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5 Parameters of Language
 Syntax: System of rules specifying word order, sentence organization, and word
relationships
 Semantics: System of rules governing the meaning of words and grammatical units
 Morphology: System of rules governing change in meaning at the intra-word level
 Free Morphemes: Can stand alone
 Content words:
 Full words that express content (boy, woman, shoe)
 May be more than one syllable
 Can be nouns, verbs, adjectives…
 Content words may contain more than one morpheme (blackboard, jellybean)
 Functors or function words:
 small grammatical words
 provide structure of English syntax
 Do not covey as much information as content words
 Examples of Functors:
 Prepositions: in, on, of, between, among, to behind, into
 Conjunctions: and, or but
 Articles: a, an, the
 Pronouns: he, she, it they
 Forms of verb ‘to be’: is, are, was, were
 Bound Morphemes: Cannot stand alone
 Occur only in combination with a content word
 two types:
 Inflections: (inflectional morphemes): -ing, plural –s,
third person singular present –s; regular past –ed;
irregular past forms (sang, told, ate, fell...)
 Derivational: -ness; -ment; -ful; -ence; ... (do not appear early in child language)
 Phonology: System of rules for structuring how sounds are put together
 Phoneme: Smallest unit of sound
 Organized according to place and manner of articulation
 Place: labial (lips), velar (soft palate), dental (teeth)
 Manner: Stop/plosive (no air flow), fricative (continuous air flow), nasal (air flows
through the nose rather than the mouth)
 Phonology in ASL: Cherology
 Study of the smallest units of signed languages
 Term coined by William Stokoe (from the Greek word cheir (hands)
 Cheremes: smallest units that combine to form signs
 Organized into 4 categories:
 Handshape
 Location
 Movement
 Orientation
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Five Parameters of Language
 Pragmatics
 System of rules concerning how language is used within a communicative context.
 The overall organizing aspect of language.
Functional Components of Language:
 Form
 Syntax
 Morphology
 Phonology
 Content
 Semantics
 Use
 Pragmatics
Phonological knowledge:
- Phonemic knowledge is the knowledge of sound- symbol relations and sound patterns
represented in language. Distinct speech sounds in language.
- Learning phonics will aid your child as they learn to read and write. Knowing the sounds
letters make as well as the sound letter combinations make will help your child as they
decode words.
Semantic knowledge:
- Semantic Knowledge is the aspect of language that involves word meaning and word
labels. This is important as it widens your child’s vocabulary.
Syntac knowledge:
- Knowledge of how words can be combined to create meaningful sentences. Syntactic
Knowledge is important as students begin learning more complex grammar rules.
Morphemic knowledge:
- Morphemic Knowledge is the knowledge of word structure. Linguistic units that are
combined to create words. This is important to give words new meanings and make sure
words are used grammatically correct.
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Pragmatic knowledge:
- Pragmatic Knowledge is understanding language is used differently in different
situations. It is important as children learn conversational rules, how to be polite, and
social register.
Theory of Mind
- Understanding of one's own and others minds and awareness of the relation between
people’s minds and the world.
- Understanding that people don't share the same thoughts and feelings as you do develops
during childhood. Another way to think about it is a child's ability to “tune-in” to other
peoples' perspectives
Why do Deaf children with hearing parents have a delayed theory of mind?
 Deaf children delayed by 3 years in cognitive development
 Deaf children of hearing parents are significantly delayed in developmental TOM
 Children without TOM cannot take the perspective of a person who does not possess the
knowledge they have
 Communication at home and communication about emotions/feelings help TOM.
Therefore, deaf children with hearing parents so delayed.
 TOM acquired faster if 2 deaf parents than 2 hearing parents to a deaf child. TOM with a
deaf child with deaf parents equivalent to hearing kids
 Not fully understood but believe because late language development and restricted talk
about TOM
 Mental state talk (you think mommy is funny) helps develop TOM
 Language proficiency necessary for TOM
How do you teach the theory of mind?
