Source of Information: Lifespan Development: A Topical Approach by Feldman given by our professor :D

1. LANGUAGE
DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 7

2. I. THE COURSE OF
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

3. A. FUNDAMENTALS OF LANGUAGE:
FROM SOUNDS TO SYMBOLS
1. LANGUAGE is the systematic, meaningful arrangement of
symbols, and provides the basis for communication.
• Phonology - refers to the basic sounds of language, called
phonemes, that can be combined to produce words and
sentences
• Morphemes - the smallest language unit that has meaning
• Semantics - the rules that govern the meaning of words and
sentences
• Linguistic Comprehension - the understanding of speech
• Linguistic Production - the use of language to communicate

4. 2. PRELINGUISTIC COMMUNICATION through sounds,
facial expressions, gestures, imitations, and other
nonlinguistic means.
• Babbling – infants make
speech-like but meaningless
sounds at about 2 to 3
months of age, and
continuing to about 1 year

5. • Infants who cannot hear and
are exposed to sign
language babble with their
hands instead of their voices

6. 3.First words are generally spoken between 10 and 14
months of age.
• Increase at rapid rate
10 to 14 months = first word
15 months = 10 words
18 months = one-word stage ends
16 to 24 months = language explosion equally 50 to 400
words
• First words are typically HOLOPHRASES, one-word
utterances that depend on the particular context in which they
are used to determine meaning.

7. 4. First Sentences are formed when, around 18
months, infants link words together.
• Occur 8 to 12 months after they say their first word.
• Allows children to label and indicate relations between
things in the world
5. Linguistic inaccuracies: TELEGRAPHIC SPEECH occurs
when words not critical to the message are left out.
• Underextension, using words too restrictively, is
common
• Overextension, using words too broadly, is also

8. 1. Between the ages of 2 and 3, sentence length increases
2. SYNTAX, the ways words and phrases are combined to form
sentences, doubles each month
3. Enormous leaps in the number of words children use
- by age 6, a typical child’s vocabulary is around 14,000
words, and is acquired at a rate of nearly 1 new word every
2 hours, 24 hours per day
B. Language Advances During the
Preschool Years

9. • FAST MAPPING, instances in which new words are
associated with their meaning after only a brief encounter.
• By age 3, children use plurals and possessive forms of
nouns, employ the past tense, use articles and can ask
and answer complex questions.
• Preschoolers begin to acquire the principles of GRAMMAR
• They also grow in PRAGMATIC ability, the aspect of
language with others

10. 4. Private Speech and Social Speech
• Preschoolers engage mostly in PRIVATE SPEECH, speech by
children that is spoken and directed to themselves
• SOCIAL SPEECH, speech directed toward another person and
meant to be understood by that person, increases.

11. C. Language Development During Middle Childhood:
Mastering Language
1.Vocabulary continues to increase during the school years
2. One of the most significant developments in middle childhood is
the increase in METALINGUISTIC AWARENESS, an
understanding of one’s own use of language

12. II. THE ORIGINS OF
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

13. 1. LEARNING THEORY
APPROACH posits that
language acquisition follows
the basic laws of
reinforcement and
conditioning
• Through the process of
SHAPING, children’s
language becomes more and
more similar to adult speech
A.Language Acquisition

14. 2. An alternative theory is the NATIVIST APPROACH, which
proposes that a genetically determined, innate mechanism
directs language development
• Proposed by Noam Chomsky
• He argues that all the world’s languages share a similar
underlying structure called UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR
• The brain is wired with a LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
DEVICE (LAD), a neural system of the brain hypothesized to
permit the understanding of language

15. 3. The INTERACTIONIST PERSPECTIVE suggests that
language development is produced through a
combination of genetically determined predispositions
and environmental events.

16. B. How are Language and
Thought Related?
1.Language shapes thought.
• Benjamin Lee Whorf argued in the early 1900s that cultural
experience and language lead children to have different
vocabularies
• Whorf’s notion, known as the LINGUISTIC RELATIVITY
HYPOTHESIS, posits that language shapes and may
determine the way people of a given culture perceive and
understand the world

17. 2. Thought shapes language
3. Thought and language influence one another
4. Research supports all 3 views
5. Most develop mentalists suggest that though independent at
first, by the time children are 2 years old, language and thinking
work in tandem

18. III. CHILDREN’S
CONVERSATIONS: SPEAKING
TO AND WITH CHILDREN

19. A. The Language of
Infant-Directed Speech
1. INFANT-DIRECTED SPEECH: a type of speech directed
towards infants, characterized by short, simple sentences
• This type was previously called MOTHERESE
- Pitch of voice becomes higher
- Intonation may be varied
- Repetition of words
- Topics restricted to concrete items comprehensible to infants
- Amusing sounds (not just words)
- Similar to telegraphic speech, with little formal structure
- Typically only used during first year

20. B. DEVELOPMENTAL DIVERSITY:
IS INFANT-DIRECTED SPEECH SIMILAR IN
ALL CULTURES?
1. Cross-cultural similarities in infant-directed speech are so great, in
fact, that they appear in some facets of language specific to
particular types of interactions.
2. Some stylistic differences related to cultural factors seem to exist
when gender is considered as a factor.

21. C. THE LINKS BETWEEN LANGUAGE
DEVELOPMENT AND POVERTY
1. The language children hear at home influences their language
development.
2. Hart and Risley (1995) researched the effects of poverty on
language.
- Economic level was a significant factor in the amount of
parental interactions, times spent in interactions, types of
language children were exposed to, and kinds of language
used.
- Type of language exposure is linked to IQ test performance
of children, as young as 3

22. D. ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS:
BILINGUAL EDUCATION VS. IMMERSION
1. English language learners (ELLs), students who enter school
with little or no English proficiency, may have slow academic
progress and be isolated from their peers
2. Educators are challenged by children speaking little or no
English
3. Bilingual Education
4. An alternative approach is to immerse students in English-only
education

23. 5. Being bilingual may have cognitive advantages.
- greater cognitive flexibility
- higher self-esteem
-greater metalinguistic awareness
- higher scores on IQ tests, according to some research
6. Instruction in a native language may enhance instruction in
second language.

24. END. THANK YOU 