Language and Communication

I. What is language? A system for communicating with others.

Symbols are used to represent sounds that when put together form words, phrases, & sentences.

II. What is the relationship between language & thought? 1. Language shapes thought - the

language of a person’s culture influences how they perceive information from their surroundings.

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis: Two different cultures with different languages will have different perceptual experiences.

Two concepts of Sapir-Whorf hypothesis:

A. Linguistic Reality- argues that each culture experiences events differently from another culture.

B. Linguistic Determinism- states that the language of a given culture actually causes that culture to perceive events differently from other culture.

Thus, language directs thought.

Evidence supporting the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

Eskimos have about 20 different names for snow, whereas American's have maybe 2-3.

Suggested the perceptual realities for Eskimos were different than for Americans.

Eleanor Rosch’s (1972) famous Dani tribe study.

Rosch compared color perception between Americans & members of the Dani tribe of New Guinea.

While Americans have a vast # of names for colors, the Dani tribe only has 2: one for dark "cold" colors & one for lighter "warm" colors.

If the Whorfian hypothesis was correct, language should influence memory for colors.

Rosch study On each trial, the Americans & Dani tribe members

were presented with single color chips for 5 sec.

After a 30 sec.delay, the Ss had to choose the same color chip from an array of 40 color chips.

Both sets of Ss performed equally well on the task.

Hence, differences in language do not necessarily translate into different perceptual experiences.

2. Thought shapes Language

Piaget argued thought makes language development & other forms of symbolic representation possible.

Evidence: Infants’ first words are often for objects & events in which they show most interest.

So they learn words for what they “think” about.

Evidence against Piaget’s view

Adults use of language influences children's classification of objects & events in categories.

Children characterize objects & events differently from adults (walnuts & round candles may be classified as “balls” because they are both round).

Children learn from parents to modify how they classify objects & events based on the language parents use around the children.

3. Language & thought influence each other

Vygotsky --language & thought are 2 separate independent processes that come together when the child is 3 years of age.

After 3, the two become intertwined & inseparable.

Vygotsky’s egocentric speech A young child will speak to himself/herself in

a monologue fashion.

This sounds non-sensical to adults, but is directed to the self. It is used to facilitate or guide behavior.

(E.g., "Tommy bad boy" or "Tommy go home" )

Inner speech:

Egocentric speech disappears by age 4- 5 & becomes internalized. This is inner speech (non-vocalized).

Vocal speech becomes social speech used to communicate with others.

Adults have two forms of speech: inner & social.

III. How do children acquire language? Skinner vs. Chomsky

A. Skinner’s view- Children acquire language (grammar) through reinforcement & modeling.

Children imitate utterances they’ve heard from their caregivers & are often reinforced for it.

Parents shape language development by correcting children’s incorrect grammatical mistakes.

Criticisms of Skinner’s view: 1. Children will make statements they have never heard

anyone else say. (E.g., "What is that truck doing, washing the street for?")

2. Parents often don’t correct kids for making grammatically incorrect statements, but for making semantically incorrect ones.

(E.g., “Where you going?)

3. Kids born of immigrants living in a new country, learn the language of the country they live in.

B. Chomsky’s perspective: Nativist view Children born with innate structure to

acquire language, called a language acquisition device (LAD).

Within the LAD we have a “universal grammar” -- a system of rules that are elements or properties of all human languages.

Chomsky’s view:

Children form grammatical rules in order to acquire language.

Once, they have formed a "rule" they try to apply the rule in speaking.

(E.g., adding ED after a verb for the past tense.)

Support for Nativist view 1. Normal children in all cultures acquire language relatively

quickly & learn it well.

2. Humans acquire language more easily & quickly during a certain period of development.

  (critical period: infancy to puberty)

  3. Kids become fluent in 2nd languages more easily than adults.  

 

Criticisms of Chomsky:

1. Comparisons between languages reveal different grammatical systems.

  There is no evidence for a true universal grammar.

2. Learning principles do explain much of how language is acquired.

IV. Learning to speak

Young infants learn to identify the basic units of sound (phonemes—”ba”) from their language.

By 1 mos. Infants are capable of categorical speech perception.

Babies– preference for sounds in own language.

Learning to speak

By 6 mos. Infants can identify & organize different phonemes into their categories (“pa,” “ba”).

In 2nd half of first year, infants focus on larger speech units that are crucial for making sense of what they hear.

Child-directed speech (CDS): Adults speak to infants & toddlers using

CDS.

CDS-- form of language characterized by short utterances made with a high-pitched voice.

Is not deliberate & seems to keep babies intrigued by what we are saying!!! 

Stages of Sound Production in 1st year Stage Begins Description

  Crying At birth signals of distress

  Cooing At about 1mos. “Oo” sounds that occur during social

exchanges with caregiver

Babbling Middle of 1st Strings of consonant-year vowel combinations

Patterned Close of 1st year Strings of pseudowords Speech made up of phonemes

Word Acquisition

Children usually utter their first words between 6 & 15 mos.

This leads to a rapid naming explosion in which children acquire words at very fast rate.

By 2 years of age, typical children utter about 50+ words.

How do Children Acquire Words? Children -learn both the concept &

appropriate phoneme to link the two together.

Kids use “fast-mapping,” a method by which a new word is linked with something they already know.

Mervis & Bertrand (1994)

Presented 16-20-month-olds with 5 objects.

4 objects were familiar (ball, cup, shoe, car); 1 was novel (garlic press).

Kids asked what familiar objects were, then asked for a “zib.” Kids who fast-mapped, learned immediately the garlic press was a zib.

What words do kids learn first? objects, actions, & states.

Objects learned first, because they are perceptually salient.

Verbs are learned latter, because they are more complex.

Words indicating state (“small cat”) & possession (“my cup”) appear between 2 –2.5 years.

Underextensions and overextensions Kids make mistakes when first learning words.

Underextentions– words are applied too narrowly.

(E.g., the word “cup” may be used to refer to only 1 cup the child likes).

Overextention- word is applied to larger array of objects & events than is appropriate. (“dog” used to refer to a variety of furry, four-legged animals)

First Word Combinations The child’s first sentences, which consist of

2 word combinations occur between 1.5 & 2.5 years.

(E.g., “Mommy cup.” “Go truck”)

These sentences are called: Telegraphic speech, they focus on high-content words & leave out smaller, less important ones

Complex speech-occurs between 2-3 years. Consist of 3 word sentences.

Follows the: subject-verb-object word order.

(E.g., Tommy get car)

V. Language & the brain Speech predominantly in left hemisphere

(99% for right-handers).

Multiple areas involved in language (Broca’s area, Wernicke’s area, etc.)

Wernicke-Geschwind Model of language—traditional view of language processing.

Broca’s & Wernicke’s areas: Paul Broca (1850s) noticed patients with

labored speech had lesions in the left prefrontal cortex.

Wernicke (1870s) found patients with fluent speech that was incomprehensible, had lesions in the left temporal lobe.

These language disorders, called aphasias.

Evidence refuting model:

1. Surgical removal (cortical tissue) of Broca’s & Wernicke’s areas doesn’t usually produce long lasting language disruption.

2. Cat Scans (patients-language problems) failed to find damage restricted to the classic Broca’s & Wernicke’s areas in patients with aphasias.

Clear finding: Large left hemispheric lesions do often

produce large language-related disruptions (aphasias).