and construction - focus on the underlying reasons for communication - children communicate before they talk - adults use special language with children - not child only (adults respond); not passive learning - baby drives communication/makes things happen - baby initiates to get stimulus - behavior - response - context is considered and differences can be understood - Structure by use
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Interactionist/ Speech Act Theory (primary person, essential idea, primary focus)
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- Searle - Language develops through its use in interactions - speech has 3 acts: locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary - Pragmatics (the study of the functions served by communication)
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What is operant conditioning and how does it relate to language from a behaviorist point of view?
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- Expressive - operant = a behavior which can be affected by responses that follow it - If a behavior increases, it has been reinforced - If a behavior decreases, it has been punished - caregiver provides a model (stimulus) - child imitates (behavior) - child gets praised, gets the named object or activity (response) - child learns that word causes result and repeats
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What is a discriminative stimulus?
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- (operant conditioning) - reminds learner about expected behaviors and possible responses (cue of what to do/sets up occasion) - ex. mom gives a look to prompt child to say "thank you" and then gets praised after he says it - doesn't mean that child WILL do behavior that is expected
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What is shaping?
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(operant conditioning) - gradual change in response over time to support successive approximations of a desired behavior - increases expectations to get close to adult form
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What is chaining?
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stimulus - behavior - response/stimulus - behavior
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What is classical conditioning and how does it relate to language from a behaviorist point of view?
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- Pavlov - Receptive - sounds have no meaning until paired with association - creates "starter" definitions that will solidify over time - ex. if mom hands child blanket and says "blanket," child will get sense of blanket then associate item with word eventually
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Skinner's Language-Behavior Functions
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Every piece of language is thought out and presented as operant conditioning: 1. Echoic - imitation of a model with nonverbal stimulus 2. Tact - verbal behavior to name/label items 3. Mand - verbal behavior to request, command, demand 4. Intraverbal - free associated/non requested responses 5. Autoclitic - influence and are influenced by speaker's behaviors, account for linking words into sentences
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What are limitations for Behaviorism?
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- imitation is a weak explanation of novelty of language (can't explain generating/making new sentences) - normal vs. disordered - "unnatural" environments still produce language - language is not just a behavior (nonverbal/paralinguistic factors)
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What are transformations?
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- rules that describe the rearrangement of deep structures as they are moved to the next level of structure, referred to the surface - rules are not universal - each language has its own set of transformations although the basic principles that operate in transformations are much the same in all languages - allow reordering of words to create new sentences with same meaning
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What is an interactionist?
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- viewpoints on how language acquisition occurs in children span 30 years - offer varying degrees of support for roles that biology and nature play in acquisition process
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What is the semantic revolution?
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- beginning to move focus from structure of language conveyed by grammar to the meaning that children convey through grammar as they learn about their world - considering both structure and function - focus on MEANING (for language to be truly generative, must generate meaning in words and relationships between words)
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What is case grammar?
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- designed to explain the importance and influence of semantics on the form of language - Nouns have different roles to make the verb make sense/ what is the noun going to do? - 7 cases - Noun gets case based on where it is in sentence, what it's purpose is, and how it is used in relation to the verb - accounts for generation of semantic relationships (foundation for structure)
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What is the illocutionary act, locutionary act, and perlocutionary act?
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locutionary act: content/what we say illocutionary act: motive/what is the intent? perlocutionary act: what effect the communication has
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Why are pragmatics important from a social interactional perspective?
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- nativists focused on structure - interactionists focus on pragmatics (intent to communicate) - intent leads child to attempt to communicate with people who can respond to intent - caregivers respond to intent and provide model on appropriate language
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What is the difference between emergentism and other theories?
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- combines nature and nurture, you learn language by doing it and seeing it/producing it builds neural structures - language emerges from existing structures of brain - language is how we solve our problems and grammar is the brain's solution to do language
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What is schemata?
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- Piaget's concept - gain representation then we use it to organize info - "the cognitive structures that people use to intellectually adapt and organize their environment"
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What is assimilation?
