introduction to language quiz 4

critical period

a period of time within which a child will acquire a language with native competence. this period ends between 7 & 12, with some variation. languages acquired after the critical period are not acquired with native-like competence, at least in the area of phonology, unless great effort is applied. (CPH- a hypothesis, states that children must acquire first language before puberty if they are ever to acquire it at all)

critical period

a period of time within which a child will acquire a language with native competence. this period ends between 7 and 12, with some variation. languages acquired after the critical period are not acquired with native-like competence, at least in the area of phonology, unless great effort is applied. (a person will not acquire l1 unless given sufficient input and interaction before puberty; thus, if a child does not learn it before puberty, then they will not learn it at all)

early bilingual

a speaker who acquires a second language early in life. (a person who acquires two languages from birth)

late bilingual

a speaker who acquires a second language late in life (someone who starts learning a language in junior high school)

high-amplitude sucking (HAS)

a test used to measure infants' attention. when the baby is interested by a new stimulus, the sucking rate increases; when he or she gets used to a stimulus, the rate slows down. (it operates by wiring a pacifier to an electronic system. babies will suck at a rate that shows their interest)

difference approach

a theory of language variation that see the differences between men and women as resulting from two distinct cultures/backgrounds. (this approach to language and gender see men and women as coming from different cultures with different rules of speaking; associated with deborah tannen)

prototype

a theory that claims that the meaning of words is not based on clear-cut, yes/no distinctions, but rather that there are degrees of membership into a class. For example, there are good examples of the concept of bird such as robins and sparrows, and progressively worse examples ending with flightless birds such as emus and penguins. (children match new examples to prototypes to build up an appropriate meaning)

balanced bilingual

a type of bilingualism in which the speaker is equally at ease in either language in all domains. (each language influences the other; those whose ability in each language is relatively equal, sometimes have words in one language that they don't have in the other)

coordination

a way of joining two sentences together when neither of them is subordinated to the other. (another part of grammar that emerges in stages and depends on semantics and context. children begin with "additive and," and later with "temporal and")

cognate

a word that is similar in two languages. (can help or hinder)

explicit learning

in language learning, learning which is conscious, resulting from the teacher making clear what is to be learned (teacher states purpose of lesson and gives a rule or has students find rule on their own from the class materials)

implicit learning

in language learning, learning which is unconscious, resulting from the learner working on material without direct knowledge of the target (teacher has plan, but does not verbalize the info to the students; instead the class may engage in a communicative activity and the rule may be discussed later)

interaction hypothesis

in language learning, the idea that conversations about tasks engaged in by learners can make the input comprehensible and therefore available for acquisition (interaction is important in SLA, just like L1 learning; interaction is a driving force in SLA)

noticing hypothesis

in language learning, the idea that input must be consciously noticed at some level by the learner in order to be available for acquisition (a student must notice to input to acquire an aspect of language; Schmidt claims that in order to acquire an aspect of language we must attend to, or notice it in the input)

sensitive period

in language learning, the idea that the acquisition of language should happen before a given time frame in order to facilitate that acquisition. (period in SLA (people may find it easier to learn, but that learning never shuts down completely; learning an l2 is easier before puberty; more of a gradual decline in ease of learning an l2 as time progresses; things like accent are much more easily learned early in life)

input enhancement

in language learning, written input that is highlighted in some way; bolding, color highlighting, etc. (through this, things are noticed and acquired)

acquisition order

in the field of L2 acqusition, the notion that learners of a given language will acquire aspects of that language in a particular order (learners of a particular language will acquire concepts in a certain order; also depends on transfer; most studies have been laboratory- hard to put in classroom)

parameter

in universal grammar, a rule that determines if a language will allow a certain kind of phenomena. (Chomsky, believe that language is organized partially as a series of switches; rule that will allow a certain kind of phenomena; learning a new language is "resetting" the parameters)

