Language Development: Background

Jan. 8, 2009

What is language?

Text: systematic and conventional use of sounds (or signs or written symbols) for the purpose of communication or self-expression.

OED: the system of spoken or written communication used by a particular country, people, community, etc., typically consisting of words used within a regular grammatical and syntactic structure

Definition cont.

Others: concrete act of speaking abstract system underlying the collective totality

of the speech/writing behaviour of a community the biological faculty which enables individual to

learn and use their communication systems a defining feature of human behaviour

Definitions can indicate biases

Parts of Language

Phonetics and phonology: the constituent sounds of a language

Fen

/fεn/

Parts of Language

Semantics: meanings of words Lexicon: vocabulary and knowledge of

derivational morphology (word building)Fen

Low land covered wholly or partially with water; boggy land; a marsh.

Fenny

Parts of Language Grammar: the structural organization of

words and morphemes (inflectional morphology) Morphology: combining units of meaning

(words and morphemes) Syntax: combining words into sentences

Fen

Fens The word fen comes from Old English.

English fen the Old comes word from.

John accidently walks into the fen

John accidently walk into the fen.

Parts of Language Pragmatics: understanding meaning of others

beyond words (communicative function) Sociolinguistics: transmittal of information to

others in socially appropriate ways Much overlap

FenEww. My ball went into the fen. Go get it for me.

Fens are ugly and smelly.

Oh, my ball mistakenly went into the fen and I am wearing my new shoes. What can I possibly do?

Fens are hardy and stark ecosystems and the strong odour indicates the cycle of life.

Language Development

5-year-olds are old fogies.

Why study language?

Extremely complex, so need to explain its fast acquisition. Cognition. Nature versus nurture.

Human. Social needs.

Indicator of status.

Variation. Linguistic.

History of language research:Origin stories

Religions/mythologies of many cultures have language origin stories.

Hindu: Brahma punished world tree by cutting off branches, new trees = new cultures/lang.

Native American: post-flood or over a dispute.

Greeks: Hermes gave differing speech to people to invoke discord

Africa: post-famine

The people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do; and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.

History of language research:Ancient

First experiment: Psammetichus Plato: Cratylus, arbitrary (conventional)

or intrinsic (natural)? Important to get to Forms. Reflected in Confucius’ thinking as well.

India: much phonetic and morphology research arose out of need to read Vedic texts.

History of language research:Pre-modern

Wild children in 17th century Debate between Rousseau and Locke;

Locke won. Origins of sign language research. Critical periods.

History of language research:Modern

Functionalist Era (1800-1957) Baby biographies.

Darwin: that perfection of structure and co-adaptation that justly excites our admiration

Leopold: bilingual infant Normative studies Behaviourism

Skinner: correct grammar is positively re-enforced and will be used in the future, and incorrect grammar is negatively re-enforced and will be not be used again.

History of language research:Modern

Psycholinguistic/Cognitive Science Era (1957-present) Chomsky

Argument against Skinner: All possible sentences (infinite) would be impossible to learn through

imitation and reinforcement. Children acquire language quickly and effortlessly, and at identical

stages across cultures. Words like goed, thinked, and eated aren’t spoken by parents.

Innate ability: LAD and UG. Internal to the mind/brain.

History of language research:Modern

Psycholinguistic/Cognitive Science Era (1957-present) Other approaches.

Biological: genetic bases, structures and processes Critical periods, brain imaging, evolution

Linguistic: Chomskyan. Social learning: neo-behaviourist, looking at how

socialization (other people) aids in language learning Cognitive: domain-specific versus domain-general