Language Development

Language development is a complex phenomenon, acting as a means of developing

reasoning, thought and communication.

From: Core Psychiatry (Third Edition), 2012

Related terms:

Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Atrial Septal Defect, Specific Language Impair-

ment, Learning Disorder, Linguistics, Family History, Hearing Impairment

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Language Development
Frederic Dick, ... Suzanne Curtin, in Neurobiology of Language, 2016

31.10 Conclusion
Language development is inherently a process of change. Exploring the multiple and
varied trajectories of language can provide us with insights into the development
of more general cognitive processes. Studies of language development have been
particularly useful in helping us to understand the emergence of specialization
of function and the scale and flexibility of cognitive processes during learning.
Novel approaches and technologies for capturing the linguistic environment that the
developing child grows up in (Greenwood, Thiemeann-Bourque, Walker, Buzhardt,
& Gilkerson, 2011)—and for capturing what the child is saying (Oller et al., 2010-
)—should allow for more fleshed out theories and models of how language develop-
ment actually works. Correspondingly, new tools for understanding brain structure
(Dick et al., 2012; Glasser & Van Essen, 2011; Sereno, Lutti, Weiskopf, & Dick,
2013), development (Dosenbach et al., 2010), representation (Huth, Nishimoto, Vu,
& Gallant, 2012) and learning (Wiestler & Diedrichsen, 2013) should allow us to make
much finer-grained predictions about when, where, and how language development
changes the brain.

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Cognitive Psychology of Memory
G.O. DeákA. Holt, in Learning and Memory: A Comprehensive Reference, 2008

Assumptions and ideas about language learning have changed dramatically in the
last two decades. Nativist assumptions have been dispelled by neuroscience, mod-
eling, and psycholinguistic data. First-language learning begins before birth, and its
foundations are laid down during infancy. During the second year toddlers begin to
interpret and produce multiword utterances, refer to absent or abstract topics, and
use social context to interpret language. During the third and fourth years children
master most of the structure and uses of various linguistic elements, and acquire a
great deal of critical lexical knowledge. Finally, during middle childhood the nuances
of complex structure and dependencies are refined as children learn to use language
more flexibly and consciously.

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Language Development
T.H. Mintz, in Encyclopedia of Neuroscience, 2009

Introduction
The ability of human children to acquire a language is one of the hallmarks of the
species. Within 24 h of being born, infants already show evidence of having learned
aspects of the broad rhythmic structure of their mother tongue, most likely from
hearing speech in utero during gestation. Infants continue to attend to the patterns
in their language and start to learn a considerable amount about its structure well
before they start combining words in their own speech. After just a few years,
children will have mastered many of the complex grammatical structures in their
language, and persistent systematic errors become rare as children approach their
tenth birthday. Children exposed early on to additional languages will learn them
without any significant added difficulty compared with monolingual acquisition,
provided they have sufficient exposure to each language.

Language development in children is remarkable for its regularity across individuals

and different languages, even when the languages are quite diverse. Children uni-
versally progress through many of the same stages, mastering certain components
of the grammar before others and making characteristic errors in production and
comprehension at each stage. Despite individual differences in intelligence and
other abilities, and despite normal differences in language exposure, all children end
up able to speak and understand their native language(s) fluently. This is in marked
contrast to adult learners, who show much greater variability in learning processes
and ultimate outcomes. Indeed, differences between children and adult learners in
ultimate outcome, in the kinds of errors made, and in the stages of acquisition
have led many researchers to conclude that there is a critical or sensitive period
for language development. As in other developmental domains with critical periods,
learning that takes place outside this period is more variable and less robust, leading
to a greater range of outcomes and more idiosyncratic patterns of acquisition.

In addition to the uniform patterns of acquisition across languages, there are some
aspects of language development that are tied more closely to structural properties
of the particular language being learned. Comparing components that are more
or less language dependent can lead to insights about the learning mechanisms
involved in language development and the properties of the linguistic input to which
learners attend.

This article gives an overview of early language development, discussing some key
phenomena in acquisition and some major theoretical issues. Other articles offer
more-detailed discussions of specific areas within language development.

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Language Development in Autism

Morton Ann Gernsbacher, ... Elizabeth J. Grace, in Neurobiology of Language, 2016

Abnormal language development used to define autism, but it no longer does.

Language development no longer even figures into contemporary diagnostic cri-
teria, although early delays in language often lead to parents’ concerns. In this
chapter, we review recent empirical research on language development in autism.
To paint a contemporary picture, we restrict our review to studies published in the
twenty-first century. We conclude the following: language development in autism
is often delayed, but not deviant; a delay in language development is not unique to
autism; and language development in autism is remarkably heterogeneous.

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Language Learning Impairment

P. Tallal, in International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2001
Developmental language learning impairments (LLI) can occur in children for a wide
variety of reasons, and are one of the most prevalent of all developmental disabilities.
It has been estimated that approximately 20 percent of all children have some form of
language learning impairment. The most common known causes of developmental
language learning impairments are hearing loss (including intermittent hearing
loss resulting from chronic otitis media), general mental retardation, and motor
or structural defects affecting the oral musculature. Approximately 7.5 percent of
children have developmental language impairments of unknown origin.

