PLD Midterm Exam

speech

a verbal or spoken means of communicating other means of communicating include: writing, drawing, and manual signing voice quality, intonation, and rate enhance the meaning of the message

language

a socially shared code or system for representing concepts through the use of symbols and rules that govern how they're combined

dialect

considered subcategories of the parent language that use similar but not identical rules; all users of a language follow certain dialectal rules

Do languages stay the same over time?

No; they grow as their respective cultures change

Can languages become endangered?

Yes; the death of languages is not a rare event in the modern world

communication

the exchange of information and ideas, needs and desires, between two or more individuals a complex, systematic, collaborative, context-bound tool for social action

communicative competence

the degree to which a speaker is successful in communicating, measured by the appropriateness and effectiveness of the message

paralinguistic cues

includes intonation/pitch, stress or emphasis, speed or rate of delivery, and pause/hesitation

intonation

the use of pitch; most complex of all paralinguistic codes and is used to signal the mood of an utterance

pitch

can signal emphasis, asides, emotions, importance of the information conveyed, and the role and status of the speaker "You're coming, aren't you." (insistent statement, descending intonation) "You're coming, aren't you?" (Question seeking agreement, ascending intonation)

stress

employed for emphasis, often to convey importance and/or attitude "You WILL clean your room" vs. "I DID clean my room"

rate

varies with our state of excitement, familiarity with the content, and perceived comprehension of our listener faster = excited slower = bored

pauses

may be used to emphasize a portion of the message or to replace the message "I...said...no"

metalinguistic cues

includes the ability to talk about language, analyze it, think about it, judge it, and see it as en entity separate from its content or context helps us judge correctness or appropriateness of the language we produce and receive learning to read and write depends on this

properties of language

- a social tool - a rule governed system - generative - reflexive - utilizes displacement - arbitrary

linguistic competence

a language user's underlying knowledge about the system of rules cannot measure this directly without the speaker performing in some way (answering questions, making statements, etc.)

linguistic performance

actual usage of linguistic knowledge

language is generative

it is creative and productive, from a finite number of words and word categories, and a finite number of rules

language is reflexive

we can use language to reflect on language, its correctness, effectiveness, and its qualities

language utilizes displacement

the ability to communicate beyond the immediate context

language is arbitrary

there is nothing in word that suggests the object to which it applies

three major aspects of language (Bloom & Lahey)

form, content, use

form

including primarily syntax, morphology, and phonology

content

essentially made up of the semantic components of language - knowledge of vocabulary, objects, events, etc.

use

the realm of pragmatics; consists of the goals or functions of language, the use of context to determine what form to use to achieve these goals, and the rules for what form to use to achieve these goals, and the rules for carrying out cooperative conversations

syntax

rule specific word, phrase, and clause order; sentence organization; and the relationship among words, word classes, and other sentence elements

morphology

the system that is concerned with the internal organization of words

morpheme

smallest grammatical unit, and is indivisible without violating the meaning or producing a meaningless unit dog = single morpheme, "d" and "og" are meaningless

free morphemes

independent and complete within themselves ex. "cat"

bound morphemes

grammatical markers that cannot function independently; must be attached to free morphemes or to other bound morphemes ex. -s, -est, un-, and -ly

prefixes

precede the free morpheme (un-, ir-, pre-)

suffixes

follow the free morpheme (-ly, -er, -ity)

semantics

a system of rules governing the meaning or content of words and word combinations

world knowledge

autobiographical and experiential understanding, and memory of particular events of your past

word knowledge

what you know about the meanings of words; contains word and symbol definitions, is primarily verbal

lexicon

personal mental dictionary or thesaurus

semantic features

aspects of the meaning that characterizes the word "puppy" has semantic features of "young" and "canine"

selection restrictions

prohibits certain word combinations because they are meaningless or redundant based on the words' semantic features "a cat kitten"

