Lecture Notes

• What is the main focus of the lecture on language development?

  Understanding and describing language acquisition
• What does language acquisition involve?

  Comprehending and producing language effectively
• What are the two types of symbolism in language?

  Conventional and arbitrary
• How are symbols in language described?

  They are conventional and arbitrary
• What is the difference between conventional and arbitrary symbols?

  Conventional symbols are agreed upon, arbitrary are not
• What is sound symbolism?

  A non-arbitrary link between sound and meaning
• What two aspects are involved in learning language?

  Rules and creativity
• Why do children often understand more than they can say?

  Due to articulation and memory difficulties
• What is the distinction between competence and performance in language development?

  Competence is understanding, performance is speaking
• What are the components of language a child must acquire?

  Sounds, vocabulary, meanings, transformations, syntax, pragmatics
• What is the ongoing debate regarding language development?

  The role of nature vs nurture
• What does Chomsky's language acquisition device (LAD) suggest?

  Innate knowledge of language exists
• What is Universal Grammar according to Chomsky?

  Innate knowledge that aids language learning
• What are the two arguments Chomsky presents for his theory?

  Speed and uniformity of development, poverty of stimulus
• What does the speed and uniformity of development argument suggest?

  Children acquire language quickly and uniformly
• What does the poverty of stimulus argument imply?

  Input language lacks sufficient grammatical information
• What is infant-directed speech (IDS)?

  A simplified register used when talking to children
• How does IDS facilitate language learning?

  By making language more accessible and predictable
• What is implicit correction in language learning?

  Indirect feedback correcting a child's errors
• What must infants learn to do with speech sounds?

  Segment and categorize individual sounds and words
• What is the smallest unit of meaning in language?

  A phoneme
• How do infants categorize sounds?

  By recognizing phonemes that change word meanings
• What is voicing in phonetics?

  The time between consonant release and sound onset
• How do we perceive sounds categorically?

  As either /p/ or /b/, not a continuum
• What is the significance of the habituation paradigm in phoneme perception?

  It tests infants' categorical perception of phonemes
• What is a phoneme in the context of language?

  A distinct unit of sound
• How do the words 'pat' and 'bat' relate phonetically?

  They are phonetically very similar
• What is the difference between /p/ and /b/ in phonetics?

  /b/ is voiced, /p/ is voiceless
• What does voicing refer to in phonetics?

  The time between consonant release and sound onset
• Why is /p/ considered a different phoneme from /b/?

  Due to the difference in voicing
• What does the continuum of sounds between /p/ and /b/ depend on?

  Voice onset time (VOT)
• How do humans perceive sounds categorically?

  As either /p/ or /b/
• What did research show about infants' categorical perception of phonemes?

  Infants can distinguish similar sounds
• What method was used to test infants' categorical perception of phonemes?

  Habituation paradigm with sucking rate measure
• What were the results of the sucking rate measure in infants?

  Sucking rates increased when sounds crossed phoneme boundaries
• What does the increase in sucking rates indicate about infants?

  They can distinguish between similar sounds
• At what ages did Eimas et al. (1971) test infants' phoneme perception?

  1 and 4 months old
• What does the term 'innate mechanism' refer to in language learning?

  A built-in ability to categorize sounds
• How do infants' abilities to distinguish sounds change by the end of their first year?

  They lose sensitivity to non-native sound contrasts
• What did Werker & Tees (1984) find about older infants' sound discrimination?

  It declines with age for non-native sounds