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 (nonvocalized).
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
Cooing
At birth
At about 1mos.
Babbling Middle of 1st
year
signals of distress
“Oo” sounds that occur
during social exchanges
with caregiver
Strings of consonantvowel combinations
Patterned Close of 1st year
Speech
Strings of pseudowords
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, fourlegged 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).