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- Piaget's concept - using existing schemes to manage new information - put new info into schemas - schemes become richer with more info
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What is accommodation?
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- Piaget's concept - managing new information by constructing new schemata - if info doesn't fit into existing scheme, create new one
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What is equilibrium?
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- Piaget's concept - balance between assimilating and accommodating new information - schemas are "right" at the time they are developed, but they constantly move toward more refined representation with increasing experience - we can deal with what we see/we use what we know to be true
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What is object permanence?
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- Piaget's concept - knowing object exists even when it's out of child's sight
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What is causality?
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- Piaget's concept - first child believes he causes all things (egocentric) - later realizes that other people and objects can cause things to happen
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What is means-ends?
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- Piaget's concept - there are ways to attain a goal - beginning tool use/other ways to get what you are looking for
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What is imitation?
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- Piaget's concept - facilitates internalization of models of behavior - can be immediate or delayed
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What is Play?
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- Piaget's concept - opportunity for experience/representation - symbolic representations (ex. box = house)
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What is private speech and why is it important?
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-Vygotsky's concept - talking out loud to process info - as you mature, thinking goes internally - children use language to tell what they are processing in thoughts - produces a foundation for higher order cognitive processes
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What is zone of proximal development?
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- Vygotsky's concept - an area of skill level that is above what a learner can do independently, but includes what can be attained with assistance - where a child is, where they are going, and how you can help get them there - adults use language with children that they can later use to guide themselves (showing them thinking process/thinking out loud)
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What is scaffolding?
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- support mechanism in ZPD to help a learner successfully accomplish a task - ways we add support for child and eventually remove it as they master problems independently
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Sensorimotor Development
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- Piaget 1st stage of cognitive development - ages birth -2 - fast changes - differentiates self and others/objects - recognizes own intentionality - object permanence - divided into several substages - prelogical, preverbal
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Preoperational Thought
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- Piaget's second stage of cognitive development - Ages 2 - 7 - thinking is still egocentric - can classify objects based on one feature - rapid language development - some decision making based solely on perceptional cues
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Concrete Thought
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- Piaget's 3rd stage of cognitive development - ages 7-11 - number, mass, and weight conservation - logical thinking - classification by multiple features
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Formal Operations
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- Piaget's 4th stage of cognitive development - ages 11+ - abstract thinking and hypothesis testing - understand how would someone's history affect behavior (not everyone develops) - can understand cause and effect
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What are executive functions?
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- late to develop - higher level of control features that vary by person - involves how you approach/engage in environment/where you need to put your attention - understanding the mental state of others - knowing what others know
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Paralinguistic features of communication
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- intonation - stress - emphasis - speed or rate of delivery
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Non-linguistic features of communication
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- not language; cultural! - body placement - distance - eye contact - gestures - facial expressions
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Meta-linguistic features of communication
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- ability to think and talk about communication - knowledge about communication - learning to read and write - judging if something is correct or incorrect - see the communication away from the context
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What are components of language in Bloom and Lahey's Language Taxonomy?
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Form: phonology, morphology, syntax Content: semantics Use: pragmatics
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Goals of Language Research
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- to confirm and discover general linguistic principles - to clarify the relationship between language and other areas of development - to advance theory in the area of language development
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What is communication?
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Active process of exchanging (sending and receiving) ideas and information between participants. Speech and language are only parts of the process; paralinguistic, non linguistic and meta linguistic features
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What is a phoneme?
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smallest sound unit with a meaningful difference ex. pat, bat, cat
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What is an allophone?
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sound units which are different but do not affect meaning ex. "p" sound in soup and pool
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What is morphology?
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rules governing internal organization of words (grammar)
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What is phonology?
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rules governing sound sequencing and syllable structure (speech)
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What is a free morpheme?
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a stand alone word ex. apple, go, big
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What are bound morphemes?
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- attached to free morphemes - derivational morphemes: change a word class or semantic meaning (teach - teacher) - inflectional morphemes: changes state or increases precision of words; gives more details (apples)
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What is syntax?
