1. Ability to communicate through speech, written words, gestures
Language
Ability to communicate through speech, written words, gestures

2. Learning Language What was one of your first words?
Typically what are babies first words?
How many words do you think you know now?
Probably around 80,000.
Children learn their native languages much before learning to add 2+2.
Benefit to teaching sign to babies?
There are over 6,800 languages that exist today.

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Phonemes & Morphemes
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4. Phonemes Morphemes The smallest units of sound in language
Ex: Bat= b, a, & t (3)
Ex: Chat= ch, a, t (3)
English has about 40 phonemes
Sometimes difficult to learn new language
Let’s Practice
Chops
Habits
Throat
Block
The smallest unit of meaningful sound
Can be a word or part of a word
Can also be parts of words like prefixes or suffixes…”s” means plural
How many morphemes does cats have?

6. Stages of Language Acquisition

7. Early Stages of Language Acquisition
Babbling Stage
One-Word Stage
“Naming Explosion”
The Two-Word Stage
Telegraphic Speech Stage

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Babbling (4 months)
Stage of language acquisition where babies can produce most all of the sounds heard in any language.
Infants have the natural ability to produce language sounds.
Children worldwide seem to learn language by going through similar stage
Babbling reveals household language
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

9. One-Word Stage One Word Stage Ages 1-2
Stage in which children speak mainly in single words.
“Mama”
“Milk” instead of “I want milk”
By 18 mos, learning at least a word/day.
The Naming Explosion
16-24 months
Period of rapid vocabulary growth
“What’s that?!” “What’s that!”

10. Two-Word Stage One Word Stage Age 2
Stage in which children speak mainly in two-word sentences.
“Mama Milk” or “Me Thirsty”
Basic grammar rules first appear
Telegraphic speech: contains nouns & verbs (“want juice,” “big doggy”)

11. How is language acquired?
B.F. Skinner vs. Noam Chomsky

13. Language Development Operant Learning (Behaviorism) Skinner
PERSPECTIVE
PSYCHO-
LOGIST
CHARACTERISTICS
Operant
Learning
(Behaviorism)
Skinner
Explain language development through learning principles: association, imitation, reinforcement (next unit)
Inborn
Universal
Grammar
Chomsky
“Language Acquisition Device”
Rate of learning is too fast to be explained by learning alone. We are prewired to learn language. Kids naturally overgeneralize: “holded” “tooken” Inborn Readiness
Statistical
Cognitive
Neuroscientist
Network learning: gradual changes in network connections based on experience. Infants discern word breaks by stat. analyzing which syllables most often go together (think babbling twins).
Critical period for learning language = 7yrs
Easier to learn 2nd language as a child
How difficult is your foreign language later in life?

14. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Issues with Language
Aphasia
Communication disorder that results from damage to the temporal lobe that contain language
Broca’s Aphasia
inability to speak words
Wernicke’s Aphasia
inability to form language comprehension
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007 30

15. Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis aka linguistic determinism

16. Language Influences Thinking
Words may not determine what we think, but they do influence our thinking
Many bilinguals report they have a different sense of self depending on which language they speak
English has a rich vocab for self-focused emotions such as anger
While Japanese has more words for interpersonal emotions such as sympathy
Bilingual children, who inhibit one language while using the other, can better inhibit their attention to irrelevant information

17. Thinking in Images
To a large extent thinking is language-based. When alone, we may talk to ourselves. However, we also think in images.
Example: Picturing yourself studying or practicing a free-throw shots will help with test scores and basketball skills
OBJECTIVE 15| Discuss the value of thinking in images.