Language

1.1 Language development

Language: Language is the communication of information through symbols

arranged according to systematic rules (Feldman).
Language is a system of symbols plus rules for combining them used to
communicate information. (Baron,2003)

Grammar: Grammar is the system of rules that determine how our thoughts
can be expressed. (Feldman)
Grammar is the set of rules that explain how words are used in a language.
(Merriam-Webster)
Grammar is the systematic study and description of a language. ( Richard
Nordquist)

The basic structure of rules rests on grammar, the system of rules that
determine how our thoughts can be expressed. Grammar deals with three major
components of language:
i) Phonology
ii) Syntax and
iii) Semantics

i) Phonology: Phonology is the study of phonemes, the smallest basic units

of speech that affect meaning, and the way we use those sounds to form words
and produce meaning. For instance, the a sound in fat and the a sound in fate
represent two different phonemes in English.
Linguists have identified more than 800 different phonemes among all the
world’s languages. Although English speakers use just 52 phonemes to produce
words, other languages use as few as 15 to as many as 141. Differences in
phonemes are one reason people have difficulty learning other languages.
For example, to a Japanese speaker, whose native language does not have an r
phoneme, pronouncing such English words as roar presents some difficulty

ii) Syntax: Syntax refers to the rules that indicate how words and phrases can
be combined to form sentences. Every language has intricate rules that guide
the order in which words may be strung together to communicate meaning.
English speakers have no difficulty recognizing that “TV down the turn” is not a
meaningful sequence, whereas “Turn down the TV” is. To understand the effect
of syntax in English, consider the changes in meaning caused by the different
word orders in the following three utterances: “John kidnapped the boy,” “John,
the kidnapped boy,” and “The boy kidnapped John”

iii) Semantics: Semantics is the third major component of language.

Semantics refers to the meaning of words and sentences. Every word has
particular semantic features.
For instance, we can make the distinction between “ the truck hit Laura (which
we would likely say if we had just seen the vehicle hitting Laura) and “Laura was
hit by a truck” (which we would probably say if someone asked why Laura was
in the hospital).

Again, boy and man share certain semantic features (both refer to males), but
they also differ semantically (in terms of age).

In summary, the three major components of a spoken language are phonology,

syntax, and semantics. They operate together to form the grammar of a
language.

1.5 Influence of Language: Do Eskimos Have More Words for Snow Than
Texans Do?

It makes sense, and arguments that the Eskimo language has many more words
than English does for snow have been made since the early 1900s. At that time,
linguist Benjamin Lee Whorf contended that because snow is so relevant to
Eskimos’ lives, their language provides a particularly rich vocabulary to
describe it—considerably larger than what we find in other languages, such as
English.

According to the linguistic relativity hypothesis, language shapes and

produces thought (Whorf, 1956). Language shapes and helps determine the
way people perceive and understand the world. That is, language provides us
with categories we use to construct our view of others and events in the world
around us.

If another possibility is considered instead of language being the cause of

certain ways of thinking, thought produces language. Most recent research
refutes the linguistic-relativity hypothesis and suggests, instead, that thinking
produces language. New analyses of the Eskimo language suggest that
Eskimos have no more words for snow than English speakers do. If one
examines the English language closely, one sees that it is hardly impoverished
when it comes to describing snow (consider, for example, sleet, slush, blizzard,
and dusting).

Still, the linguistic relativity hypothesis has not been entirely discarded. In
short, although research does not support the linguistic-relativity hypothesis
that language causes thought, it is clear that language influences how we think.
And, of course, it certainly is the case that thought influences language,
suggesting that language and thinking interact in complex ways (Ross et al,
2004)
1.4 Understanding Language Acquisition: Identifying the roots of language

There are enormous strides that are made in language development throughout
childhood. Psychologists have offered two major explanations for it:
One is based on learning theory and the other on innate processes.

a) Learning Theory: The learning-theory approach suggests that language

acquisition follows two principles. They are-
i) Reinforcement: A child who utters “ mama” is hugged and praised by her
mother, which reinforces the behavior and makes its repetition more likely.
ii) Conditioning: Ultimately, through a process of shaping, language becomes
more and more like adult speech. (Skinner, 1957)
The learning theory approach is supported by research that shows that the
more parents speak to their young children, the more proficient the children
become in language usage.

b) Innate Process: Noam Chomsky, a linguist, provided a groundbreaking

alternative. He suggested that humans are born with an innate linguistic
capability that emerges primarily as a function of maturation.
i) Universal grammar: According to his analysis, all the world’s languages
share a similar underlying structure called universal grammar, which lets us
understand the structure language provides. These inborn capabilities give us
strategies and techniques for learning the unique characteristics of our native
language.
ii) Language acquisition device: Chomsky suggests that the human brain
contains an inherited neural system called the language acquisition device.
Evidence collected by neuroscientists supports Chomsky’s view. This research
suggests that the ability to use language, which was a significant evolutionary
advance in human beings is tied to specific neurological developments.
Furthermore, there are specific sites within the brain that are closely tied to
language, and the shape of the human mouth and throat are tailored to the
production of speech.
A child’s language will not develop if the language acquisition device cannot
function properly which might lead the child to seek speech therapy.