1. Pretend Play. Pretend play is a great way to give your child exposure to mental state
verbs that help them to develop Theory of Mind skills. ...
2. Read Books. ...
3. Play Hide and Seek. ...
4. Tell Make-Believe Stories. ...
5. Explain Why People Behave Like they Do in Different Daily Situations.
6. pay attention to people and copy them.
7. recognize others' emotions and use words to express them (“happy”, “sad”, “mad”)
8. know that they are different from other people and have different likes/dislikes from
others.
9. know that people act according to the things they want.
Babbling in spoken language
1. Months 0-2: Crying and cooing.
2. Months 3-4: Simple speech sounds (goo).
3. Month 5: Single-syllable speech sounds (ba, da, ma).
4. Months 6-7: Reduplicated babbling – repeating the same syllable (ba-ba, na-na).
5. Months 8-9: Variegated babbling – mixing different sounds (ba de da).
6. Months 10-11: Jargon – complex babbling with simple words (baba da ma ball da).
7. Month 12: Real words gradually take over.
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What is babbling?
 Babbling is an expression of an amodal, brain based language capacity that is linked to an
expressive capacity capable of processing speech and sign.
What is manual babbling?
 Both manual and vocal babbling contain units and combinations of units that are
organized in accordance with the phonetic and syllabic properties of human languages.
Thus, the form and organization of babbling is tied to the abstract linguistic structure of
language.
The results yielded two types of manual activity: Syllabic manual babbling and gesture
- Both types were observed in deaf and hearing infants. The manual activates identified as
syllabic manual babbling were produced with a reduced subset of combinatorial units that
were members of the phonetic inventory of signed languages, demonstrated syllabic
organization seen in signed languages, and were produced without meaning or references.
Babbling
- Strings of sounds, produced without meaning or reference;
- Consonant-vowel, or vowel-consonant units;
- Begin to be produced around 4 months of age;
- May be imitative or non-imitative;
- Become more complex, or more adult-like over time.
o “...the mechanism by which infants discover the map between the structure of
language and the means for producing this structure
(Petitto & Marentette, 1991)
Vocal Babbling
- Declines soon after it starts (6-7 months)
- Almost non-existent by 18 months
Manual Babbling
- Reduced set of combinatorial units (handshapes)
- Specific syllabic organization only used in signed languages (different from random
gestures)
- Produced without meaning or
reference
PHONOLOGY (SPOKEN LANGUAGES)
- One of the five aspects of language
- Refers to the rules governing the structure, distribution, and sequencing, of speech-sound
patterns
- Smallest unit of sound is the phoneme
- Young children’s development of phonology in spoken languages is determined by:
o Ease of production
o Frequency of use
- Approximate developmental order of
consonants:
o Develop Earlier: ”m”, “d”, “p”, “b”, “t”, “n”, “k”,
“g”, “w”
o Develop Later: “r”, “th”, “s”, “h”, “f”
(Owens, 2005)
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PHONOLOGY
- Articulators
- Lips
- Teeth
- Tongue
- Vocal Folds
PHONOLOGY (CHEROLOGY) OF SIGNED LANGUAGES
- Parameters of a Sign (“Articulators”)
- Handshape
- Movement
- Location
- Palm Orientation
HANDSHAPE DEVELOPMENT
- Radial Group:
o Thumb and first finger
- Ulnar Group:
o 2nd, 3rd, and 4th fingers
- Development of Independent Movement:
o Thumb
o Index finger
o Little finger
o 2nd and 3rd fingers last to show independent movement.
Stage 1 Handshapes: A S L G C baby o (Appear by 17 months of age)
Stage 2 Handshapes: B F O
Stage 3: (I, Y) (D, P, 3, V, H) W
Stage 4 Handshape: (8,7), X, R, (T, M, N)
WHY DO I NEED TO KNOW THIS?
- “Baby signs” provide further evidence of ASL as a language
o As with spoken language, there is a developmental progression to acquisition of
language
- Understanding of baby signs
o Important to be aware of “mis-signs” – are they developmental or phonological
errors?
