PSYC 358 1st Edition Lecture 23Outline of Last Lecture II. Perceptual elements of Language understandingIII. Meaning of wordsOutline of Current Lecture IV. Topics in Languagea. How is language acquired?i. Problems in acquisitionV. Higher order cognitionCurrent LectureCognition4.16.15Day 23 – Topics in Language… then higher-order cognitionAnnouncements-Exam #2 status-Final Exam-Bonus option comingQuestion of the Day-How do we learn language?-How it connects us to other processes-How does language relate to thought?-What is the most language-driven thought process?Language acquisition-Being a language user entails knowledge of at least tens of thousands of words-Meaning -Spelling-Sound-Pronunciation-Parts of speechIs language a predisposition, an instinct, or learned from experience?-ChomskyThese notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.-Use of a language depends on knowing rules for sentence structure universality of language, complexity, and effortless acquisition-Universality of language, complexity, effortless acquisition-Universality is things when things that all humans share something innate which is predetermined and predisposed. Also argued that he couldn’t figure out a way that something as complex as the grammar of language can be picked up by a child with the speed that which children achieve this every time we saty that we think the infant is in some way limited or incapable as the research gets better we see the capabilities are far better than we thought-‘Poverty of the stimulus’ argument-‘Grammar is posthoc’ counter-argument (Christiansen &Chater)-Rues vs. ‘rules like’-Pinker-Instead of talking about language being innate. It is more of a species level learning process than an instinct. More of an evolutionary explanation. Like Chomsky where the individual is predisposed, but also includes that it is a learning process-Evolutionary learning-Sensitive period for language learning-Native-level ability-Only a few years that you are able to learn language and become a native level speaker. If you try to learn language after that sensitive period, you can learn it , but you will never achieve a native level-ASL-Fully formed language-Feral children-Can learn things like math and history but there seems to be a Problem learning language-Second language acquisition-Different than acquiring a first language. People tend to build upon their first language and connect the second a language to the first language.-Once someone becomes a native speaker in one language, it is hard to become a native speaker of another language.-There has to be someone in the household that speaks the language -If you are exposed to two languages as a kid at the same time, kids will be slower in uptake than other kids in both languages, but they will eventually catch up-Bilingualism-There are cognitive differences between people who speak more than languageLanguage acquisition-Can infants pick up on structure in the speech stream?-Can they pick up grammar?-Initial ability to differentiate all sounds (first year only)-If your language does not require you to differentiate between buh and duh, you will lose the ability to differentiate the two sounds.-When Chinese speakers, try to learn English, they can’t differentiate between ruh and luh because the sounds don’t have meaning in chinese, so they have a hard time.-Can a four day old tell the difference between French and Russian (Mehler)-How to test this?-Used the habituation/dishabituation procedure. Would play French until they got used to it. When the language switched to Russian, they would become interested-What is found?-What does it mean?-They are sensitive to the regularities that make them different-Infant sensitivity to transition probability (Saffran)-Children become sensitive to patternsWord Learning-Age Ability level Vocabulary8-10 months Single words <100-20-36 months Combinations of words HundredsSentences Thousands-Better at comprehension-Concrete nouns acquired first-First ways we use language to assign meaning, is by referring to specific objects with one word utterances. Adjectives, verbs, abstractions come second-Possible precursor for word learning-Pretend play as symbol use-When you are able to do pretend play, you able to understand abstract concepts. We make associations that make it so we are able to pretend a stick is a swordHow are words learned?-Basic association gets us stared-But what stands for what?-“Hello” -? Telephone-“Look at the big big doggie isn’t it a nice doggie yah come here”-Phrases often said when using a telephone or seeing a dog-3 constraints on word learning- Novel word-If you hear a word you never heard before, you probably assume that is the right word for the thing you are looking at/for-Mutual exclusivity-Once you know what a word stands for, don’t consider that a substitute for another word-Whole object-If you see a word, then you make a connection with it and the whole object being talked about-And what else does it stand for?-Overgeneralization-When a kid thinks they know what dogs are or how to put something in past tense. They don’t know how far language extends. They will call all furry animals dogs-What causes the “naming explosion”-When most kids start leaning an incredible amount of vocabulary on a daily basis. The speed is startling. There is an exponential curve where kids are learning more and more words every dayLanguage and thought-Is thinking like sub vocal talking?-Is there a “language of thought”?-Are mental representations verbal?-Does language affect thought?-How do you say ‘snow’ if you’re an Eskimo-Eskimos have different words to describe snow.-Whorfian view (Sapir-Whorf hypothesis-Linguistic determinism: language shapes what we are able to think (strong)-This is the idea that-Linguistic relativity: Language influences how we think (weak version)-Language simply influences how we think. This is where most Whorfians lie-Naming differs across cultures: colors, spatial relations, etc.-How blue is blue? (figs. 11.17-11.20)-Hemispheric differences (figs 11.20-21)-Schooler’s verbal overshadowing effect with non-focal colors (qlmri)-Manipulation: Say label for stimulus or just study-Measure: Old/new recognitionVygotskyian view-how we learn-Zone of proximal development-Sociomotivational context-Role of