Language. Our spoken, written, or gestured words and the way we combine them to communicate meaning....
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Transcript of Language. Our spoken, written, or gestured words and the way we combine them to communicate meaning....
Language
Language
• Our spoken, written, or gestured words and the way we combine them to communicate meaning.
• Importance of language in the “information age”
3 Characteristics of Language
I) Semantics=Use of symbols to convey meaning
Circle the word doesn’t belong?
Skyscraper Cathedral Temple Prayer
Circle the odd item
Cathedral Prayer Temple Skyscraper
The importance of context…
SHOT
Bartender
Golf
Photographer
Marksmanship
Medicine
2. Generativity
The ability to combine words in new ways.
Some are silly…..
Some are profound….
3. Displacement
The ability to refer to absent objects
(most psychologists say animals lack 2 & 3)
Structure of Language
Phoneme
• In language, the smallest distinctive sound unit.
• English has about 40 phonemes.
• A young baby produces all the phonemes of all the languages of the world.
Morpheme
• In language, the smallest unit that carries meaning.
• May be a word or part of a word
• English has about 100,000 morphemes.
Grammar
• System of rules governing how we can combine phonemes, morphemes and words to produce meaningful communication.
Grammar - Context
•The artist painted me on the porch.
Grammar - Context
•The artist painted me on the porch.
•The artist painted me on the porch.
Grammar - Context
•The artist painted me on the porch.
•The artist painted me on the porch.
•The artist painted me on the porch.
Language Acquisition
Module 17: Language Development
Noam Chomsky (1928- )
• Linguist who argues that children have a predisposition to learn language
• Theory called Transformational grammar.
• as though their brains are hardwired to learn vocabulary and the rules of grammar=
(Language Acquisition Device)
Chomsky’s evidence= Deep
Structure vs. Surface Structure
B.F. Skinner and Language
• Psychologist who argued that children learn language through association, imitation and reinforcement.
– Association : linking certain sounds with certain people
– Imitation
– Reinforcement or punishments
Linguistic Relativity Theory orWhorf-Sapir Hypothesis
Does our language determines the way we think?
Or
Does our thinking (cognition( influence language?
Inuit word for “snow”?
Language Stages
Module 17: Language Development
Language Acquisition Stages
• Three-step process:
– Babbling
– One-Word Stage=
Holophrastic stage
– Two/Three Word
Stage=telegraphic
Babbling
• Babies spontaneously babble phonemes.
• Will babble all the phonemes of the world
• Will begin to babble only the phonemes of the child’s native tongue at about 1 year of age
One-Word Stage
• Holophrastic Speech: Child uses one word to convey a complete
thought or idea
Two-Word Stage
• Two word sentences showing an appreciation of the rules of grammar