Stages of Language Development
Roger Brown
- Linguist from Harvard University
- Studied children’s language development at the period of early sentence formation
- Described language development in terms of the stages through which language develops
rather than the ages at which certain characteristics occur
- Discovered a developmental sequence that all children go through and really that this was
almost invariant
- Developed the concept of the mean length of utterance or MLU describe children's
language development
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o measurement of attention span and memory
o Guide for providing information about a child stage of language
Mean Length of Utterance
o Looks at the way children talk in terms of utterances so prior to the development of
subject verb object structure or the way adults speak, young children speak in utterances
which are short one-to-two-word phrases not sentence.
o Utterance splits occur at pause points
Morphology:
System of rules governing change at the intra-word level
- Free morphemes – can stand alone
o content words
 full words that express content (boy, woman, shoe)
 May be more than one syllable
 can be nouns, verbs, adjectives
 may contain more than one morpheme (chalkboard, jellybean)
o Functors
 Small grammatical words
 provide structure of English syntax
 Do not convey as much information as content words
 Prepositions: in, on, of, between, among, to, behind, into
 Conjunctions: and, or, but
 Articles: a, an, the
 Pronouns: he. she, they
 Forms of the verb ‘to be’: as, is, are, was, were
- Bound Morphemes – cannot stand alone and be meaningful
o Inflections (inflectional): ing, plural-s, third person singular present -s, regular
past-ed, irregular past forms (sand; told; ate; fell)
o Derivational: -ness, -ment, -ful, -ence, (these do not appear in early child
language)
Brown’s Rules for Counting Morphemes
- Count as one morpheme
o Reptation of word of emphasis (NO! NO!)
o Compound words (hotdog)
o Proper names (Billy Sue)
o Ritualized reduplication (night-night)
o Irregular past tense verbs (went)
- Count as two morphemes
o Possessive nouns (daddys)
o Plurals (kitties)
o 3rd person singular tense (walks)
o Regular past tense (walked)
o regular present progressive (walking)
- Do not count
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o Dysfluencies
o Fillers
Calculating mean length of utterance (MLU)
- Calculate
o Count total number of morphemes
o Count total number of utterances
MLU = Total number of morphemes/Total number of utterances
Morphological Error Patterns
- Undersegmenting: Child does not break word into enough morphemes (j,k,elmeno)
- Oversegmenting: Child uses too many morphemes (says “adult” as A-dolt)
States of Language Development
- Stage 1
o Approximately age 2 years
o MLU – 1.75
o Utterances 1-3 words
o Follows adult grammar
o Omits function words
- Stage 2
o Approximately age 21/2 to 3
years
o MLU – 2.25
o Begins using grammatical
morphemes
o Can talk about objects not
present
o Can talk about past
- Stage 3
o Approximately age 3 to 31/2
years
o Vocabulary – 1,200 words
o MLU – 2.75
o Uses more grammatical
morphemes
-
-
-
Stage 4
o Approximately age 31/2 to 4
years
o Vocabulary – 1,500 words
o MLU – 3.5
o Begins to use multi-clause
sentences
Stage 5a
o Approximately age 4-5 years
o Vocabulary – 1,900 words
o MLU – 4.0
o Uses more conjunctions
o Engages in social
conversation with peers
o Develops metalinguistic
skills
Stage 5b
o After 5 years
o Sentences become more
complex but do not get
longer
o Vocabulary increases but at a
slower rate
Critical Period Language for Language Acquisition
- Critical/Optimal Period for Language Acquisition
o In 1967, Linguist Eric Lenneberg
o Proposed that language is best learned between the ages of 2 years and puberty
 The critical/optimal for language acquisition states that the earlier that one
acquires language the better. If you start learning a language before the
age of three, you’re going to learn it better.
 That doesn’t mean that the window for learning language really closes
completely. You can always learn a new language but that window it
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closes gradually throughout the years, so no matter how old you are you
can always start learning a new language. It's going to be easier the
younger you are to learn a language.
