Language

Language

• Our spoken, written, or gestured words and the way we combine them to communicate meaning.

• Importance of language in the “information age”

3 Characteristics of Language

I) Semantics=Use of symbols to convey meaning

Circle the word doesn’t belong?

Skyscraper Cathedral Temple Prayer

Circle the odd item

Cathedral Prayer Temple Skyscraper

The importance of context…

SHOT

Bartender

Golf

Photographer

Marksmanship

Medicine

2. Generativity

The ability to combine words in new ways.

Some are silly…..

Some are profound….

3. Displacement

The ability to refer to absent objects

(most psychologists say animals lack 2 & 3)

Structure of Language

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.

•The artist painted me on the porch.

Grammar - Context

•The artist painted me on the porch.

•The artist painted me on the porch.

•The artist painted me on the porch.

Language Acquisition

Module 17: Language Development

Noam Chomsky (1928- )

• Linguist who argues that children have a predisposition to learn language

• Theory called Transformational grammar.

• as though their brains are hardwired to learn vocabulary and the rules of grammar=

(Language Acquisition Device)

Chomsky’s evidence= Deep

Structure vs. Surface Structure

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

Linguistic Relativity Theory orWhorf-Sapir Hypothesis

Does our language determines the way we think?

Or

Does our thinking (cognition( influence language?

Inuit word for “snow”?

Language Stages

Module 17: Language Development

Language Acquisition Stages

• Three-step process:

– Babbling

– One-Word Stage=

Holophrastic stage

– Two/Three Word

Stage=telegraphic

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

One-Word Stage

• Holophrastic Speech: Child uses one word to convey a complete

thought or idea

Two-Word Stage

• Two word sentences showing an appreciation of the rules of grammar