Topical Approach To Lifespan Development 7Th Edition Santrock Solutions Manual Full Chapter PDF

Topical Approach to Lifespan
Development 7th Edition Santrock

Solutions Manual
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CHAPTER 9: LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Chapter Outline
Please note that much of this information is quoted from the text.
I. WHAT IS LANGUAGE?
A. Defining Language
• Language is a form of communication, whether spoken, written, or signed, that is based on a
system of symbols.
• Infinite generativity is the ability to produce an endless number of meaningful sentences
using a finite set of words and rules and is a basic characteristic of human language.
B. Language’s Rule Systems
1. Phonology: The sound system of language. A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a
language.
2. Morphology: Word formation based on meaning. A morpheme is the smallest unit of sound
which carries meaning in a language.
3. Syntax: The way words are combined for acceptable phrases and sentences.
4. Semantics: The meaning of words and sentences.
5. Pragmatics: The use of appropriate conversation and knowledge underlying the use of
language in context.
II. HOW LANGUAGE DEVELOPS

A. Infancy
1. Babbling and Other Vocalizations
• Early vocalizations are to practice making sounds, to communicate, and to attract
attention.
• A universal pattern is observed: newborn cries, cooing at 2 months, babbling by 6 months
(deaf babies babble with their hands and fingers), and gestures by 8–12 months.
2. Gestures
• Pointing is considered by language experts as an important index of the social aspects
of language.
• The absence of pointing is a significant indicator of problems in the infant’s
communication system.
3. Recognizing Language Sounds
• Infants can recognize all phonemes of all languages up to about 6 months of age. After
this time, infants become more adept at recognizing the sounds of their native language
and lose the ability to recognize sounds of other languages that are not important in their
native language.
• Infants must identify individual words from the nonstop stream of sound that makes up
ordinary speech. Finding the boundaries between words is a difficult task.
4. First Words
• Between about 8 to 12 months of age, infants often indicate their first understanding of
words.
• The infant’s first spoken word usually occurs between 10 to 15 months of age.
• Long before babies say their first words, they have been communicating with their
parents, often by gesturing and using their own special sounds.
• First words include names of important people, familiar animals, vehicles, toys, body
parts, clothes, familiar items, and greetings.
• Single words are often used to express various intentions.
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•
The first words of infants can vary across languages.
•
Receptive vocabulary refers to the words an individual understands. Receptive
vocabulary precedes and exceeds spoken vocabulary (words that the child uses).
• The rapid increase in vocabulary that begins at approximately 18 months is called the
vocabulary spurt.
• Cross-linguistic differences in word learning are apparent, with infants learning an Asian
language acquiring more verbs earlier in their development than do children learning
English.
• Some children use a referential style, others an expressive style, in learning words.
• Overextension is the tendency to apply a word to objects that are not appropriate for the
word’s meaning.
• Underextension is the tendency to apply a word too narrowly for the meanings of words.
5. Two-Word Utterances
• By 18 to 24 months of age, two-word utterances begin to occur, which rely heavily on
gesture, tone, and context in order to provide meaning:
— Identification: “See doggie.”
— Location: “Book there.”
— Repetition: “More milk.”
— Nonexistence: “All gone thing.”
— Possession: “My candy.”
— Attribution: “Big car.”
— Agent-action: “Mama walk.”
— Question: “Where ball?”
• Telegraphic speech is the use of short and precise words to communicate and is
characteristic of young children’s two- or three-word utterances.
B. Early Childhood
• Language develops rapidly in early childhood.
• Between 2 and 3 years of age, children begin the transition from saying simple sentences
that express a single proposition to saying complex sentences.
• As young children learn the special features of their own language, there are extensive
regularities in how they acquire that specific language.
• Some children develop language problems, including speech and hearing problems.
1. Understanding Phonology and Morphology
• During early childhood, most children gradually become more sensitive to the sounds of
spoken words and become increasingly capable of producing all the sounds of their
language.
• By the time children move beyond two-word utterances, they demonstrate a knowledge
of morphology rules.
• Use of plural and possessive demonstrates knowledge of morphological rules.
• Jean Berko’s research using sentence completion of a missing word relating to a story of
creatures called “Wugs” also provides evidence of morphological rule use.
2. Changes in Syntax and Semantics
• Preschool children learn and apply rules of syntax.
• Gains in semantics also characterize early childhood.
• Vocabulary development is dramatic.
• Some experts have estimated that between 18 months and 6 years of age, young children
learn about one new word every waking hour.
• The speaking vocabulary of a child entering first grade is approximately 14,000 words.
• One way children may increase their vocabulary so quickly is through fast mapping.
•
Research in Life-Span Development: Family Environment and Young Children’s
Language Development
• Socioeconomic status has been linked with how much parents talk to their children
and with young children’s vocabulary.
• Other research has linked how much mothers speak to their infants and the infants’
vocabularies.
• Maternal language and literacy skills are positively related to children’s vocabulary
development.
• Mothers who frequently use pointing gestures have children with greater vocabulary.
3. Advances in Pragmatics
• Pragmatics or rules of conversation also show great improvement. Indeed, by 4 or 5 years
of age, children can suit their speech style to specific situations (e.g., they speak
differently to younger and older children).
C. Middle and Late Childhood—
