I CAN Explain Noam Chomsky’s contributions to the field of cognition Describe the process by which...

I CAN

• Explain Noam Chomsky’s contributions to the field of cognition

• Describe the process by which all children develop language

• Distinguish Morphemes and Phonemes

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

How Do ChildrenAcquire Language?

Infants and children face an especially important

developmental task with the acquisition of language


How Children Acquire Language

Language: Ability to communicate through speech/written

words/gestures

There are about 5000 languages worldwide

• 1. Mandarin - 1 billion+

• 2. English - 508 million.

• 3. Hindustani - 497 million


Language Acquisition Theories

1. Social Interactionism

2. Innateness Theory of Language

AKA: Language Acquisition Device

(LAD)


Social Interactionism• General cognitive abilities and the interaction

between learners and their surrounding communities is essential to language

• Social-interactionists theorize that adults play an important part in children's language acquisition


Innateness Theory of Language • Children learn language mainly by

following an inborn program for acquiring vocabulary and grammar

• Children acquire language not by merely imitation but by following an inborn program of steps

• They are born with the capability

to learn language


Chomsky’s Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

• Noam Chomsky’s Innateness Theory of Language

• Biologically organized mental

structure in brain programmed with fundamentals of grammar

• Contains basic rules common to ALL human languages


Early Stages of Language Acquisition

–The Babbling Stage–The One-Word Stage Naming Explosion–The Two-Word Stage –Telegraphic Speech Stage


Babbling: A Foundation of Language

• Stage of language acquisition where babies make nearly all the sounds heard in all languages

• Infants have the natural ability to produce language sounds

• All children worldwide seem to learn language by going through similar stages


Stages of Acquiring Vocabulary and Grammar

1. The One Word Stage

– About age one– “Mama”


The Naming Explosion

About 18 months.. children begin ‘naming’ items

Movers Location Moveable Objects

“Allie (mover) kick ball” (moveable object) after Allie kicks a ball



2. The Two-Word Stage

• About age two• “Mama drink”• Basic grammar rules

first appear



3. Telegraphic Speech

Short, simple, two-three word sentences of nouns and verbs

…without plurals, tenses, or functions such as ’of’ and ‘the’

“Ball hit, Evie cry”

– Children need to learn how to use modifiers (adjectives, adverbs) and articles (the, those)

--At age two, a child has a vocabulary of nearly 1000 words

--At age 6, 10,000--Between 18 months and six, a

child learns an average of nine new words a day


Grammar The rules of a language

Grammar


The Rules of Grammar

Overregularization (overgeneralization)

Applying a grammatical rule too widely resulting in creating an incorrect form

of the word

… using “hitted” and “feets…

MorphemesMeaningful units of

language that make up words

Verbs to show tense = walked

Possession = Mike’s Plurality = foxes

Phonemes- smallest units of sound

(see chart on the next slide)


Other language skills

Social rules of conversation Join discussions, take turns, listen, contribute

Learning to use body language, intonation, and facial expressions to enhance language

Learning to take feedback

Learning to take the perspective of the listener

Learning abstract words… hope, truth

CAN I?

• Explain Noam Chomsky’s contributions to the field of cognition

• Describe the process by which all children develop language

• Distinguish Morphemes and Phonemes

I CAN Explain Noam Chomsky’s contributions to the field of cognition Describe the process by which...

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