phonology

rules governing the structure, distribution, and sequencing of speech sounds and the shape of syllables

phoneme

the smallest unit of sound that can signal a difference in meaning pea vs. sea

phonological rules

govern the distribution and sequencing of phonemes within a language without these, the distribution and sequencing of phonemes would be random/most likely meaningless

pragmatics

a system that concentrates on the social use of language and on how you use language to achieve your communication goals the overall organizing aspect of language consists of: - communication intentions and the culturally appropriate way of expressing them - conversational principles or rules - different type of discourse, such as narratives and jokes, and their construction

pragmatic rules

govern a number of conversational interactions in addition to expression of intent, such as the sequential organization and coherence of conversations, repair of errors, and communication roles

intent

what the speaker hopes to accomplish

sequential organization and coherence of conversations

turn taking, opening, maintaining, and closing a conversation

repair of errors

receiving and giving feedback, and correcting conversational errors (confirming vs. denying)

communication roles

dominant vs. submissive, direct vs. indirect

bilingual

fluent in two languages; uses two languages on a daily basis true balanced bilingualism, or equal proficiency in two languages, is rare

nonbalanced bilingualism

an individual has a higher level of proficiency in one of the languages more common

dialectical difference

variations within dialects; often impacted by the following factors: - geography - socioeconomic status - race and ethnicity - situation or context - peer-group influences -first or second-language learning

dialectical difference related to socioeconomic status

lower SES households use more restricted linguistic systems

dialectical difference related to racial and ethnic differences

racial and ethnic groups can become isolated and a particular dialectal variation may evolve

registers

situationally influenced language variations depends on the speaker's perception of the situation and the participants, attitude toward knowledge of the topic, and intention or purpose

vernacular variation

a casual, informal, or intimate register

style shifting

the variation from formal to informal styles or the reverse; practiced by all speakers

mallspeak

a spoken dialect that overuses words such as 'like,' 'y'know,' 'whatever;' it is minimalist and repetitive

texting

messaging with a minimalist "code" that you use on your smartphone

Standard American English (SAE)

an idealized version of American English that occurs rarely in conversation; Mainstream American English is used more frequently

African American English (AAE)

relatively uniform dialect used primarily by African Americans variations occur based on region of the US, SES, gender, and age

linguistic theory

1) interest in language development represents part of a larger concern for human development 2) language is interesting and can help us understand our own behavior 3) language-development studies can probe the relationship between language and thought

psycholinguists

interested in the psychological processes and constructs underlying language

sociolinguists

study language rules and use as a function of role, socioeconomic level, and linguistic or cultural context

behavioral psychologist

minimizes language form and emphasizes the behavioral context of language, such as how certain responses are elicited and how the number of these responses is increased or decreased

speech-language pathologist

may concentrate on disordered communication including the causes of the disorder, the evaluation of the extent of the disorder, and the remediation process

generative/nativist approach

assumes that children are able to acquire language because they are born with innate rules or principles related to the structures of human languages something innate or inborn guides a child's learning

generative grammar

assumes that natural languages, such as English and Spanish, are similar to formal language such as mathematics

natural languages

characterized by: - a unified set of abstract rules that are meaningless themselves and insensitive to the meanings of the elements they combine - a set of meaningful linguistic elements that serve as variables in the words

Noam Chomsky

- generative approach - "language acquisition device" - "universal grammar"

language acquisition device

Chomsky's belief that children instinctively learn language without any formal instruction; children have a natural need to use language; in the absence of formal language, children will develop a system of communication to meet their needs all children make the same type of language errors regardless of the language they use

universal grammar

there are certain grammatical rules that all human languages share

generative approach to language learning

to learn a language, each child begins with his or her innate universal grammatical rules and uses those to abstract the structure of the specific language they are learning acquisition has two components: - acquiring all of the words, idioms, and constructions of that language - linking the core structures of the particular language being learned to the universal grammar

generative approach theoretical weakness

- explanations begin with adult language and builds backward - fixed or semi-fixed structures like "How's it going?" are not based on abstract grammatical categories but fixed expressions - idioms

interactionalist approach

emphasizes the influence of a combination of biological and environmental processes on language learning interested in language structure, but there is less theoretical commitment to language form and to ages of acquisition two main interactionalist approaches are: Emergentism and Constructivism

child-directed speech (CDS)

a parent's adapted way of speaking to a child

Emergentism

thinks of language as a structure arising from existing interacting patterns in the human brain - our brains seem to naturally seek patterns in incoming information