1.3 Development of language/ Spoken language development

Language develops rapidly. Children acquire much of their native language in

the first 5 or 6 years of life. They progress from babbling to their first real
words before the age of 1. By the time they are 2, most children have begun to
combine words into primitive sentences. Shortly thereafter language begins to
develop by leaps and bounds. Vocabulary size increases dramatically,
sentences become noticeably longer, and children begin to produce and
comprehend complex sentences.
In 1926, Smith experimented and saw how language develops rapidly.
1 year 3 words
2 years 272 words
3 years 896 words
4 years 1540 words
5 years 2072 words
6 years 2562 words
Children go through 4 steps for language development. They are-
a) Babbling
b) Single words
c) Word combination
d) Sentences and complex constructions

. Babbling: Infants produce many sounds before they say their first
words. They cry, they laugh, and they yell in anger. But until 5 or 6
months of age, they do not produce sounds that resemble a human
language. The first sounds that do resemble language which occur
during what is called the babbling stage, seem to be a mixture of the
phonemes adults use. During this stage, infants will produce such
sounds quite frequently, sometimes with no one else around.
Psychologists call these sounds spontaneous babbling.
Gradually babbling sounds become progressive similar to the parents’
native language. This means that Chinese infants begin to make
sounds that resemble Chinese words, while French infants begin to
produce sounds that resemble French words. In most cases, this
shaping process takes place through infant’s interactions with their
parents.

. Single Word: Somewhere around their first birthday, children begin to

talk. Words come slowly at first. A child might say “ball'’ at one
moment and then not use the word again for several weeks. A very
large percentage of the child’s first words refer to objects that have a
dynamic quality. Parents try to make them repeat words like mom or
dad, which might become their first word pronounced.

. Word combination: Between the ages of 1 and 2, children begin to

combine words. The child refers to a visible event, thereby illustrating
an essential feature of children’s early word combinations. As Daddy
leaves the room, the response is “Daddy go” and not “Go Daddy.”
Children are using word order to express the way they observe the
events in their environment unfolding. Word order is part of the syntax
of a language. By using word order appropriately, children are taking
their first steps toward mastering the extremely complex rules of
 syntax.

. Sentences & Complex Construction: Many of a child’s early word

combinations are not sentences. But at some time between the ages
of 2 and 3, children begin producing sentences with subjects and
predicates. They will say such things as “Daddy go out,” “Where truck
go?” or “Mommy pick me up.” where sentences are still incomplete but
make complete sense. Sometimes a 3-year-old may produce
sentences that are far longer and more complex.
● Telegraphic Speech: Around the age of 2, children begin to produce

short, two-word sentences. However, the sentences children first

produce are characterized as telegraphic speech. Telegraphic
speech consists of sentences in which only essential words are used,
usually nouns and verbs only. Rather than saying, “I showed you the
book,” a child using telegraphic speech may say, “I show book,” and “I
am drawing a dog” may become “Drawing dog.”
● Overgeneralization: By age 3, children learn to make plurals by

adding -s to nouns and to form the past tense by adding -ed to verbs.
This skill also leads to errors, since children tend to apply rules
inflexibly. This leads to overgeneralisation of the rules. Children
employ rules even when doing so results in errors. it is correct to say
“he walked” for the past tense of walk, the -ed rule doesn’t work quite
so well when children say “he runned” for the past tense of run.
● Embedded Sentence: An embedded sentence is a sentence

constructed by the insertion of one simple sentence within another.

Embedded sentences are essential because they allow the child to
convey a good deal of information in a precise and efficient manner.
The child was watching her mother bake a cake when she said, “I see
what you made.” What is significant about this sentence is that the
child has combined two different sentences into one. At an earlier age,
the child would have said, “I see cake,” and a little later, “You make
cake.” But rather than produce two different statements, the child has
combined them.
● Tag Question: When the child takes a simple sentence such as

“Daddy is here” and adds a phrase to the end that converts the
sentence to a question. “Daddy is here, isn’t he?” this is called a tag
question because the minor addition or tag at the end of the
declarative statement(“Daddy is here”) converts it to a question.