incidental learning

learning that happen as a result of doing something else, for example learning vocabulary from wide reading. (student picks up something not intended by lesson, may happen in either explicit or implicit teaching; learning a new word through reading)

receptive bilingual

the ability to understand a second language, but not speak it. (many immigrant children are this)

zero copula

the absence of the copular verb be; the absence of the be shows that we're talking about the present, about right now

linguistic complexity

the amount or quality of speech or writing for a given situation. (where the numbers of aspects of meaning and/ or number of rules are few, acquisition comes early)

poverty of stimulus

the argument that the child does not have enough stimuli and well-formed input to learn the language (aka the logical problem of language acquisition) (children are exposed to false starts, incomplete sentences, & odd constructions; their grammar is seldom directly corrected; their use of language with others, politeness forms & so on, may be corrected, but their grammar seldom is, claimed Chomsky)

camoflauge

the fact that certain expressions in AAVE are camoflauged- i.e., are identical on the surface to expressions of Standard American English (SAE) but different in meaning. For example, the habitual be forms in AAVE, as in This teacher's midterm be easy, meaning that the midterms are usually eay, which contrast to the be forms of the present perfect in SAE, where they could only be used for a subjunctive, as in This teacher's midterm better be easy or else I'll flunk.

hip-hop linguistics

the field concerned with describing and advocating for hip-hop language and culture. (HHLx, has been studied sociolingusitically since the 1980s)

output hypothesis

the hypothesis that failure in communication leads to improvement in language learning because the speaker, by hearing what he or she says, may notice discrepancies between intention and result. (learners need to speak and have a chance to examine their speech)

performativity

the idea that people do not have fixed identities but instead perform identity, changing it to take a stance or make a statement. (Judith Butler: speech acts [I promise]; language preforms an identity)

interlanguage (IL)

the language used by learners of a second language. it may differ from both the language of the learner and the target language (an individual's current conception of the L2; not the l1 or l2, but a mix; it is a largely regular system that the learner has built up, one susceptible to revision based on new data)

hip-hop nation language

the language used by the fans of and participants in hip-hop culture. (HHNL, is used to form an identity, opposition to mainstream culture, escape connotations of dialect and vernacular language, has origins in AAE, but has own characterisitcs, african-american church responses "verbal dueling," and poetic- phyme, reptition, flow)

language acquisition device (LAD)

the mental organ facilitating language acquisition postulated by Chomsky and others as genetically endowed with the knowledge of universal grammar. LAD, on the basis of observed stimuli, sets the parameters for the child. (universal grammar- principles that are hardwired in our brains; LAD in the mind)

Transfer

the phenomena of bringing the rules of an old language to the rules of a new one. (can facilitate SLA, in the case of cognates, or interfere with it, as in the case of applying the word order of one language improperly to the other)

overextension

the phenomenon whereby a child uses a word in a meaning that is broader than the normal meaning, for example, using ball to describe any round object, including, for example, the moon or an apple. (happens when a child takes the property of an object and generalizes it; it is based on extension of categories, analogies, and family resemblances)

underextension

the process by which a child uses a word having a meaning that is narrower than the normal meaning of the word, for example, using mommy to indicate only the child's mother and not any mother. (when children learn a new word, they may well underextend [undergeneralize])

joint attention

the process of learning to focus one's attention to another's focus of attention. (learning to pay attention to things like the speaker's gaze and pointing)

foreigner talk (FT)

the register used by native speakers when addressing non-native speakers of a language; usually includes slower rate of speech, simplified syntax, and increased volume. (equivalent to child-directed speech in SLA, uses short, simple sentences and simple words, people talk loudly, better to use full forms instead of contractions and put the topic at the beginning of the sentence to make it salient; an aspect of simplified speech)

solidarity

the security and assurance of belongings to a certain group. ( those who seek solidarity may often value relationships more than correctness, men under-reported it)

instrumental motivation

the student is learning an additional language for the purpose of passing a test, getting a job, pass a credit, etc. (largely less motivating; the desire to pass a language test or fulfill a language requirement)