B.F. Skinner

well-known behaviorist theorized that parents model language, young children imitate these models, and parents reinforce children for these imitations

Constructionist approach

an Interactionalist usage-based approach that sees language as composed of constructions or symbol units that combine the form and meaning of language through the use of morphemes, words, idioms, and sentence frames main point: language structure emerges from language use

intention-reading

children attempt to understand the communicative significance of an utterance

pattern-finding

children create the more abstract dimensions

Interactionalist approach theoretical weaknesses

- does not account for the similarities of language learning and use across children

language learning theory

a conceptual model that attempts to describe how knowledge is acquired, processed, and retained when we "learn"

behavior learning theory

- learning occurs when new behaviors arise or there are changes in current behaviors - this occurs through the association of stimuli and responses - stimuli in the environment can cause a reaction and elicit a behavior; responses to this behavior can strengthen or weaken the behavior - consequences that follow the behavior and increase it reinforce the behavior - consequences that follow the behavior and decrease it punish the behavior - B.F. Skinner

operant conditioning

- children receive "rewards" for using language in a functional manner - motivating operations, discriminative stimuli, response, and reinforcing stimuli - B.F. Skinner

negative reinforcement

the termination of an unpleasant state following a response strengthens behavior by stopping or removing an unpleasant experience

positive reinforcement

a response or behavior is strengthened by rewards, leading to the repetition of desired behavior reward is a reinforcing stimulus

punishment

imposing an aversive or painful stimulus

behavior modification

main principle comprises changing environmental events that are related to a person's behavior includes token economy and behavior shaping

token economy

a system in which targeted behaviors are reinforced with tokens (secondary reinforcers) and later exchanged for rewards (primary reinforcers)

behavior shaping

the form of an existing response is gradually changed across successive trials towards a desired target behavior by rewarding exact segments of behavior (rewarding all behaviors then slowly becoming selective, etc.)

behavior learning theory theoretical weaknesses

- Chomsky: parents don't provide good models, children don't just imitate, and parents don't regularly reinforce the child's behavior - children cannot possibly imitate all the utterances they would later use - imitation fails to explain creative or generative grammar

Cognitivist Learning Theory

- concerned with the thought process behind the behaviors mentioned; changes in behavior are indicative of that thought process - humans don't just respond to stimuli, they process the information contained within; learning occurs through internal processing of incoming information - Jean Piaget

Two assumptions of Cognitivists

- memory is an active and organized processor - prior knowledge plays an important role in learning

Jean Piaget

- children use both assimilation and accommodation to learn language - children create mental structures within the mind (schema) and from these schemas, language development occurs four stages: 1) sensorimotor (birth to 18-24 months) 2) preoperational (2-7 years old) 3) concrete operational (7-11 years old) 4) formal operational (adolescence to adulthood)

assimilation

- the process of incorporating new stimuli into an already existing schema (idea); an attempt to deal with stimuli in terms of present cognitive structures - the way an organism continually integrates new perceptual matter into existing patterns

accommodation

the process of changing one's schema or create a new schema to adapt to the new environment

sensorimotor stage

- birth to 18-24 months old - infants learn about the world through their senses and actions - object permanence (8 months old), self-recognition, deferred imitation, and representational play develop

preoperational stage

- 2-7 years old - acquire the ability to internally represent the world through language and mental imagery - can think about things symbolically - thinking is dominated by how the world looks - animism: non-living objects have life and feelings like a person's

concrete operational stage

- 7-11 years old - think logically about concrete events - understand the concept of conversation - can mentally reverse things - less egocentric and think of how other people might think and feel

formal operational stage

- 12+ years old - concrete operations carried out on things; formal operations are carried out on ideas - can deal with abstract ideas - follow the form of an argument without having to think in terms of specific examples - can deal with hypothetical problems with many possible solutions

