PSYB32H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Peekaboo, Sarcasm, American Sign Language
6 Dec 2013
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Document Summary
Systematic and conventional use of sounds/signs/symbols: communication or self expression. Productive and receptive language; use of symbols and gestures. Environment unimportant to development: reinforcement and imitation. Language = biological phenomenon: universal features of language biology and heredity. Kimura (1967: dichotic listening task with adults, right ear > left ear. Critical/sensitive period: biology determines when organism is most responsive to environmental input, period of responsivity. Feral children isolated from human contact; no (or little) experience with social behavoiur and language. Linguistic approach: nature of child"s innate linguistic knowledge. Language acquisition device (lad): universal grammar = innate set of rules shared by all humans, positive vs. Examined 6- and 10-month olds: preference to speech specific to sound (verbal language) or general bias for human language, american sign language. Sylabbic/canonical babbling: appears around 7 months, reduced subset of possible sounds found in spoken language. Strict syllabic organization (cv clusters): without apparent meaning or reference.