integrative motivation

the student is learning an additional language in order to become part of the second language speech community (attitudes towards language, culture, and speakings and wanting to integrate into a community)

pragmatics

the study of language in context. it deals with how sentences relate to the world around them, most significantly the speakers and hearers (children learn how to speak to others in an appropriate manner; they learn how to be direct with peers and polite with adults; they learn how to keep a conversation going and how to take turns inside that conversation)

interactionism

the theory of first language acquisition that finds that speech between caregiver and child is the most important variable in that acquisition (no major figure; interaction is key to acquiring first language; child-directed speech [CDS]: slow rate of speech, high pitch, sing-song intonation, pauses, short, simple sentences, lots of questions, reptition, focus on present; usage-based theories-grammar emerges from pattern-finding skills)

innatism

the theory proposed by Noam Chomsky and others that the essential components of language are genetically hardwired in the brain (aka nativism) (humans are programmed to acquire language; language acquisition device (LAD) -> universal grammar (UG); critical period hypothesis: must acquire first language before puberty)

dominance approach

theory of language variation that sees the differences between men's and women's language as resulting from the distribution of power between the sexes. (this approach to language and gender sees difference in men's and women's speech as coming from the power differential; associated with robin lakoff)

semantic feature

units of meaning into which a given word may be broken. the meaning of a word is said to be the sum of its features; for example, a boy is [+ male], [- adult], etc. (when children build up a representation; they develop categories for their world before word learning)

uptalk

use of rising intonation at the end a declarative sentence (women often sounded like they were asking questions when they were really making statements; their sentences ended with a rising intonation)

decreolization

when a creole loses some attributes usually in favor of its lexifer language or another prestigious language (creole mixed with standard english became more like it)

productivity

when a process of language speech is productive, it can be applied to new elements that enter the language or to elements to which it previously didn't apply. the plural formation by adding the suffix -s, for example, book-books, is productive in English whereas the plural formation through changing the stem vowel, for example, goose-geese, isn't anymore. (a much commented on feature of the acquisition of english morphology; children get the morphological info right, and they are able to predict that the plural marker will be voiced when the root ends in the voiced constant)

code-switching

when a speaker switches between two languages or language styles depending on who he or she is speaking to (e.g., from Spanish to English, Yo no se what happened)

usage-based

a focus within the interactionist tradition that sees grammar not as the result of a language acquisition device, but through cognitive skills; pattern finding during social processes (theories that states that grammar emerges from pattern-finding skills

meaning relations

1. the connections between the meanings of given words, as that, for example, between homonyms and synonyms. 2. used by Brown and colleagues to characterize the relationship between words (e.g., agent and action) in early acquisition of L1 speech. (two-word utterances; semantic meaning relations universal)

AAVE

African American Vernacular English, it is a dialect of English spoken by many ethnic groups aka AAE

Wolof

An African language used as a lingua franca in West Africa at the time of the slave trade.

Dyselxia

a form of aphasia that affects the ability to read, corresponding to dysgraphia. (is a reading disorder; it correspond to dysgraphia- a disorder in writing; both disorders can be acquired or developmental; manifests itself in reading, writing, and spelling below grade level, despite no intellectual deficits in IQ, letters reversed, order reversed, etc).

community of practice

a group similar to a speech community, but of smaller size. (a group of people dedicated to a common pursuit; used to research language and gender, Eckert's study of a Detroit high school: women used more extreme forms; fraternity studies: many ways to "talk like a man")

heritage language learner

a language spoken by immigrants of a given ethnic group and their descendants and associates (have a partial command of their ancestor's language; they may speak it well, but not be able to write it (when the language has a difficult orthography) or may not be able to speak formally or not know some grammar rules)

the Lau decision

Refers to the case of Lau v. Nicholas: students cannot get equal education without language issues addressed; the san francisco ruling that said chinese-speaking students could not get an equal education unless their language needs were addressed. Lau also said that there was no need to prove an intent to discriminate, only that previous discrimination had led to the current problem