Social Constructivist Learning Theory

- a theory in which knowledge is constructed within social contexts through interactions with a knowledge individual(s) - primarily concerned with social knowledge and communication important elements: - experiences are used by the learner to create a model of the social world and the way that it functions - language is the most essential system with which to construct that reality Lev Vygotsky

Lev Vygotsky

- social interaction is fundamental to the process of cognitive development - zone of proximal development - culture affects cognitive development - theorized that social learning precedes development - humans use tools like speech and language to mediate social environments

zone of proximal development (ZPD)

a level of development obtained when children engage in social interactions with others the distance between a child's potential to learn and the actual learning that takes place

method of data collection

often driven by what aspect of language is being studied

speech perception (method of data collection)

interested in the speech discrimination of children, especially infants, and the ways in which these abilities may aid language learning

language comprehension (method of data collection)

interested in our understanding of language subjects respond to structured procedures by: looking, pointing, acting out, or following directions in response to a spoken or written stimulus

language production (method of data collection)

focused on expressive language usually collected by: - structured testing or experimental manipulation - spontaneous conversational sampling or natural observation

neuroscience

relatively new and relies extensively on the recent advances in neural or brain imaging; focuses on two aspects of the nervous system

neuroanatomy

where structures are located

neurophysiology

how the brain functions

neurolinguistics

concerned with neurology and linguistics; the study of the neuroanatomy, physiology, and biochemistry of language

neuron (nerve cell)

the basic unit of nervous system three parts: 1) cell body 2) a single long axon that transmits impulses away from the cell body 3) several branchy dendrites that receive impulses from other cells and transmit them to the cell body

nervous system

responsible for monitoring your body's state by conducting messages from the senses and organs and responding to this information by conducting messages to the organs and muscles

central nervous system (CNS)

made up of your brain and spinal cord

peripheral nervous system (PNS)

any neural tissue that exists outside of CNS; conducts impulses either toward or away from CNS consists of 12 cranial and 31 spinal nerves that interact with CNS

V cranial nerve

trigeminal

VII cranial nerve

facial

VIII cranial nerve

vesibulcochlear (auditory)

IX cranial nerve

glossopharynx

X cranial nerve

vagus

XII cranial nerve

hypoglossal

spinal cord

transmits impulses between the brain and the peripheral nervous system

brainstem

consists of: - the medulla oblongata - the pons - the thalamus - the midbrain these structures regulate involuntary functions such as breathing and heart rate

reticular formation

compact unit of neurons within the brainstem acts as an integrator of incoming auditory, visual, tactile, and other sensory inputs and as a filter to inhibit or facilitate sensory transmission

thalamus

relays incoming sensory information (with an exception of smell) to the appropriate portion of your brain for analysis and prepares your brain to receive input

cerebellum

- located at posterior base of the brain - coordinates the control of fine, complex motor activities, maintains muscle tone, and participates in motor learning - acts as a check on communication success - has considerable influence on language processing and on higher-level cognitive and emotional functions

executive functioning

the ability to manage several cognitive tasks to reach a particular objective

working memory

critical for storage and manipulation of information during processing

divided attention

attention to more than one stimulus or to a stimulus presented in more than one modality, such as visual and auditory

modulation of affect or emotion

over- or under- emotional

cerebrum

- located above the brainstem and the cerebellum; divided into left and right hemispheres - most sensory and motor functions are contralateral (two exceptions are vision and hearing) - cerebral hemispheres are roughly symmetrical for most functions

