Developmental Psychology – Chapter 6 – Development of Language and Symbol Use
Symbols – systems for representng our thoughts, feelings, and knowledge, and for
communicatng them to other people
Language Development
By age of 5 basic structure of natve language(s) (spoken & manually signed)
Children´s ability to understand precedes their ability to produce
Language requires:
Comprehension –with regard to language, understanding what others say (sign or
write)
Producton – with regard to language, speaking (or writng or signing) to others
The Components of Language
Generatvity – refers to the idea that through the use of the fnite set of words and
morphemes in human´s vocabulary, we can put together an infnite number of sentences
and express an infnite number of ideas
challenge: complexity
1. Phonemes – the elementary units of meaningful sounds used to produce languages
o frst acquisiton of children: phonological development – the acquisiton of
knowledge about the sound system of a language
2. morphemes – the smallest units of meaning in a language, composed of one or more
phonemes
o semantc development – the learning of the system for expressing meaning in
a language, including word learning
3. Syntax – rules in a language that specify how words from diferent categories (nouns,
verbs, adjectves, and so on) can be combined
o Syntactc development – the learning of the syntax of a language
4. Pragmatc development – the acquisiton of knowledge about how language is used
What is required for language?
A Human Brain
species-specifc eeaaior: only humans acquire language in the normal course of
development
species-uniaersal: language learning is achieved by typically developing infants across the
globe
Experiments with nonhuman primates to use complex communicatve systems
Chimpanzee (Vicky) learned to comprehend some words and phrases, but produced
no recognizable words
Chimpanzee (Washoe) & gorilla (Koko) had been able to communicate with their
human trainers and caretakers using manual signs (“uterancess not qualifed for
language litle evidence of syntactc structure)
, Great ape (Kanzi) sign language, using a lexigram: vocabulary increased from 6 to
350 words (combines symbols, not clear whether they´re syntactcally structured)
Border collie (Rico) knew more than 200 words and could learn and remember new
words using some of the same kinds of processes that toddlers use
Brain-language relatons
For 90% of right-handed people, language is primarily represented and controlled by
the lef hemisphere lef-hemisphere specializaton appears to emerge early in life
o Possibility 1 for specializaton: the lef hemisphere is innately predisposed to
process language but no other auditory stmuli
o Possibility 2: speech is localized to the lef hemisphere because of its acoustc
propertes
Lef hem.: tuned to detect small diferences in tming
Auditory cortex in Right hem.: tune to detect small diferences in pitch
Critcal period foor language deaelopmen
Critcal period for language – the tme during which language develops readily and
afer which (sometmes between age 5 and puberty) language acquisiton is much
more difcult and ultmately less successful
o Example: language deprived Genie (impairment could have also resulted from
inhuman treatment)
o Example: adults, who are way beyond the critcal period, are more likely to
sufer permanent language impairment from brain damage, than are children
o Study: knowledge of key aspect of English grammar was related to the age at
which these individuals began learning English, but not to the length of
exposure to the language
o Newport: “less is mores hypothesis perceptual and memory limitatons
cause young children to extract and store smaller chunks of the language than
adults do
A Human Enaironmen
Children must be exposed to language (spoken or signed) adequate experience of
hearing and talking
Infants´ auditory preferences are fne-tuned through experience with human
language during earliest months
Infoan -direc ed speece
Infant-directed speech (IDS) – formerly “mothereses – the distnctve mode of speech that
adults adopt when talking to babies and very young children
Characteristcs:
Emotonal
slower
of higher pitch
frequent changes from high to low pitches
clearer vowels
Symbols – systems for representng our thoughts, feelings, and knowledge, and for
communicatng them to other people
Language Development
By age of 5 basic structure of natve language(s) (spoken & manually signed)
Children´s ability to understand precedes their ability to produce
Language requires:
Comprehension –with regard to language, understanding what others say (sign or
write)
Producton – with regard to language, speaking (or writng or signing) to others
The Components of Language
Generatvity – refers to the idea that through the use of the fnite set of words and
morphemes in human´s vocabulary, we can put together an infnite number of sentences
and express an infnite number of ideas
challenge: complexity
1. Phonemes – the elementary units of meaningful sounds used to produce languages
o frst acquisiton of children: phonological development – the acquisiton of
knowledge about the sound system of a language
2. morphemes – the smallest units of meaning in a language, composed of one or more
phonemes
o semantc development – the learning of the system for expressing meaning in
a language, including word learning
3. Syntax – rules in a language that specify how words from diferent categories (nouns,
verbs, adjectves, and so on) can be combined
o Syntactc development – the learning of the syntax of a language
4. Pragmatc development – the acquisiton of knowledge about how language is used
What is required for language?
A Human Brain
species-specifc eeaaior: only humans acquire language in the normal course of
development
species-uniaersal: language learning is achieved by typically developing infants across the
globe
Experiments with nonhuman primates to use complex communicatve systems
Chimpanzee (Vicky) learned to comprehend some words and phrases, but produced
no recognizable words
Chimpanzee (Washoe) & gorilla (Koko) had been able to communicate with their
human trainers and caretakers using manual signs (“uterancess not qualifed for
language litle evidence of syntactc structure)
, Great ape (Kanzi) sign language, using a lexigram: vocabulary increased from 6 to
350 words (combines symbols, not clear whether they´re syntactcally structured)
Border collie (Rico) knew more than 200 words and could learn and remember new
words using some of the same kinds of processes that toddlers use
Brain-language relatons
For 90% of right-handed people, language is primarily represented and controlled by
the lef hemisphere lef-hemisphere specializaton appears to emerge early in life
o Possibility 1 for specializaton: the lef hemisphere is innately predisposed to
process language but no other auditory stmuli
o Possibility 2: speech is localized to the lef hemisphere because of its acoustc
propertes
Lef hem.: tuned to detect small diferences in tming
Auditory cortex in Right hem.: tune to detect small diferences in pitch
Critcal period foor language deaelopmen
Critcal period for language – the tme during which language develops readily and
afer which (sometmes between age 5 and puberty) language acquisiton is much
more difcult and ultmately less successful
o Example: language deprived Genie (impairment could have also resulted from
inhuman treatment)
o Example: adults, who are way beyond the critcal period, are more likely to
sufer permanent language impairment from brain damage, than are children
o Study: knowledge of key aspect of English grammar was related to the age at
which these individuals began learning English, but not to the length of
exposure to the language
o Newport: “less is mores hypothesis perceptual and memory limitatons
cause young children to extract and store smaller chunks of the language than
adults do
A Human Enaironmen
Children must be exposed to language (spoken or signed) adequate experience of
hearing and talking
Infants´ auditory preferences are fne-tuned through experience with human
language during earliest months
Infoan -direc ed speece
Infant-directed speech (IDS) – formerly “mothereses – the distnctve mode of speech that
adults adopt when talking to babies and very young children
Characteristcs:
Emotonal
slower
of higher pitch
frequent changes from high to low pitches
clearer vowels