logical problem

Noam Chomsky's name for the question of how children learn a complete language in roughly five years. (logical problem is at the heart of the poverty of stimulus argument)

overlap

speaking at the same time as your conversational partner in a helpful, friendly way rather than in a rude, interruptive way. ( facilitating aspect of conversation, women's speech is powerless, same-sex conversational pairs tended to overlap about three times as much as they interrupted, all overlaps done by men)

asperger syndrome

a disorder within the autism spectrum which is characterized by mild patterns of autistic behavior which is often difficult to distinguish from high- functioning autism

non-reduplicated babbling

stage spanning roughly months 9-18 of a human's life in which babbling sounds are produced without repetition. (the child starts to play with stress and intonation and includes more consonant sounds)

Gullah

a creole close to AAVE spoken on the islands off the coast of georgia and north carolina (was influenced by many african languages and may be a remnant of the "Plantation Creole")

behaviorism

a current in scientific thought, now largely discredited, that identifies as the only object of science the study of observable behavior and denies the existence of the mind. it is based on the stimulus-response paradigm and maintains that learning is a purely mechanical matter of reinforcement. (B.F. Skinner- mind is a blank slate learn through reinforcement- positive & negative; "logical problem:" poverty of stimulus- first language acquisition, one of the three theories)

autism

a disorder of neutral development characterized by problems with social interaction and verbal and non-verbal communication. (delayed onset of speech, or its absence; non-communicative patterns of conversation; repetitive use of language, including echolalia, the repetition of another's speech; and the lack of imaginative play. autistic babies do not babble or exhibit facial expressions; they avoid gazes and don't respond)

rett syndrome

a disorder within the autism spectrum which is a genetic condition of girls and is characterized by autistic behavior, intellectual disabilities, and regression in communicative abilities.

reflexive crying

stage spanning roughly weeks 0-8 of a human's life in which crying is undifferentiated.

conservative

among language users, those who are conservative are more likely to hold on to old forms. (women over-reported prestige, more conservative use of language, some theories said that women were in fact the more conservative speakers, that they kept alive the old words)

innovative

among language users, those who are innovative are more linguistically creative and willing to to use new forms ( some said that women's speech was different from men's because women were innovative, the first to use new words, they have been seen as the innovators of language for years)

stuttering

an impairment in the fluency of speech, often consisting in the repetition of syllables in words. (a speech disorder; repetition of sounds, syllables, or phrases, or as a block, where the speaker cannot "release" the words)

heteronormativity

an institutionalized ideological system that naturalizes heterosexuality as universal. ( a very common discourse, it is the assumption that everyone is attracted to members of the opposite sex)

williams syndrome

an intellectual disability which is characterized by a disconnect between cognitive skills and language. (cognition is affected, yet their language is unaffected and can even be flowery and seemingly above their grade level)

down syndrome

an intellectual disability which results in developmental delays in language (children with it may match their same-mental-age peers in semantic and pragmatic abilities)

additive bilingualism

approach to bilingual education which adds an additional language to the first, while keeping the first. (new language added, one of the bilingualism forms acquired in school)

subtractive bilingualism

approach to bilingual education which replaces the home language with a second, school-based language. (school language learned to replace home language)

discourses

cultural understandings or norms, ways of seeing the world. (cultural understandings, systems of statements that announce cultural norms, or ways of seeing the world [boys will be boys] used to research language and gender)

interruption

beginning to speak while another conversational partner has the floor (women's speech is powerless, it is a violation of good conversational practice, mixed-sex pairs, there were five times as many interruptions as overlaps, all but two of the almost 50 interruptions were by men, men interrupted women)

creole hypothesis

hypothesis used to describe the origin of AAVE which states that it is a descendant of an early West African-English pidgin brought to the US with the first African slaves. (AAE comes from west african pidgin; contact between natives and slave traders; in competition with wolof; both to new world; pidgin spread on plantations and became creole)

