Language Development I.Three theories of language development A.The behaviorist approach B.The nativist approach 1.Language areas in the brain 2.Sensitive periods for language development 3.Limitations of the nativist view C.The interactionist approach II.Getting ready to talk A.Cooing and babbling B.Becoming a communicator III.Language in infancy and toddlerhood A.First words B.Two word utterances C.Comprehension versus production IV.Language in childhood A.Vocabulary 1.Types of words 2.Strategies for word learning 3.Explaining vocabulary development B.Grammar 1.Basic rules and complex structures 2.Explaining grammatical development C.Pragmatics

Theories of Language Development The Behaviorist Approach Learning language through conditioning Learning language through imitation B. F. Skinner

Theories of Language Development The Nativist Approach The Language Acquisition Device (LAD) The existence of universal grammar Are children biological prepared to learn language? Language areas in the brain Broca’s area (left frontal lobe) – grammatical processing and language production Wernicke’s area (left temporal lobe) – comprehending word meaning Aphasias Noam Chomsky

Theories of Language Development The Nativist Approach, con’t Sensitive periods for language development Research on American Sign Language (ASL) Second language learning Limitations of the nativist view Problems in specifying universal grammar Innate grammatical knowledge and language development Noam Chomsky

Theories of Language Development The Interactionist Approach Information processing perspective Social interaction perspective Michael Tomasello

Getting ready to talk Cooing and babbling Babbling in infancy Babbling in deaf infants The role of language input Becoming a communicator Conversational behavior and joint attention Preverbal gestures

Language in Infancy and Toddlerhood First words Understanding word meanings The occurrence of spoken words Two-word utterances Building of vocabulary Telegraphic speech Comprehension versus production Time course of comprehension and production Explanation for differences

Language in Childhood Vocabulary Building of vocabulary and fast mapping Types of words Cultural differences Strategies for word learning Mutual exclusivity bias Syntactic bootstrapping Comprehension versus production Explaining vocabulary development Grammar Basic rules The use of grammatical rules Basic 3 word grammars Complex structures Explaining grammatical development Semantic bootstrapping Pragmatics Children as conversationalists