WHAT is LANGUAGE?

Language: a symbolic system in which a series of sounds make up words to represent an idea, object, or
a person and eventually becomes a medium through which we speak
A few cultural factors that influence our language development:
1. Growing up in an INDIVIDUALISTIC vs. COLLECTIVIST culture
2. Learning and speaking MULTIPLE languages
3. Family Environmental Factors

Cultural Influences on Language Development

-the ways in which language is learned varies between these cultures
-children, also, may grow up learning only to speak when an adult addresses them directly and never to
jump-in on an adult conversation or speak up in a public setting. For this reason, many children have
difficulties in the classroom when asked to orally give their opinion or demonstrate dialogue with other
students
-the eagerness of many students to speak in class and develop verbal language skills is less common
among students of different cultures and from different backgrounds

INDIVIDUALISTIC VS. COLLECTIVIST cultures:

Individualistic Cultures: a culture in which emphasis is placed on the individual alone and learning at a
pace specific to their abilities. Success and failure, especially concerning learning, revolves around the
actions of that individual and are not tied to a group.
Collectivist Cultures: these kinds of cultures emphasize family and group goals above individual needs as
well as success and failure

Family Context in Language Development

-the importance of family contexts in language acquisition was researched and described by 2
researchers- Hart and Risley
-their results stated that "talkativeness" in families was far more influential in language development than
other factors such as socioeconomic status or ethnic identity
-the amount of talking seemed to be the main factor in developing higher levels of language in several
areas including vocabulary growth and use
5 Factors were also discovered as being influential in parental language interaction with children:
1. Language Diversity
2. Feedback Tone
3. Symbolic Emphasis
4. Guidance Style
5. Responsiveness
Different methods of development:
First, some vocabulary:
bilingual: speaking 2 languages
multilingual: speaking more than 2 languages
simultaneous bilinguals: learning 2 languages at the same time
successive bilinguals: learning a new language while retaining the native language
mixed speech: the creation of a single linguistic system made up of sounds and words from both
languages.
KEYTERMS:

The Sapir-Whorf Theory

This theory is the way we think and view the world is determined by our language
-This theory also stated that some languages have specific words for concepts whereas other languages
use several words to represent a specific concept
Many people believe that as a child, it is much easier to pick up and use new languages. What many
people do not know is that though children are often exposed to new languages at their "critical period" of
language development (up to 2 years old), children need more than just exposure to a language to it up
and be able to reproduce it.
Children need interaction with other speakers as well as the need to communicate in order to develop the
new language effectively.
Once children have been continuously exposed to multiple languages simultaneously and can begin to
separate the languages for verbal use, children begin to move away from mixed speech and into
language differentiation.