Chapter 9 Thinking and Language p 349 365 Language Language to communicate meaning Language Structure o Phonemes spoken written or signed words and the ways we combine them smallest distinctive sound unit Tough Thought Dough Cent Sell smallest unit that carries meaning word or part of word o Morphemes e g prefix or suffix o Grammar Syntax Semantics Language Development system of rules that facilitate communication rules governing order of words in sentences deriving meaning from sounds o Much development is unintentional Average of 60 000 words in vocabulary by age 18 slightly less for bilinguals Use rules of syntax o When do we learn language Receptive Language ability to understand 4 months distinguish speech sounds o Pair sounds with face that make the sounds 7 months sound segmentation Productive Language Babbling stage ability to produce words 4 months spontaneously utter various sounds initially unrelated to household language o Often consonant vowel pairs e g ma ga goo o By 10 months imitates sounds of household language One word stage words Two word stage statements age 1 to 2 speak mostly in single begins at about age 2 speak in 2 word o Telegraphic speech use mostly nouns and verbs e g want juice follows syntax Explaining Language Development o Critical Periods period in early life when exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces normal development True of both spoken and signed languages The Brain and Language Broca s aphasia impairment in language usually caused by left hemisphere o Aphasia damage difficulty with language production frontal sometimes referred to as non fluid aphasia choppy speaker has difficulty producing words to communicate with yet still producing words that are relevant to the situation you have a problem producing comprehendible language language that makes sense to others temporal sometimes referred to as fluid aphasia seemingly knows what he s talking about but what he s saying is incomprehensible to others difficulty with language comprehension Wernicke s aphasia Do Other Species Have Language o Language vs Communication Bee waggle Vervet monkey calls Washoe even coin new words Limitations was taught ASL Could produce up to 200 signs Could o Ape ASL is childlike o Ape vocabulary is limited o Are these apes just performing for rewards o Confirmation bias by experimenter maybe experimenters are just finding what they expected to find o Lack syntax Strengths o Washoe taught ape child to sign o Kanzi learned syntax Dog bites snake vs snake bites dog Thinking and Language Language Influences Thinking o Linguistic Determinism a k a The Whorf Hypothesis language determines the way we think belief that o BUT can think of things for which we don t have words o Frame of mind shifts when bilinguals shift language o Memory for colors how memory and category labels effect how it is that we think about things o Bilingual Advantage control attention ability of bilinguals to exert executive control