KHA302 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Artificial Neural Network, Linguistic Relativity, Adverb
30 Jun 2018
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Developmental Lifespan week 7: Language Development
- Children do it so quickly and in the absence of formal teaching
oMastered very rapidly
o12 months to two year:
Master the concept of symbols
Once you have these symbols, use them to ask questions
- Language is what sets us apart as humans:
oEssential aspect
- Changes the capacity to interaction:
oExpress what they want/do
oExpress how they feel/emotion
oCreate a conversation:
The idea of a shared experience
Ask questions
- Beyond two years, living capacity explodes
- Language acquisition in infancy:
oProgress through several stages
oOpen mouthed coo
oBabbling
oPointing and saying simple words
ovocab
- Linguistics:
oSound of language: phonology
The study of sounds in a language
Phoneme: the smallest unit of sound in a language
More phonemes than letters in alphabet
Some languages have far fewer phonemes
Why is it so difficult to count?
Region accent or dialect
Co-articulation: a given phoneme and how it sounds is
altered given the phoneme pronounced before and after
it
oGetting ready or finishing pronunciation of the
following phoneme
Infants must learn to perceive them as the same
English has 41 phonemes
Infants are sensitive to phonemes and ignore variations
oThey can initially hear these differences, begin
to categories
Babbling: 4 to 8 months
oCooing starts first: vowel sounds first, then the
constant sounds
oThen begin to string cooing together to form
babbling
oBabbling continues for around 4-5 months after
first words
oMorphology and morphemes:
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The study of word structure and meaning
Infections: ending words
Derivations: inter.. nation… al
If you break down word and cannot make sense
Multi-phoneme morphemes are ones in which you
cannot break down or else it doesn’t make sense
oUnlike something like ‘inter’ or ‘ing’ which
provide meaning to other components
oWords of language: lexicon
oMeanings of words: semantics
We never stop learning, re-learning and modifying our
understanding of words
Might modify definitions that we are already familiar
with
Literal meaning of words and utterance
Pragmatics: intended meaning of words and utterances, plus
rules for what you can say
Varies with culture
Takes time to learn
Semantics and first words:
Cognitive development helps with:
oCategorization
oRetrieval from memory
oPronunciation
oGrammar: rules for combining units of language
oSyntax: rules for putting words together
oIntonation: prosodic contour of sentence
oPurposes and ways words and sentences are used in conversation:
pragmatics
As you become more developed in understanding, realize that
utterance meaning is determined by: the words, the context, the
roles of individuals
oOrganisation of words into sentences and rules: syntax
Grammar and structure
oIntonation
oComprehension to language to production
o
- Critical or sensitive periods:
oIs there one for acquiring language?
Child has cognitive complexity to develop skills
oEvidence: idea of the wild child
The child that has been raised external to human contact
Distressing number of examples around the world
What happens when isolation ends?
If they are then re-exposed to society, although they learn the
lexicon and semantics, they never learn the mastery
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Syntax and pragmatics are never fully grasped
The way they acquire language is much different:
Formal teaching
Formal practice
oEvidence:
Proficiency increases with earlier age of acquisition beginning
Less is more: children’s limited knowledge or
understanding/abilities of language make learning it appear less
daunting
- Theories of language:
oNativist:
Brain is structured in a way that is ready to accept a language
In the same way that we appear to be hard-wired to categorized
things in semantic networks
Words are recognized as patterns, we appear to be ready to see
these patterns and make rule
Chomsky: important theorist
Writing against Behaviorism limitations
Universal grammar: all or nearly all languages have the
same structure, because they serve the same basic
purpose
Language acquisition device: set of systems in the brain
ready to recognize patterns, and also has systems for
reproducing
Children learn langauges so quickly in the absence of
formal practicing
oThere must be something more going on
Biological:
Famous for revolutionizing linguistics and as political
critic
Transformational Generative
oGrammar: the transformation of innate
competence in grammar to the generation of
speech in a particular language
oReadiness for a language to be put into existing
system
Language activation device:
oWhere is this part of the brain? Far more
understanding/know there isn’t one particular
place
Readiness of interrelated systems in the
brain
oDeep structure: in all languages this is the same
Utterances/sentences have
A subject, object and a verb
Two different sentences may be different
but have the same deep structure
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Children do it so quickly and in the absence of formal teaching: mastered very rapidly, 12 months to two year: Once you have these symbols, use them to ask questions. Language is what sets us apart as humans: essential aspect. Changes the capacity to interaction: express what they want/do, express how they feel/emotion, create a conversation: Language acquisition in infancy: progress through several stages, open mouthed coo, babbling, pointing and saying simple words, vocab. The study of sounds in a language. Phoneme: the smallest unit of sound in a language. Co-articulation: a given phoneme and how it sounds is altered given the phoneme pronounced before and after it: getting ready or finishing pronunciation of the following phoneme. Infants must learn to perceive them as the same. Infants are sensitive to phonemes and ignore variations: they can initially hear these differences, begin to categories.
