PSY 302 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Mutual Exclusivity, Jean Berko Gleason, Noam Chomsky

• School: Ryerson University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY 302
• Professor: Margaret Moulson

Document Summary

Using a finite set of words in our vocabulary, we can express an endless number of concepts or ideas. We use symbols to represent things in the world, what we see and cannot see. True for every language, whether spoken, written, or signed. Language is generative: fundamental difference between humans and animals. Phonological development: learning about sound system of language. Syntactic development: learning rules for combining sounds or words i. e. grammar pragmatic development, learning how language is used in social context i. e. sarcasm/irony. Damage to broca"s area and to wernicke"s area. Human environment: infant-directed speech (ids) the more exposure, the better they will learn the language. Distinctive mode of speech that adults adopt when talking to babies. Critical period for language development: children must be exposed to other people using signed or spoken language, sometime between age 5 and puberty, language acquisition becomes more difficult and less successful. Evidence of critical period: feral children (like genie)