- Evidenced for the existence of a critical period
o Study conducted by Rachel Mayberry in 1993
 Participants who acquired ASL as a second language after childhood
outperformed those who acquired it as a first language at the same age.
 Performance of participants who acquired ASL as a first language
declined with age of learning.
 The younger you are the easy for you to learn a second language.

Is language taught or caught?
Acquisition vs Learning
- Language Acquisition:
o Language develops naturally through interaction with the environment
- Language Learning:
o Requires conscious instruction and direct teaching
- Language is an interactive process:
o The child’s natural capacities are as important as his/her interactions with others
- Mediation is key!
o Thinking and language develops through exposure to thinking and language and
how that exposure is mediated.
o Providing the right situations for a child and directing their attention.
o Providing them with language learning opportunities is just as important as
providing them with the words that they need to learn and exposure to the
language that they me to learn.
Language is a system of communication that relies on verbal or non-verbal codes to transfer
information. Language is a tool of communication. It is a system of grammar, meaning, sounds,
that is standardized enough to be used by two people to convey information to one another.
Communication is a way of interchanging messages or information between two or more
people, focusing on the message. Communication is a process of transferring messages.
Spoken or Verbal Communication, which includes face-to-face, telephone, radio or television
and other media.
Nonverbal communication, covering body language, gestures, how we dress or act, where we
stand, and even our scent. There are many subtle ways that we communicate (perhaps even
unintentionally) with others. For example, the tone of voice can give clues to mood or emotional
state, whilst hand signals or gestures can add to a spoken message.
Soliloquy
 For the child, the adult’s self-talk reflects what is being experienced, helps in planning
and interpreting, and links direct exposure with the “indirect” input language, symbolism,
and deeper levels of meaning.
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
To describe the speech of a person speaking alone or appearing to speak only to oneself.
Mediated Self-Talk (MST):
 To convey the intimate relationship between the soliloquy (self-talk) and the application
of mediated learning experiences (MLE).
Two perspectives in mind - The potential for modifiability and the role of language one has
options to effect meaningful change when one encounters children whose life experiences
prevent the development
 Due to poverty; being members of culturally different communities where the first
language may be rich, but the language of the dominant culture limited
 Having a developmental, genetic, or chromosome condition
What is Mediated Self Talk (MST)?
MST describe the process of constructing and implementing actions that mediate language
awareness, acquisition, and development.

It is the act of adult verbalizing – within the hearing of the child – but without the
expectation (or linguistic construction requiring) that the child will or should respond –
thus being a soliloquy.
MST has several “built in” necessary attributes:
 it is usually and initially related to concurrent activates that the child observes,
experiences, and remembers:
 it contains adult forms of grammar and syntax that the child hear, assimilates, and later
imitates;
 it brings in missing elements in the child’s linguistic repertoire;
 it has qualities of embellishment, exaggeration, and repetition that stimulate attending;
and
 it orients the listeners to elements of past and future.
The adult’s (parent, teacher, or caretaker) soliloquy exposes the child to speech in a very
intentional (goal-oriented, systematic, highly focused, etc.) manner—directed initially toward
language stimulation, and later extended to aspects where functional or
developmental deficiencies have been observed and identified.
MST incorporates three major components of mediated learning experience (MLE).
 the soliloquy is constructed and conveyed in a way that brings elements of intentionality,
 the mediation of transcendence, and the mediation of meaning to the interaction.
Children naturally engage in soliloquy. It is also a form of self-talk. It rehearses and practices
linguistic formulations of experiences that allow the child to experiment, self-reflect, and enrich
his or her interaction with the environment—making early social and cognitive connections.
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MST can be used to help overcome deficits, stimulate growth, and bring the learner into more
normal social contact and communication with the world.
To Whom Should MST Be Directed?
MST is an appropriate approach for the developing young child and for children or older
individuals (children or adults) who show language delays.
Therapeutically it can be used with individuals of any age who have experienced loss of speech
due to brain trauma, or due to other conditions (such as aging, lack of stimulation, etc.) that
affect language functions.