association fibers

run between different areas within each hemisphere

projection fibers

connect the cortex to the brainstem and below

transverse fibers

connect the two hemispheres; largest is the corpus callosum

gyri

little hills in the cortex

fissures/sulci

valleys in the cortex

central sulcus

separates the frontal lobe from the parietal lobe

prefrontal cortex

responsible for executive function, control, organization, and synthesis of sensory and motor information

regulation function

located in the reticular formation of the brainstem, is responsible for the energy level and for the overall tone of your cortex allows you to monitor, evaluate, and flexibly adjust behavior for successful performance

processing function

located in the posterior portion of the cortex, controls information analysis, coding, and storage

formulation process

located in the frontal lobe, is responsible for the formation of intentions and programs for behavior activates the brain for regulation of attention and concentration

right hemisphere

specialized for holistic processing through the simultaneous integration of information and is dominant in visuospatial processing, recognition of printed words - comprehension and production of speech prosody and affect - comprehension and production of metaphorical language and semantics - comprehension of complex linguistic and ideational material and of environmental sounds

left hemisphere

- specialized for language in all modalities (oral, visual, and written), linear order perception, arithmetic calculations, and logical reasoning - best at step-by-step processing - dominance for auditory comprehension in children as young as 7 y/o

brain maturation

two important aspects: - weight (changes most rapidly during first 2 years of life) - organization most of the increase is due to myelination (process of sheathing of the nervous system)

comprehension

consists of auditory processing and language decoding

auditory processing

the nature of the incoming auditory signal

language decoding

considers representational meaning and underlying concepts

Broca's Area

located in the left temporal lobe; important for the production of speech sounds and is considered the language production center programs the motor strip for speech

Wernicke's Area

located in the left temporal lobe; important for the comprehension of speech sounds and is considered the language comprehension center

frontal lobe

involved in executive functioning, including all linguistic processing which takes reasoning and planning

angular gyrus and supramarginal gyrus

assist in linguistic processing, integrating visual, auditory, and tactile input with linguistic information

information processing

the way information is processed represents the voluntary problem-solving strategies of each person

automatic processes

unintentional or have become routinized and thus require very little of the available cognitive capacity and neither interfere with other tasks nor become more efficient with practice

effortful processing

requires concentration and attention by your brain and is slower to develop and requires greater effort

attention

includes both awareness of a learning situation and active cognitive processing can be divided into orientation and reaction

orientation

the ability to sustain attention over time; related to an individual's ability to determine the uniqueness of the stimulus

reaction

refers to the amount of time required for you to respond to a stimulus; a function of your ability to select the relevant dimensions of a task to which to respond

discrimination

the ability to identify stimuli differing along some dimension

organization

information is organized or "chunked" by category mediational and associative strategies

mediational strategies

a symbol forms a link to some information

associative strategies

one symbol is linked to another

memory

- the ability to recall information that has been previously learned and stored - best when linguistic information is deep processed, which includes semantic interpretation and elaboration as well as relating information back to your prior experience and existing knowledge

short-term memory

temporary storage of information, such as immediately recalling items on a shopping list or steps in following directions

long-term memory

potentially limitless long-term storage of information

explicit or declarative memory

memory of facts and events, including meanings and concepts

implicit or procedural memory

consists of knowing how to do something, such as put words together or ask for something

discrimination

requires working memory to hold a message during processing, especially for language decoding

working memory

- located in or near Broca's and associated areas - important for higher language and cognitive tasks - controls attention and allows limited information to be held in a temporarily accessible state while being processed

articulatory rehearsal process (WM theory)

phonological information is maintained in memory through a process of silent rehearsal

phonological short term memory (PSTM) (WM theory)

responsible for temporary storage and processing of phonological representations

top-down processing

- conceptually driven - the linguistic and nonlinguistic contexts enable you to predict the form and content of incoming linguistic information

