Sunday, May 17, 2015

Language

Language - Our spoken, written, or gestured words and the way we combine them to communicate meaning.

-emes

  • Phonemes - Spoken language - smallest distinctive sound unit [chug - ch, u, g]
  • Morphemes - Smallest unit that carries meaning; a word or part of a word

Grammar - System of rules in a language that allows us to communicate and understand others.

  • Semantics - Set of rules by which we derive meaning in a language. EX: -ed = past tense
  • Syntax - Rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences

Language Development

  1. Babbling Stage - 3-4 mo.; infant makes sounds, not limited to phonemes
  2. One word stage - 1-2 yrs.; one word to communicate meanings
  3. Two word stage- 2 yrs.; two words to comm.- telegraphic speech
Social Learning Theory - Skinner; Pick up through socialization
Chomsky - Acquire language too quickly to learn it; "Learning box" in head allows us to learn any human language [Inborn Universal Grammar]
Whorf's Linguistic Relativity - Language determines the way we think

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