Chapter 10 Development of Language and Communication Skills

FIVE COMPONENTS OF LANGUAGE Phonology – knowledge of language’s sound system (phonetics) Morphology – rules specifying how words are formed from sounds Semantics – meanings expressed in words Free morphemes – stand alone words Bound morphemes – cannot stand alone, change meaning of free morphemes when added

FIVE COMPONENTS OF LANGUAGE Syntax – rules specifying how words are combined to produce sentences Pragmatics – principles governing how language is used in different social situations Also requires interpretation of nonverbal signals

THEORIES OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT The Learning (Empiricist) Perspective Imitation, reinforcement and correction are responsible for learning language Evaluation of Learning Perspective Imitation and reinforcement are important Syntax (grammatical correctness) not reinforced

THEORIES OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT The Nativist Perspective Humans are biologically programmed to acquire language Language acquisition device – activated by verbal input (Chomsky) Universal grammar – common set of rules Language-Making Capacity (Slobin)

Figure 10.1 A model of language acquisition proposed by nativists.

THEORIES OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT Support for the Nativist Perspective Presence of linguistic universals Language is species specific Brain Specialization and Language Broca’s area – speech production Wernicke’s area – speech comprehension Sensitive-Period Hypothesis – language most easily acquired - birth to puberty

Figure 10.2 As shown here, there is a clear relationship between the age at which immigrants arrived in the United States and their eventual adult performance in English grammar. Those who arrived early in childhood end up performing like native speakers of English, whereas those who arrived as teenagers or adults perform much more poorly.

THEORIES OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT Problems with the Nativist Approach Other species show auditory discrimination early in life Doesn’t explain language development Overlooked the role of the environment

THEORIES OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT The Interactionist Perspective Biological and Cognitive Contributors Biologically prepared to acquire language Gradually maturing nervous system, develop similar ideas at same age Biological maturation affects cognitive development, affecting language

Figure 10.3 Grammatical complexity increases as a function of the size of children’s productive vocabulary.

THEORIES OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT Environmental Supports Language is a means of communicating Lessons from Joint Activities Conversations require taking turns Lessons from Child-Directed Speech Short, simple sentences (motherese) Becomes more complex with language development

THEORIES OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT Environmental Supports, continued Lessons from Negative Evidence Respond to ungrammatical speech Expansion – corrected and enriched version Recast – new grammatical forms Importance of Conversation Must be involved in using language, exposure to speech is not sufficient

Figure 10.4 An overview of the interactionist perspective on language development.

BEFORE LANGUAGE: THE PRELINGUSITC PERIOD Early Reactions to Speech 3 days old, prefer mother’s voice Can distinguish phonemes adults cannot The Importance of Intonational Cues Sensitive to cues from birth 7 months sensitive to phrase units

BEFORE LANGUAGE: THE PRELINGUSITC PERIOD Producing Sounds: Prelinguistic Vocalizations 2 months – cooing (vowel sounds) 4-6 months – babbling (vowel + consonant) 10-12 months – vocables – reserving sounds for particular situations

BEFORE LANGUAGE: THE PRELINGUSITC PERIOD What Do Prelinguistic Infants Know about Language and Communication? 7-8 months, vocal turn taking Gestures and Nonverbal Communication 8-10 months Declarative – directing attention Imperative – alter others’ behavior

BEFORE LANGUAGE: THE PRELINGUSITC PERIOD Do Preverbal Infants Understand the Meaning of Words? 12-13 months – yes Receptive language (understanding) develops earlier than productive language (expression)

ONE WORD AT A TIME: THE HOLOPHRASE PERIOD Holophrase – one word “sentences” Early Semantics: Building a Vocabulary Vocabulary grows one word at a time Naming explosion – 18-24 months Talk most about manipulable objects Multimodel motherese – exaggerated sentences by an adult accompanied by an action explaining the words

Table 10.1 Types of Words Used by Children with Productive Vocabularies of 50 Words. SOURCE: Adapted from Nelson, 1973.

ONE WORD AT A TIME: THE HOLOPHRASE PERIOD Individual and Cultural Variations Referential style – word refer to people or objects (Western cultures) Expressive style – personal/social words (Eastern cultures) Birth order influences language style

ONE WORD AT A TIME: THE HOLOPHRASE PERIOD Attaching Meaning to Words Fast-mapping – quickly acquiring a word after hearing it applied a few times Good at 13-15 months, better for understanding, difficult retrieving words from memory

ONE WORD AT A TIME: THE HOLOPHRASE PERIOD Common Errors in Word Use Overextension – overgeneralization Underextension – using word for small range of objects Strategies for Inferring Word Meanings Use of social and contextual cues Processing constraints Object scope; Mutual exclusivity; lexical constraint

Table 10.2 Some Processing Strategies, or Constraints, That Guide Young Children’s Inferences about the Meaning of New Words.