bottom-up processing

- data driven - analysis occurs at the levels of sound and syllable discrimination and proceeds upward to recognition and comprehension

passive processing

incoming data is analyzed in fragments until enough information can be combined for you to recognize a pattern similar to bottom-up processing

active processing

involves the use of a comparator strategy that matches input with either a previously stored or a generated pattern or mental model world knowledge forms a basis

serial/successive processes

- one at a time in nature - located in the left frontal and temporal lobes - analyze information at one level and then passes it onto the next level - carries bulk of responsibility for comprehension - ex. the incoming frequency, intensity, and duration of a signal are synthesized to determine the phonemic features

parallel/simultaneous processing

- accesses multiple levels of analysis at the same time - located in the occipital and parietal association areas - deals with underlying meaning and relationships all at once

metacognition

knowledge of your own cognitive and memory processes

gross development

growth of the main neurological structures

micro development

organization of the main neurological structures

sensation

the ability to register sensory information touch is the first sense to develop in utero

habituation

becoming used to a stimulus; often the result of patterns being formed as stimuli occurs repeatedly

perception

the process of gaining awareness of what is happening around us; uses both sensory information and previous knowledge to make sense of incoming stimuli

motor control

involves muscle movement and the sensory feedback that informs the brain of the extent of that movement

reflexes

automatic, involuntary motor patterns

phasic bite

stimulation: touching or rubbing the gums response: bite-release mouth pattern suppressed: 3 months of age

rooting

stimulation: stroking cheek at corner of the mouth response: head turns towards side being stroked; mouth begins sucking movements suppressed: 3 months of age

sucking

stimulation: inserting finger or nipple into mouth response: rhythmic sucking suppressed: modified throughout development

bedside feeding evaluation

1) suckling 2) sucking 3) rooting reflex 4) phasic bite reflex

chart review

should yield information on adjusted gestational age, excess amniotic fluid at delivery, type and duration of intubation, respiratory disorders, and degree of family involvement

nasogastric tube

inserted into the nose and descends down the pharynx and into the stomach negative: can weaken structures

orogastric tube or gavage

inserted through the mouth negative: can weaken structures

gastronomy tube

brings food directly into the stomach and frees the oral cavity for exploration as well as for supplementary oral feeding; is typically used when nonoral feeding will be needed for an extended period of time negative: can cause a negative correlation with food for social and pleasure purposes

feeding plan

1) positioning 2) jaw stabilization 3) negative resistance 4) using specialized feeding equipment 5) modifying temperature and consistency 6) oral stimulation in feeding

kangaroo care

skin-to-skin contact for about 30 minutes each day

rehearsal

information is placed in long-term storage and maintained by repetition

integrative rehearsal

new material is integrated into the structure of information already stored in long-term memory

phonotactic organization

consists of syllable structures and sound combinations

phonotactic regularities

patterns in speech; helps infants learn word boundaries within continuous speech

phonotactic probabilities

likelihood that certain sounds, sound sequences, and syllable types will occur

infant sound making

2 months: "gooing" or "cooing" 3 months: infant vocalizes in response to the speech of others 4 months: sustained laughter

fully-resonant nuclei (FRN)

vowel-like sounds similar to /a/

reduplicated babbling

strings of CVCV repetitions or self-imitations such as "ma-ma-ma"

echolalic speech

immediate imitation of another speaker

variegated babbling

adjacent and successive syllables are not identical VCV or CVC structures

jargon

pattern consists of long strings of unintelligible sounds with adultlike prosody and intonation

phonetically consistent forms (PCFs)

a consistent prosodic and speech-sound pattern, "meaningful babbling"

representations

our way of describing concepts stored in the brain; a mental image that stands for an external reality

joint attention

shared attention when two individuals attend to the same thing

recognition memory

recognizing entities in the environment, is related to good comprehension and gestural communication in toddlers and better receptive and expressive language in preschoolers