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Foreign Language Teaching and Learn-

ing
A.K. Moeller, E. Koubek, in International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral
Sciences, 2001

Foreign language learning and teaching refer to the teaching or learning of a

non-native language outside of the environment where it is commonly spoken.
A distinction is often made between ‘foreign’ and ‘second’ language learning. A
second language implies that the learner resides in an environment where the
acquired language is spoken. In the area of research, however, the term second
language acquisition is a general term that embraces foreign language learning.
Research into the acquisition of a non-native language includes the disciplines
of psychology, linguistics, education, neurobiology, sociology, and anthropology.
Inquiries of learning and teaching innovations have provided new insights into
successful language learning strategies and environments designed to increase
language achievement and proficiency.

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Human personality development

Nick Goddard, in Core Psychiatry (Third Edition), 2012

Language development
Language development is a complex phenomenon, acting as a means of developing
reasoning, thought and communication. The development of language is a mixture
of learning and innate processes.
Learning processes
Imitation plays some role in learning language, but cannot be the only means of
developing language. Conditioning may also help the process, but adults do not pay
attention to every detail of speech uttered by infants.

Children also appear to learn a set of operating principles, which allows them to
generalize certain constructions, e.g. the addition of ‘-ed’ to a verb to form the past
tense, e.g. ‘walk, walked’. Children learn gradually not to over-generalize, e.g. ‘go,
goed’, and to recognize irregular verbs.

Innate processes
All children, regardless of culture, seem to go through the same sequence of
language development, implying an innate knowledge. Language development also
has critical periods when it is easier to learn languages, such as the early years of life.

One of the foremost theorists in this area is Noam Chomsky, whose work has
spawned a new science of neurolinguistics. He suggests that language development
is built in (Chomsky 1972). The theory then becomes very dense, but a summary is
shown in Table 4.3.

Chomsky has been criticized on the grounds of reading adult meanings into chil-
dren's speech. He also believes that language should be studied separately from
other aspects of development.

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Fifty Years of Research in Intellectual

and Developmental Disabilities
L. Abbeduto, ... S.T. Kover, in International Review of Research in Developmental
Disabilities, 2016

Language development has been a major focus of behavioral research on intellectual

and developmental disabilities (IDDs) since at least the middle of the twentieth
century (Abbeduto & Boudreau, 2004). For most of that history, however, there was
relatively little focus on potential etiological differences in language development
or in responsiveness to language intervention, with the exception of an occasional
study on Down syndrome (DS) (Rosenberg & Abbeduto, 1993). There were many
reasons for this state of affairs, including the dominance first of operant behavioral
approaches to language, such as that of Skinner (1957) and then in the 1960s and
1970s nativist theories, such as that of Chomsky (1965). Both theoretical approach-
es assumed that the mechanisms of learning language were identical across all
members of the human species, although they differed in the extent to which those
processes were seen to be language specific (Abbeduto, Evans, & Dolan, 2001).

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Two Years: Language Leaps*

Suzanne D. Dixon, in Encounters with Children (Fourth Edition), 2006

LANGUAGE AND COGNITION

Language development is intricately entangled with cognitive development. Much
discussion and research have been devoted to the question of whether language
is necessary for cognition (i.e., whether we need words and semantic structure to
think) or whether language is merely an outcome or reflection of growth in mental
capacity. This chicken-and-egg question aside, the clinician will find that language
assessment becomes increasingly enmeshed in other areas of functioning as a child
grows because the usual evaluation of language, using standard instruments, is
really one of cognitive growth and vice versa. Most often, language and cognitive
development are linked in an individual child, but not necessarily so. Language
development, particularly in a population of disabled children, is highly predictive of
overall functioning, and language remains the best predictor of cognition in general.
School systems are heavily biased toward verbal skills, so it is not surprising that
school performance and linguistic abilities are linked. Early language disorders are
highly predictive of learning difficulties in school, and most studies show that
greater than 40% of children with early language difficulties will have learning
difficulties in school. The language concern may be the chief complaint, but a
comprehensive look at the child and the environment is needed when this problem
becomes evident.

Both directions are possible. Emotional and cognitive deficits may be secondary
to primary language disorders, particularly in a society that places so much em-
phasis on verbal competency and formal schooling performance in its children.
Conversely, emotional disorders may have language delay symptoms. In any case,
a language-delayed child must be carefully and comprehensively assessed for these
associated difficulties.

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 Perinatal Focal Brain Injury
Susan C. Levine, ... Steven L. Small, in Neurobiology of Language, 2016

77.2 Four Central Questions

Studies of language development in children with PL have largely focused on
examining the scope and limits of plasticity for language functions in this population
(Bates et al., 1997; Bates, Vicari, & Trauner, 1999; Reilly, Levine, Nass, & Stiles, 2008;
Stiles et al., 2012; Trauner, Eshagh, Ballantyne, & Bates, 2013). To the extent that
language is disrupted in similar ways after early and later lesions, we gain evidence
for the importance of particular brain regions for language, beginning early in life,
and for the limits of early functional plasticity. In contrast, to the extent that the
process of language development proceeds normally in children with PL, regardless
of lesion location, we gain evidence for the robustness of language development
and for the ability of the young brain to adapt to injury.

We organize this chapter around four key questions that have been addressed
by researchers studying language development in children with perinatal stroke,
reviewing the literature relevant to each.

These questions are:

1. How do focal PLs affect language development?

2. How do biological characteristics of early focal lesions relate to language

development?
3. What is the role of language input on the language development of children
with PLs?
4. What are potential mechanisms of language plasticity after early lesions?

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