The main focus should be on the needs for and potential to apply MST in a systematic and
intentional manner to address language development, often in conjunction with other
interventions.
Why Do It?
Self-talk is a very natural aspect of thinking and is thus accessible for both adults and children.
The MLE that becomes a central component of MST is directed toward bringing to the
interaction elements of language development and the learner’s awareness that are observed and
assessed as needed in the learner’s development.
Who Can and Should Do It?
MST is primarily designed to be undertaken by parents, and the primary family system of the
child, to enhance the quality of the language experience.
It can be used by teachers of children with speech delays, in the classroom, as well as with
children individually or in groups who come from limited linguistic environments, or a different
original language from that of the school.
The natural environment can be used systematically to provide MST. Encouragement, focus,
training, and ongoing support are necessary to sustain and develop MST in such situations.
Introducing the child to MST: Feuerstein pg. 57-66
 The action of MST is intentional and contains the three major parameters of any mediated
interaction. What are the three major parameters?
1. Intentionality/reciprocity
2. Transcendence
3. Meaning
 Why do we not need to expect a response during MST?
o Research on mirror neurons suggests the recipient of the input may not even be
conscious of being stimulated.
o children attend to stimuli long before they are able to direct attention
systematically and engage in overt receptive/expressive communication regarding
that which is attended to.
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o






The interaction is not contingent on overt indications of whether it has been
received, but there is the assumption that it “got through,” and that the recipient is
affected by it.
Why is it important that infants self-talk?
o the purpose is to consolidate, rehearse, and (if there are others in the range of
hearing) be heard by others.
o reflecting significant experiences of the child that are linked in the child’s mind to
linguistic formulations.
How is self-talk a pre-social activity? What age do we normally see this?
o A child who engages in soliloquy does not address the social environment but
announces his or her observations and ideas as if for himself or herself.
o The child does not talk to a partner (even if one is available in the environment),
the talking is to oneself. If the partner interacts or attempts to respond, the young
child will generally not consider the response by the partner as triggered by his or
her own verbal behavior.
o The child says something, the other responds in a very different order (often
referred to as “poor verbal tracking”), and the dialogue does not at all conform to
what we would refer to as a cooperative mode of interaction.
MST must be
o Planned
o Systematic
o Consistent
o Flexible and adequate
o Directional
How does MST advance language development?
o MST was considered to be a very direct sensorial/receptive modeling, relying on
exposure and repetition.
What is neurophysiology?
o study of nerve cells as they receive and transmit information. It is a branch of
physiology and neuroscience that focuses on the functioning of the nervous
system.
What are mirror neurons and how does it relate to MST?
o a brain cell that reacts both when a particular action is performed and when it is
only observed.
o mirror neurons are activated by doing and observing actions that are imitated.
Mediated Learning Experiences: Mediated Self-Talk (MST):
To convey the intimate relationship between the soliloquy (self-talk) and the application of
mediated learning experiences (MLE).
What is the goal for a mediated learning environment (MLE)?
 focus attention on relevant and important stimuli in the mediatee’s environment
 teaching skills
 reinforce new ways of responding
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MST incorporates three major components of mediated learning experience (MLE).
 the soliloquy is constructed and conveyed in a way that brings elements of intentionality,
 the mediation of transcendence, and the mediation of meaning to the interaction.
In order for interaction to be MLE: these criteria have to be acted upon and structured in the
encounter?



What is intentionality and reciprocity?
o The mediator conveys a purpose and direction to the interaction, communicating
what will happen, what will be done, and how it will be experienced.
What is transcendence?
o This parameter relates to broader reasons and outcomes, conveying why the
interaction is occurring and where it is going, and seeking extensions in time and
space.
o This parameter also encourages the learner to predict what will happen, relates to
experiences that have occurred, and enriches the learner’s “distance” from direct
experience.
