Language Development Module 17

Module Overview Building Blocks of Language Language Acquisition Language Stages Click on the any of the above hyperlinks to go to that section in the presentation.

Building Blocks of Language Module 17: Language Development

Language Our spoken, written, or gestured words and the way we combine them to communicate meaning. Importance of language in the “information age”

Phoneme In language, the smallest distinctive sound unit. English has about 40 phonemes. A young baby produces all the phonemes of all the languages of the world.

Morpheme In language, the smallest unit that carries meaning. May be a word or part of a word English has about 100,000 morphemes.

Grammar System of rules governing how we can combine phonemes, morphemes and words to produce meaningful communication.

Grammar - Context The artist painted me on the porch.

Grammar - Context The artist painted me on the porch.

Grammar - Context The artist painted me on the porch.

Structure of Language

Language Acquisition Module 17: Language Development

Noam Chomsky (1928- ) Linguist who argues that children have a predisposition to learn language; as though their brains are hardwired to learn vocabulary and the rules of grammar.

B.F. Skinner and Language Psychologist who argued that children learn language through association, imitation and reinforcement. –Association : linking certain sounds with certain people –Imitation –Reinforcement or punishments

Language Stages Module 17: Language Development

Language Acquisition Stages Three-step process: –Babbling –One-Word Stage –Two-Word Stage

Babbling Babies spontaneously babble phonemes. Will babble all the phonemes of the world Will begin to babble only the phonemes of the child’s native tongue at about 1 year of age

Babbling

One-Word Stage Child uses one word to convey a complete thought or idea

One-Word Stage

Two-Word Stage Two word sentences showing an appreciation of the rules of grammar

Two-Word Stage

Overgeneralization Child will generalize grammar rules so they apply the rules too broadly. Example: “I dugged in the sandbox” rather than “I dug in the sandbox”

Overgeneralization

The End