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rules governing structure of sentences/word order (most are subject-verb-object)
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What is semantics?
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rules governing meaning of words and word combinations; cultural/situational
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What is pragmatics?
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- rules governing how words are used in context (talking differently in different situations) - quantity: how much info you give - quality: truthfulness, realness - relevance: topic maintenance - manner: turn taking, timeliness - delivering message so it has intended effect on listeners - cultural/situational
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What is the functionalist perspective?
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- everything we do is about the message we are sending/intention - we can still understand messages if other pieces are missing - pragmatics over-arches everything else.
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What is LAD?
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- Nativism belief - Language Acquisition Device: structure in brain that is reservoir filled with info about rules of language structure
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Why do nativists believe human language is innate?
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- language models are too complex for children to learn - children "acquire" language quickly and with little effort - across languages, commonalities occur which indicate "built-in" universals - no animal uses language like humans do - poverty of stimulus
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What is Transformational Generative Grammar?
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- Nativism - Deep structures in language (LAD): we don't know about them/same for all languages, rules are universal, dictate the relationships between nouns and verbs - Surface structures in language: language specific, put words in right form, takes ideas and "transforms" them into correct language
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What are limitations for Nativism?
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- focus is narrow (only on syntax) - difficult to test for LAD - stimulus is not as poor as claimed - Language learning goes on well into adolescence - We aren't sure humans are only one with language
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How do adults use language in social interactions with children?
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- use short, simple sentences - talk about objects or actions which children are engaged with and can see - repeats and highlights certain words - use exaggerated paralinguistic features (go up and down in inflections) - use questions and commands - use expansion/extension (add info and/or grammar)
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What are limitations to social interactionism?
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- less info about how language structure is acquired - little explanation of how contextual meanings become encoded in symbolic meaning
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What is Piaget's stance on cognitive development and language?
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- not a language theory, but a cognitive theory - need concepts to develop by experimenting with how things work - language is symbolic/ need concepts 1st - need nature to learn (cognition) and nurture from experimenting - cognitive development is a process - come cognition has language aspect - child is active in acquisition - child is relatively independent in process and constructs knowledge
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How do perception and representation relate?
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- perception allows you to see and know the representation behind object (ex. flag = USA) - representation is built into cognitive structures - able to recognize representation at a distance after oral stage (ex. knowing truck as toy, on billboard, on road, in book)
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Limitations on Piaget's Theory
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- doesn't account for how children assign words to their representations - children process information sooner than the stages suggest - some may never reach formal operational stage
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What is Vygotsky's stance on cognitive development and language?
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- Language is necessary for learning experience/building concepts - kids learn differently (progressions that overlap, not steps) - we need guidance to develop, process and learn - children learn from social environments - come to the table with innate abilities, but have to add in social experiences to build development/language - adults show meaning about environment/society through interactions - complex mental processes begin as social activities
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What is intersubjectivity?
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- 2 people engaged in a task, working together to understand the other's perspective, skills, and knowledge - knowledge from one gets transferred to the other - adults adjust information for child's level and the child extends their knowledge
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What is perception?
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- the process by which a person selects, organizes, integrates, and interprets the sensory stimuli received - relationship between sensory input and language are not always clear, but influential - helps with learning from environment/ we take in our environment in our own way and use it for our language - across all theories - how we take in info matters to the interpretation - how to decide quickly if info is something we need to process - people can have different perceptions
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What is working memory?
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- voluntary - exclusive processing and maintenance of task relevant info - use visual and/or phonological skills - needs skills in attention and assigning relevance - if it's deemed important, you remember
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What is Theory of Mind?
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- knowing what other's know - understanding why someone feels differently - language allows us to share those states with others - emerges over time (young kids think everyone knows what they know) - NOT a developmental language theory
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What are the components of sentences according to Fillmore?
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- modality: sentence characteristics (verb tense/ expression of negation or interrogation) - Proposition: relationship between noun and verbs in a sentence