ONE WORD AT A TIME: THE HOLOPHRASE PERIOD Syntactical Clues to Word Meaning Syntactical bootstrapping – learning meaning from sentence structure Noun – object Adjective – characteristic of object Causation – action word

THE TELEGRAHPIC PERIOD: FROM HOLOPHRASES TO SIMPLE SENTENCES Telegraphic speech – 18-24 months Simple sentences, containing only critical words (no grammatical markers) More common in languages where word order is more important than grammatical markers A Semantic Analysis of Telegraphic Speech

Table 10.3 Similarities in Children’s Spontaneous Two-Word Sentences in Four Languages. SOURCE: Adapted from Slobin, 1979.

THE TELEGRAHPIC PERIOD: FROM HOLOPHRASES TO SIMPLE SENTENCES A Semantic Analysis of Telegraphic Speech Follows some grammatical rules Context is also vital for understanding meaning The Pragmatics of Early Speech 2 year olds – good at vocal turn-taking Prefer to talk about unshared information Monitor responses to clarify meaning Understanding need to be polite

LANGUAGE LEARNING DURING THE PRESCHOOL PERIOD Preschool period (2 ½-5) sentences become complex and adultlike Grammatical Development Development of Grammatical Morphemes Grammatical morphemes – modifiers give more precise meaning to sentences ‘s’ for plurality; ‘ed’ for past tense ‘ing’ for present progressive

Table 10.4 Samples of One Boy’s Speech at Three Ages.

Table 10.5 Order of Acquisition of English Grammatical Morphemes.

Figure 10.5 A linguistic puzzle used to determine young children’s understanding of the rule for forming plurals in English.

LANGUAGE LEARNING DURING THE PRESCHOOL PERIOD Grammatical Morphemes - continued Acquired in a specific order Overregularization – overextend new grammatical morphemes Relatively rare

LANGUAGE LEARNING DURING THE PRESCHOOL PERIOD Mastering Transformational Rules Transformation grammar – rules for creating variations of declarative sentences Asking questions Yes/no – rising intonation Wh- questions (who, what, where, when, why) Moving auxiliary verb

LANGUAGE LEARNING DURING THE PRESCHOOL PERIOD Producing Negative Sentences Negative before sentence Move negative inside sentence Combine negative with auxiliary verb Producing Complex Sentences Age 3 - clauses, conjunctions first, embedded sentences next 5-6 good grammar

LANGUAGE LEARNING DURING THE PRESCHOOL PERIOD Semantic Development 2-5 understand and express relational contrasts Big/little; tall/short; in/on; here/there Frequently misinterpret passives

LANGUAGE LEARNING DURING THE PRESCHOOL PERIOD Development of Pragmatics and Communication Skills 3 year olds – illocutionary intent – real meaning may be different than literal meaning of words 3-5 – must tailor messages to communicate effectively

LANGUAGE LEARNING DURING THE PRESCHOOL PERIOD Referential Communication Ability to detect ambiguities in others’ speech and ask for clarification Preschool – fail to detect linguistic ambiguities Generally successfully guess Assume own uninformative sentences are clear Better in natural environment than lab

LANGUAGE LEARNING DURING MIDDLE CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE Later Syntactical Development Middle childhood – syntactical refinement Subtle rules, complex structures Semantic and Metalinguistic Awareness Rapid vocabulary growth – Morphological knowledge – meaning of morphemes to determine new words Add abstract words 9 to 11 – recognize and make inferences

LANGUAGE LEARNING DURING THE PRESCHOOL PERIOD Metalinguistic awareness Thinking about language and comment on properties Grammatical awareness Phonological awareness – linked to reading achievement

LANGUAGE LEARNING DURING THE PRESCHOOL PERIOD Further Development of Communication Skills Dramatic improvement in referential communication skills by 6 or 7 Less egocentric, more role-taking 9 - 10 years old – more clarification for ambiguous information

Table 10.6 Typical Idiosyncratic Descriptions Offered by Preschool Children When Talking about Unfamiliar Graphic Designs in the Krauss and Glucksberg Communication Game.

LANGUAGE LEARNING DURING THE PRESCHOOL PERIOD What Role Do Siblings Play in the Growth of Communication Skills? Promotes effective communication Siblings less likely to adjust speech, but then more likely to monitor and fix ambiguous messages Less likely to interpret ambiguous message from younger sibling – forcing them to adjust

Table 10.7 Important Milestones in Language Development.

Bilingualism: Challenges and Consequences of Learning Two Languages Exposure to 2 languages prior to age 3, proficient in both Preschool children, often learn second language to proficiency in 1 year Cognitive advantages Score higher on IQ tests, metalinguistic awareness, better selective attention

Bilingualism: Challenges and Consequences of Learning Two Languages English-only instruction Causes LEP children to struggle academically Do not acquire sufficient level of skill in English

Bilingualism: Challenges and Consequences of Learning Two Languages Two-way bilingual education Half day in English, half in second language Beneficial for both students with limited English proficiency and students fluent in English