• Children gain new skills as they enter school that include increasingly using language to
talk about things that are not physically present, learning what a word is, and learning
how to recognize and talk about sounds.
• It is important for children to learn the alphabetic principle (that the letters of the
alphabet represents sounds of the language) is important for learning to read and right.
1. Vocabulary, Grammar, and Metalinguistic Awareness
• The process of categorizing becomes easier as children increase their vocabulary.
• Vocabulary increases to about 40,000 words by 11 years of age.
• Children make similar advances in grammar.
• Elementary school children, due to advances in logical reasoning and analytical
skills, can now understand comparatives (e.g., shorter, deeper) and subjunctives (e.g.,
“If I were president,…”).
• The ability to understand complex grammar increases across the elementary school years.
• Children learn to use language in a more connected way (producing descriptions,
definitions, and narratives), which allows for connected discourse.
• Children must be able to do these things orally before they can deal with written
language.
• Metalinguistic awareness is a term that refers to knowledge of language, cognition
about language.
• Metalinguistic awareness improves over the elementary-school years; children define
words and learn how to use language appropriately.
• Children also make progress in understanding how to use language in culturally
appropriate ways – pragmatics.
2. Reading
• Before learning to read, children learn to use language to talk about things that are not
present; they learn what a word is; and they learn how to recognize sounds and talk about
them.
• The larger a child’s vocabulary, the easier it is for him/her to learn to read.
• Vocabulary development plays an important role in reading comprehension.
• The whole language approach stresses that reading instruction should parallel children’s
natural language learning. Reading materials should be whole and meaningful.
• The phonics approach emphasizes that reading instruction should focus on phonetics,
and its basic rules for translating written symbols into sounds. Early reading instructions
should involve simplified materials.
•
Researchers have found strong evidence that direct instruction in phonics is a key aspect
of learning to read.
3. Writing
• Early scribbling in early childhood is a precursor for writing.
• Most 4-year-olds can print their first name, and most 5-year-olds can copy several short
words, although some letter reversal may still be evident. As they begin to write, children
often invent spelling of words.
• Advances in language and cognitive development provide the underpinnings for
improved writing. Providing many opportunities for writing is helpful.
• There is growing concern over the writing ability of youth and young adults.
• As with reading, teachers play a critical role in students’ development of writing skills.
4. Bilingualism and Second Language Learning
• Sensitive periods for learning a second language likely vary across different language
systems.
• Children’s ability to pronounce words with a native-like accent in a second language
typically decreases with age, with an especially sharp drop occurring after the age of
about 10 to 12.
• Some aspects of children’s ability to learn a second language are transferred more easily
to the second language than others.
• Students in the United States fall behind students in other countries when it comes to
learning a second language.
• Bilingualism—the ability to speak two languages—is associated with cognitive
development.
• Subtractive bilingualism is the term used when a person learns a second language and
ceases to use their native language.
• Contexts of Life-Span Development: Bilingual Education
• Bilingual education aims to teach academic subjects to immigrant children in their
native languages while gradually adding English instruction.
• Proponents argue that if children who do not know English are taught only in
English, they will fall behind in academic subjects.
• Recent research shows that it takes immigrant children approximately three to five
years to develop speaking proficiency and seven years to develop reading proficiency
in English.
• Critics argue that many more years of bilingual education are needed than received
resulting in these children failing to become proficient in English, placing them at a
disadvantage.
• Drawing conclusions about the effectiveness of bilingual education programs is
difficult because of variations across programs in the number of years they are in
effect, type of instruction, qualities of schooling other than bilingual education,
teachers, children, and other factors.
D. Adolescence
• Adolescents are generally more sophisticated in their language abilities, including:
— Metaphor: An implied comparison between two ideas that is conveyed by the abstract
meaning contained in the words used to make the comparison.
— Satire: Refers to a literary work in which irony, derision, or wit are used to expose folly
or wickedness.
— Young adolescents often speak a dialect (language distinguished by its vocabulary,
grammar, or pronunciation) with their peers, characterized by jargon and slang.
— Nicknames that are satirical and derisive also characterize the dialect of young
adolescents.
E. Adulthood and Aging
• Language abilities are thought to be maintained throughout adulthood.
• A distinct personal linguistic style is part of one’s special identity.
• Vocabulary can continue to increase throughout most of the adult years.
• Decrements may appear in late adulthood.
• Because of a decline in memory skills, older adults may have difficulty in retrieving
words from long-term memory. This often involves the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon.
• Older adults report that in less than ideal listening conditions they can have difficulty in
understanding speech.
• Some aspects of phonological skills of older adults are different than those of younger
adults.
• In general, though, most language skills decline little among older adults if they are
healthy.
• Researchers have found conflicting information about changes in discourse with aging.
• Nonlanguage factors, such as processing speed, may be responsible for some of the decline in
language skills in late adulthood.
• Alzheimer disease can affect language skills.
III. BIOLOGICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES

