I. Questions regarding language

A. Is it special?

1. Chomsky and the language acquisition device

2. self-motivating properties

3. relation to mental abnormalities

a. intact language in Williams syndrome

b. deficient language in Down’s syndrome

B. Does language have a special biological underpinning?

1. localization - distinct anatomical base

a. left hemisphere

b. Broca’s area vs. Wernicke’s area

c. naming colors

1. damage to occipital lobe - loss of color vision

2. damge to Wernicke’s area - loss of color names

3. damage to areas in between - loss of color-name matching

2. exceptions

a. 1/3 of right handers have RH processing

b. plasticity

1. damage before age 1 = greater plasticity

2. hemispherectomy

a. normal language w/ damage before 1

b. some damage to perceptual/spatial

A. how people speak

1. air flow only - vowels

2. air flow plus obstruction - consonants

B. development

1. crying - birth

2. cooing - 1 to 2 months

3. simple articulation - 3 months

4. babbling - 6 months

5. patterned speech - 1 year

C. continuity

1. sounds: b, p, m, d, n

2. words: mama, papa, dada

a. m- n-: present in 55% of terms for mother

b. food?

D. pronunciation

1. needs practice

2. competence by school age

a. sh, th, s & r are difficult

3. coping

a. choosing form that’s easiest to pronounce

b. metalinguistic awareness

A. first words

1. detected by parents rather early

2. typical age: 10-13 months

3. by 18 months 3-100 words

a. most concern the things they interact with

B. one word "phrases"

1. single phrases convey larger meaning - holophrases

2. overextensions, underextensions, & overlaps

a. doggie = dog, horse, cows, cats

b. doggie = child’s dog only

c. mixed use

3. form and function

a. both predominate in early words

C. language explosion

1. doubling at 18-21 mos & 21-24 mos

2. by 1st grade: 10,000 words; by 5th: 40,000

3. how do children infer meanings from few exposures?

a. whole-object constraint
  1. assume new word is name of object not a characteristic a. preschoolers unlikely to use a new word for objects different in shape but similar in size, color b. taxonomic constraint
  1. unfamiliar words represent basic level

2. parents use unfamiliar terms with familiar terms in the same category

3. but appearance is important at young ages

c. mutual-exclusivity constraint

1. unfamiliar words refer to new objects

2. may reduce overextensions

3. present @ 1 1/2 years

4. importance of grammatical cues

a. This is..., this is a..., this is some...

4. linguistic creativity

a. reflect rules for forming words

5. linguistic analysis - reorganization a. development of un- awareness
  1. attached to words that involve contact or covering

2. correct repetition -> overuse -> rule

A. rules for forming sentences

1. electrical activity a. function words - front temporal area

b. content words - rear of both hemispheres (nouns only?)

2. grammatical knowledge

a. differentiates btn 8-13 yr olds & deaf adults

B. early understanding

1. comprehension

a. @ 17 mos. of whole sentences

2. production a. @ 20 mos. two-word phrases reflect knowledge
  1. agent-action, possessor-possessed, attribute-object, recurrence, disappearance b. @ 24-30 mos "replacement sentences"

C. later development

1. past tense forms

a. first treated as separate cases

b. with 60-70 verbs, + ed rule generalized

1. overregularization to age 7

2. questions

a. add wh- to SVO form

b. add auxiliary verb, but inconsistently

c. add auxiliary verb and keep -s

d. correct @ age 5

3. critical periods

a. Lenneberg: 18 mos to 12 years

1. starting point: adults superior

2. end point: children superior

b. Johnson & Newport (1989)

1. age of arrival vs. time in US