In order for natural life processes to continue to grow and develop
peacefully and successfully, there must be a form of communication that takes palace among humans. It is for this reason that humans have adapted a system of symbols that can be represented by spoken or written words, or hand gestures of sign language. These symbols comprise the definition of the term language. McLaughlin (1998) states “our social world immerses us in speech and language from the moment we take our first breath” . As pointed out by McLaughlin, humans are not born with the innate ability to communicate, rather, language is a process of development which begins at birth and continues infinitely”. Origins of Language
Empiricists: Basic laws of reinforcement and conditioning.
Nativists: Genetically determined, innate mechanism directing language development. Gene-environment interaction: Innate factors shape broad outlines of language development. 5 subsystems of language
In order to be a competent language speaker, all five subsystems
System of sounds used in a (spoken) language. Phonemes (e.g. bat and pat) The rules for combining those sounds to make words. The use of stress and intonation in spoken sentences. 2. Semantics
The meanings of words and sentences.
Can have grammar without semantics. (e.g. “The monkey is an elephant.” Learning to pair words. 3. Morphology
Allows speakers to use grammar to convey the meanings they
intend. The girl hit the ball. The ball hit the girl. Girl, hit the ball. 5. Pragmatics
Rules for the social use of language
How to use language to accomplish social goals. How to adjust your language to fit different social situations. Baby Talk
Babies’ speech seems to be a fascination we all
share. The internet is overrun with videos of babies and toddlers talking, laughing, singing, and interacting with their parents and siblings. Stages of Language Development
In reality, these boys are likely just mimicking
sounds and gestures as they see the adults in their lives use to communicate with one another, but mimicking the actions and sounds of their parents and families are how babies begin to learn to use language. Distinguishing between and mimicking sounds is in fact the first stage of language development. Stages of Language Development
3-5 months = cooing with vowel sounds
6-11 months = babbling with consonant sounds 12 months = single words 2-3 years = short phrases and sentences Steven Pinker: Language
As pointed by Steven Pinker, Professor of
Harvard University, in a video for Big THINK, language is distinctly human behavior. The ability to form complex thoughts and ideas is something that sets human beings apart from every other species on the earth. Language is distinctively human, so can offer insights into human nature and behavior. Noam Chomsky: The GodFather of Linguistics Noam Chomsky, professor at Massachusetts institute of Technology has been called the “godfather of linguistics,” and was the first to suggest in the 1950’s that human capacity and ability to develop language was innate. Language and grammar are Inate Steven Pinker references Noam Chomsky quite a bit in his discussion of language development and further explains that stages of language development in his Floating University series. He proposes that not only is language innate, but that children are hardwired with universal grammar. He argues that verbs are worth special attention when studying language acquisition, calling it, ”The Mighty Verb” in his Big Think video referenced above. He gives the examples of the way children add “ed” to irregular verbs, like “We holded the baby rabbits,” The alligator goed kerplunk, or verbs such as “sticked,” “teared,” “hearded,” and “holded” as “a way of catching children in the act of doing something that makes language powerful, namely, combining things by rules “ Language Development Begins at Birth Now, Steven Pinker’s experiment are referring to children around 18 to 24 months of age who are developing the ability to form short phrases and sentences, and are just beginning to make sense of grammatical rules of speech. But fascinating studies are being conducted to explore what happens in brains of infants as young as a single day to help us better understand how language is acquired starting from birth and just how important those early stages of development are. The Early Years are Critical for language Development Another fascinating study on infants, conducted by Patricia Kuhi as presented in her Ted Talk, “ The Linguistic Genius of Babies,” explore the way babies process and distinguish sounds differently than adults, and gives evidence of just how crucial those early years in language development are in babies. Kuhi describes what goes on in a baby’s mind as it is processing language and learning to language is developed during a “critical period” for learning. Babies are “geniuses” for language until the age of 7 and can distinguish between different sounds of all the languages of the world in ways that adults can’t Interaction is Crucial to Language Development Kuhi also conducted research that demonstrated that the social aspect of learning language is crucial in process of acquisition. Children don’t learn the same way, and possibly don’t learn language at all, by watching a TV compared to interacting with and listening to a human being. This idea that interaction is essential to early language development is reinforced by the organization Zero to Three as presented in some of their informational videos, such as the one below, “A Window to the World: Promoting Early Language and Literacy Development.” As they state, “Loving and caring relationships are central to early language and literacy.”