1 LANGUAGE What is it? (TRADITIONAL VIEW) communication that uses SYMBOLS (words stand for things, actions, ideas) Allows us to convey MEANING of information about things that are… – NOT PRESENTLY IN FRONT OF US – OR ARE “ABSTRACT.” Language also seems to affect how we think, reason, and relate SPEECH = is SPOKEN language

2 What are the basic cognitive skills of infants? LANGUAGE Where does it come from? GENETIC? IN BORN? “LANGUAGE ACQUISITION DEVICE”? ---- Chomsky LEARNED? IMITATION? SHAPED BY PARENT FEEDBACK? Skinner

3 Language Milestones (Norms)

4 The “Structure” of Language 5 major components (“structures”) of language : 1. PHONOLOGY 2. MORPHOLOGY 3. SYNTAX 4. SEMANTICS 5. PRAGMATICS

5 “Structure” of Language PHONOLOGY study of language sounds Language sounds called PHONEMES human voice can produce about 150 phonemes English uses 44 phonemes (ex. ee, oo, th, s, g, etc.) phonemes are either VOICED or NON-VOICED sounds Maturation needed in vocal areas of mouth/throat before babies can produce the sounds very well

6 CATEGORICAL PERCEPTION Says that infants have innate ability to respond differentially to different speech sounds (phonemes), even if they are not in their native language However, with experience in a given language, some of these discriminations disappear if not used

7 “Structure” of Language MORPHOLOGY Is study of word construction rules Root words (ex. bat, rake) and their prefixes (im, non, un, etc.) and suffixes (ing, s, ed, ive, etc.)are called MORPHEMES. Young kids generally mess up these word construction rules (ex. foots, sheeps, falled, goed, wented) These morpheme “mess ups” are called OVERREGULARIZATIONS Chomsky said these overregularizations “prove” we have language rules built-in at birth. Any contrary arguments to this?

8 “Structure” of Language SYNTAX Is study of word arrangements and combinations to form sentences SURFACE STRUCTURE = all the possible “allowable” word combinations for a sentence Ex) “Johnny hit the ball.” (ACTIVE surface structure) Ex) “The ball was hit by Johnny.” (PASSIVE structure) DEEP STRUCTURE = the underlying meaning of the sentence Passive surface structures make it more difficult to understand the deep structure than active surface structures

9 “Structure” of Language More on SYNTAX DEEP STRUCTURE the infant’s understanding can be tested in a clever way: Golinkoff and colleagues presented two video images to babies and recorded which image was looked at more The “cue” was either – “Big Bird is tickling Cookie Monster.” OR – “Big Bird is being tickled by Cookie Monster.”

10 “Structure” of Language SEMANTICS study of how words acquire their meaning That is, how do we learn that the word BANANA refers to that fruit? ASSOCIATIVE LEARNING!! RECEPTIVE comprehension always occurs before EXPRESSIVE NOUN learning always precedes VERBS, then come ADJECTIVES, then ADVERBS.

11 “Structure” of Language PRAGMATICS study of how language use is adjusted to suit the situation to better convey our meaning Ex.) “Hey, Dude” vs. “Dear Sir” Includes changes in syntax, vocabulary, intonation (prosody), and “wordiness.” PARENTESE = how parents adjust language for kids (see more on next slide)

12 “Structure” of Language “PARENTESE” Parents change the way they talk when the recipient is a child! Slower, clearer, pronunciation emphasis Simpler word forms (“choo-choo”) Simplified grammar Expansion of infant utterances Repetitive Use higher pitched voice Time to go home!

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