What is the mediation of meaning?
o For both mediatee and mediator, this parameter infuses values, validates feelings,
and provides the reasons for the interaction.
o This parameter brings the “why we do it” into the encounter.
Intentionality WHY? Teach, create awareness in the child
- Intentionality refers to a mediator’s deliberate efforts to change a child’s attention,
awareness, and perception. Mediation for Intentionality alone is inadequate without the
child’s reciprocity (vocal, verbal, or nonverbal). Intentionality is observed, for instance,
when a caregiver offers a toy to a child or verbally focuses a child’s attention to a plant
and the child responds to it. This strategy is considered crucial for starting the mediation
process and later on for enhancement of other MLE strategies such as feelings of
competence and self-regulation.
- Related intent to change child functioning to the child. Tell them the target and the reason
for the MLE.
Transcendence WHY? - Help child think hypothetically.
- Mediation of Transcendence is characterized by interactions in which the mediator goes
beyond the concrete situation or beyond the immediate needs of the child. The mediator
tries to reach out for goals that are beyond the specific context or activity. A parent who
interacts with his/her child may go beyond the specific experience at a certain time and
teach strategies rules and principles (i.e., “draw first the main figure and then the
secondary lines”) to generalize to other situations. For instance, in a play situation, the
parent may mediate the principles of game and generalize them to other situations.
Mediation for Transcendence depends on the first two strategies. The combination of all
three first strategies enhances the development of cognitive modifiability and expands the
individual’s need system.
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-
Bridging of concepts & events beyond the immediate task; introduction of abstract ideas.
Examples included questions like, "What would happen if?" and "Have you ever?"
Meaning WHY? Help child to understand why task is important
- Mediation of Meaning is characterized by mediator’s behavior that conveys the affective
and value-oriented significance of an object or event. It can be expressed verbally
(“Wow, how beautiful”) by relating it to other events and emphasizing its importance and
value (“I received this ring from my mother”). Mediation of Meaning may also be
expressed nonverbally by facial expression, tone of voice, and repetitious actions that
convey the significance of the object or event. Children experiencing Mediation of
Meaning tend to actively attach future meanings to new experiences rather than passively
wait for meanings to appear.
- Focus the child's attention on what is important. Help the child to attend to important
features of the task and ignore unimportant features.
Bilingualism
Types of Language Proficiency
- BICS: Basic Interpersonal
Communication Skills
o Social language
o Context-embedded
o Easy to understand
o Familiar/personal contact
o Supported by visual cues
o Relatively simple language
o Short statements
o Informal
o Familiar vocabulary
Social and Academic Language
BICS
o Greetings/Leave-takings
o Requesting information/assistance
o Giving information/assistance
o Describing
o Expressing feelings
CALP
o Seeking information/informing
o Comparing
o Ordering
o Classifying
o Analyzing
o Inferring
o Justifying and persuading
o Solving problems
o Evaluating
-
CALP: Cognitive Academic
Language Proficiency
o Academically-oriented
o Context-reduced
o More difficult
o Related to topics or ideas not
encountered in everyday life
o Reduced visual cues
o Sophisticated use of language
o Long sentences
o Abstract and formal
vocabulary
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BICS and CALP development and the application to deaf children
o By kindergarten/first grade, children are expected to function at CALP level in English
(e.g., using workbooks; text-books)
o For many deaf children, acquisition of BICS language starts when the child enters school.
o The language (English) that deaf children are expected to process at the CALP level is
not accessible to them at school entry (and will not be for several years)
Supporting BICS and CALP development for deaf students
o Fluency in a first language supports cognitive proficiency required for learning a second
language
o Interdependence theory: instruction through the minority language will support
proficiency in both L1 and L2
o Most deaf students are not fluent in ASL at school entry, therefore they will need to learn
L1 along with L2
o Since the majority language, English, is inaccessible to most deaf students as a means of
instruction at the CALP level, the minority language (ASL) should be the language of
instruction in the classroom.
Cognitive Demand of Language Situations
o Cognitively undemanding
o Cognitively demanding
o Context embedded
o Context reduced