Language Language – our spoken, written or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning

Language can be…..

Language Structure Phonemes Morphemes Grammar Semantics Syntax

All languages contain…. Phonemes Morphemes The smallest units of sound in a language. English has about 44 phonemes. The smallest unit of meaningful sound. Examples : Can be words like a or but. prefixes or suffixes…”ed” at the end of a word means past tense How many phonemes in cats? How many morphemes in cats? Example: How many phonemes does platypus have?

How many phonemes and morphemes? Rich Hat   Knock   Bring    Through  Strict Stretch Bats Called Nightly Luck, lucky, unlucky Coolness Zebras Defroster

Language Structure Grammar: The rules of a language. Example: Subject/verb agreement - singular subject takes a singular verb, while a plural subject takes a plural verb. Semantics - rules by which we derive meaning from morphemes, words, and sentences. Examples: Arms race means weapons race, not body parts race ed on the end of a word makes it past tense Syntax: the order of words in a language. Adjectives come before nouns Don’t use dangling participles, run on sentences, fragments Is this the White House or the House White?

Language Acquisition Receptive language Productive language Ability to comprehend speech Begins at @ 4 months Can read lips 7 mo. Can segment spoken sounds into individual words Can listen to an unfamiliar language Productive language Ability to produce words with meaning Starts around 4 months of age with babbling

Language Acquisition Stages that we learn language… Babbling Stage make speech sounds both in and out of native language First able to discriminate speech sounds Example: Ba da ta Holophrastic Stage/one word stage Productive language begins (speaking meaningful words) Receptive language (comprehension of meaning) Example: Momma, dada, dog Telegraphic Stage/two word stage Grammatically correct 2 word saying Contains mostly nouns and verbs Follows rules of syntax Example: Want juice Overgeneralization - extending the application of a rule to items that are excluded from it in the language norm, Example: Mommy holded the baby 4. Speaking in Complete Sentences

How do we learn language? Behaviorist Theory Nativist Theory

Behaviorist Theory B.F. Skinner Association – sights and sounds Imitation – modeling others Reinforcement- by smiles and hugs

Chomsky’s Theory Inborn Universal Grammar Universal language acquisition device – In born (innate)readiness to learn grammatical rules Prewired to learn language, social interaction turns the switch on The stages of language development occur at about the same ages in most children, even though different children experience very different environments. Universal grammar – common grammatical building blocks that all languages share (inborn). Children use nouns first before they learn verbs or adjectives All languages have nouns and verbs, subjects and objects, negations and questions If there is a word purple in a language it will also have a word for red Example: Overgeneralization

Overgeneralization Overgeneralization - Applying a grammatical rule too widely and thereby creating incorrect forms Supports Chomsky’s Universal Grammar Example: “I goed to the store to get cookies”, “I rided my bike”

Statistical Learning and Critical Periods Statistical Learning – discerning word breaks, analyzing which syllables most often go together Infants up to the age of 10 months can do this, after that they become functionally deaf to other languages Critical Period – sensitive period for mastering certain aspects of language Children not exposed to language by age 7 gradually lose ability to master any language Learning a language as an adult you will always speak with an accent Most easily master language as a child

Your little sister says: “Taked cupcake Your little sister says: “Taked cupcake!” Explain how this utterance may illustrate the following language concepts: phoneme, morpheme, telegraphic speech, language acquisition device.

Whorf’s Linguistic Determination Hypothesis The idea that language determines the way we think. The Hopi tribe has no past tense in their language, so Whorf says they rarely think of the past. Underestimates how much thinking occurs without language

Thinking and Language Bilingual advantage Thinking and images Thinking affects language, which then affects our thoughts.