reduplicated babbling

stage spanning roughly weeks 25-50 of a human's life in which babbling sounds are repeated (bababa)

divergence hypothesis

hypothesis used to describe the origin of AAVE which takes a less historical approach and focuses instead on the reasons for divergence between SAE and AAVE, including segregation and socioeconomic disparity. (AAE is moving away from SAE because of segregation and socioeconomic disparity between speakers to form identity)

vegetative sounds

stages spanning roughly 0-8 of a human's life in which sounds include those of burps, coughs, and sneezes. (attempts at communication)

dialectologist hypothesis

hypothesis used to describe the origin of AAVE, which states that it is a remnant or leftover of early Plantation Englishes brought to the US with the first English settlers. (AAE comes from the influence of older British dialects)

babbling

early attempts at communication by children, typically consisting of single vowels or consonants or consonant-vowel combinations. (most babbling sounds are the same across languages; children are born with the ability to discriminate and produce sounds not in their own native language)

metalinguisitc awareness

explicit knowledge on the part of the speaker of how his or her language is organized. provides the speaker with a tool to talk about his or her own language. (a better sense of what language is and how to manipulate it; they know very early on what language to speak to whom; bilingualism is very advantageous)

Specific Language Impairment (SLI)

formerly called childhood aphasia, a cluster of language disorders that does not fit any of the other language pathologies (is diagnosed when children have developmental problems with language but have no hearing or cognitive problems and are not autistic. may be a result of deficits in the processing of auditory signals or of grammar and may be connected to working memory)

aptitude

how well, relative to other learners, an individual can learn another language (correlates with achievement on language learning (class grades, test scores) at moderately strong levels; it is what allows people to learn quickly and easily; correlates with intelligence on IQ tests and tests with working memory)

nativism

humans are genetically programmed to acquire language. we do not have language in our brains, but we have the capacity to acquire it readily and with minimal input. the language we acquire depends on our surroundings.

passive

one of the two voices of the english language. it is the opposite of the active voice and switches emphasis from the subject to the direct object of the active in a sentence. (a structure typically acquired late; these sentences do not occur naturally in speech often enough to get a good sample for an individual, so researchers elicit them or test comprehension by by asking children to act out sentences with dolls or puppets. a distinction is made between reverse to and irreversible passives)

vernacular

originally, the variety of latin spoken by the people of the countryside, as opposed to the urban varieties. Then, during the middle ages, vernaculars were the various national languages, such as french, spanish, german, spoken by the people, while learned people spoke latin. as a result, today vernacular means a non-standard, popular variety. (a non-standard popular variety of a language)

aspect

parts of the semantics of the verb used to describe the duration of the action, its beginning or ending, or its completion. (if a verb is complete or incomplete; describing whether the action of the verb is continuing or completed, obligatory)

the Ann Harbor Case

refers to the case of Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School Children et al. v. Ann Harbor School District, a 1979 US federal court case that adressed the issue of language needs in the schools (80% white students, 1977- parents brought suit to federal court over lack of progress because sociocultural and economic backgrounds were not being considered)

status

refers to the higher, lower, or equal social position of speakers or speech varieties to each other. different status relations lead to different speech varieties being used by the speakers, as for example in dsiglossia, the use of basi-, meso-, or acrolect, or forms of address. It is determined by social factors like prestige, power, etc. (those who strive for correct language, women over-reported prestige, more concerned with status in language than men)

child-directed speech- CDS

simplified speech used primarily by adults speaking to children. CDS provides comprehensible input for first language acquisition (aka caregiver speech & caretaker speech) (slow rate of speech, high pitch, sing-song intonation, pauses, short, simple sentences, lots of questions, repetition, focus on present; aka "motherese", purpose of CDS is to be to segment the flow of speech to make it more salient, more easily understood; an attention getter)