Language and the Brain
The left hemisphere of the brain contains two areas that are central to language: Broca's area and Wernicke's area.
Broca's area: the part of the brain that is involved in he physical production of speech
Wernicke's area: the part of the brain that has to do with understanding the meaning in speech
Infants understand words before they can say them. Comprehension of language precedes production of language. Infants have the ability to understand words or sentences through receptive language.
Child directed speech: speech that is tailored to fit the sensory and cognitive capabilities of infants and children so that it holds their attention; includes speaking in a higher pitch with exaggerated intonation and a singsong rhythm and using a simplified vocabulary
At one year, babies typically have only a few words, but by 2 years of age they generally have somewhere between 200 and 500 words. There are vocabulary bursts or the rapid growth of a child's vocabulary that often occurs in the second year. Researchers make assumptions called constraints which are assumptions that language learners make that limit the alternative meanings that they attribute to new words. One type of constraint is the whole object bias which is an assumption made by language learners that a word describes an entire object rather than just some portion of it.
Telegraphic speech: a stage in language development in which children use only words necessary to get their point across and omit small words that are not necessary
Egocentric speech: a limitation of young children's communication due to their inability to take the perspective of other people into account
Emergent literacy: the set of skills that develop before children begin formal reading instruction, which provide the foundation for later academic skills
The left hemisphere of the brain contains two areas that are central to language: Broca's area and Wernicke's area.
Broca's area: the part of the brain that is involved in he physical production of speech
Wernicke's area: the part of the brain that has to do with understanding the meaning in speech
Infants understand words before they can say them. Comprehension of language precedes production of language. Infants have the ability to understand words or sentences through receptive language.
- Crying: babies cry as soon as they are born; the process of communication begins when babies begin to learn that crying can act as a signal that brings relief from hunger, discomfort, and loneliness
- Cooing: between 2 and 4 months after birth, babies begin to make pleasant sounds such as soft vowel sounds
- Babbling: babies typically make one-syllable sounds such as ba and da when they are 4 to 6 months old and begin to combine those sounds repetitively when they are 6 to 8 months old
Child directed speech: speech that is tailored to fit the sensory and cognitive capabilities of infants and children so that it holds their attention; includes speaking in a higher pitch with exaggerated intonation and a singsong rhythm and using a simplified vocabulary
At one year, babies typically have only a few words, but by 2 years of age they generally have somewhere between 200 and 500 words. There are vocabulary bursts or the rapid growth of a child's vocabulary that often occurs in the second year. Researchers make assumptions called constraints which are assumptions that language learners make that limit the alternative meanings that they attribute to new words. One type of constraint is the whole object bias which is an assumption made by language learners that a word describes an entire object rather than just some portion of it.
Telegraphic speech: a stage in language development in which children use only words necessary to get their point across and omit small words that are not necessary
Egocentric speech: a limitation of young children's communication due to their inability to take the perspective of other people into account
Emergent literacy: the set of skills that develop before children begin formal reading instruction, which provide the foundation for later academic skills
Language Disorders
- A child with expressive language disorder has a more limited vocabulary and has difficulty using tense correctly, recalling words, or producing sentences of the length and complexity that would be expected of a child of that age.
- A child with phonological disorder has difficulty producing sounds or using sounds correctly for his age.
- Receptive-expressive language disorder causes the child's receptive and the child's expressive language development to be substantially below his performance on a standardized measure of nonverbal intelligence.
- Asperberger's disorder is a disorder at the mild end of autism spectrum, marked by a relatively high level of functioning but repetitive routines, inappropriate social and emotional behavior, and uncoordinated motor movements.
- Echolalia: a condition seen in autistic children which they repeat what has been said to them instead of responding appropriately
Dyslexia: a learning disability in which individuals have difficulty distinguishing or separating the sounds in spoken words, creating problems with spelling and reading
Dysgraphia: a learning disability characterized by difficulties with writing, including trouble with spelling, handwriting, or expressing thoughts on paper
Language is essential to the human experience. We communicate our ideas, feelings, and needs with language, and we use language to understand the world. Infants and toddlers around the world seem to go through the same stages in learning language, and by age 3 or 4, most are able to speak fairly clearly to those around them.