A. Biological Influences
• Evidence of biological influence is that children all over the world reach language milestones
at about the same time developmentally and in the same order despite the vast variation in the
language input they receive. The fact that such a difficult feat is done so quickly also points
to biology.
• Evolution and the Brain’s Role in Language:
• In evolutionary time, language is a recent acquisition. The brain, nervous system, and
vocal apparatus of our predecessors changed over hundreds of thousands of years.
• There is evidence that the brain contains particular regions that are predisposed to be used
for language, mainly in the left hemisphere.
• Broca’s area is an area in the left frontal lobe of the brain involved in producing
words.
• Wernicke’s area is another area of the left hemisphere involved in language
comprehension. Individuals with damage to Wernicke’s area often babble words in a
meaningless way.
• Damage to either of these areas produces types of aphasia, which is a loss or
impairment of language processing.
• Chomsky’s Language Acquisition Device:
• The language acquisition device (LAD) is a theoretical construct developed by Noam
Chomsky, which proposes that a biological endowment enables children to detect certain
language categories, such as phonology, syntax, and semantics.
• Chomsky’s LAD is a theoretical construct, not a physical part of the brain.
B. Environmental Influences
• Behaviorists view language as a behavior that is learned like any other behavior with the use
of reinforcement for correct responses and productions. There is no real support for this
position.
• Children are typically immersed in language through their social environment.
• Michael Tomasello stresses that children are intensely interested in their social world and that
early in their development they can understand the intentions of other people.
• Tomasello’s interaction view of language emphasizes that children learn language in specific
contexts. Through joint attention and shared intentions, children are able to use their social
skills to acquire language early in life.
• Child-directed speech is often used by parents and other adults when they talk to young
children. It has a higher-than-normal pitch and involves using simple words and sentences
• Adults use other strategies that may enhance language acquisition:
• Recasting: rephrasing something the child has said in a different way, perhaps turning it
into a question.
• Expanding: restating in a linguistically sophisticated form what a child has said.
• Labeling: identifying the names of objects, which children are asked over and over—
“the great word game.”
• Applications in Life-Span Development: How Parents Can Facilitate Infants’ and Toddlers’
Language Development
• For Infants:
• Be an active conversational partner
• Talk as if the infant understands what you are saying
• Use a language style with which you feel comfortable
• For Toddlers:
• Continue to be an active conversational partner
• Remember to listen
• Use a language style with which you are comfortable, but consider ways of
expanding your child’s language abilities and horizons
• Adjust to your child’s idiosyncrasies instead of working against them.
• Avoid sexual stereotypes
• Resist making normative comparisons
C. An Interactionist View of Language
• An interactionist view of language emphasizes the contributions of both biology and
experience in language development.
• The interaction of biology and experience can be seen in the variations in the acquisition of
language.
• Jerome Bruner developed the concept of a language acquisition support system (LASS) to
describe how parents structure and support the child’s language development.
• While most children acquire their native language without explicit teaching, caregivers can
greatly facilitate a child’s language learning.
Learning Goals
1. Define language and describe its rule systems.

• What is language?
• What are language’s five main rule systems?
2. Describe how language develops through the life span.

• What are some key milestones of language development during infancy?
• How do language skills change during early childhood?
• How does language develop in middle and late childhood?
• How does language develop in adolescence?
• How do language skills change during adulthood?
3. Discuss the biological and environmental contributions to language skills.

• What are the biological foundations of language?
• What are the environmental aspects of language?
• How does an interactionist view describe language?
Key Terms
Language Fast mapping Wernicke’s area
Infinite generativity Metalinguistic awareness Aphasia
Phonology Whole-language approach Language acquisition device
(LAD)
Morphology Phonics approach Child-directed speech
Syntax Metaphor Recasting
Semantics Satire Expanding
Pragmatics Dialect Labeling
Telegraphic speech Broca’s area
Key People
Patricia Kuhl Todd Risley Roger Brown

Jean Berko Janellen Huttenlocher Michael Tomasello
Kathy Hirsh-Pasek Ellen Galinsky
Roberta Golinkoff Kenji Hakuta
Betty Hart Noam Chomsky
Lecture Suggestions
Lecture Suggestion 1: Environmental Influences on Literacy
This lecture examines research findings related to environmental influences on children’s literacy.
Santrock addresses the controversy between the phonics method and the whole-word method to teaching
reading. While these methods obviously factor into children’s learning to read, early experiences also
influence this ability. Considerable research has examined adults’ conversations with children and the
influence of parent-child interactions on literacy and language development (Crain-Thoreson & Dale,
1992; Huttenlocher, 1997; Snow, 1993).
• Reading development is influenced by early literacy activities such as “reading” picture books and
storytelling. Parents who ask their child to retell a story are facilitating the young child’s ability to
read. Snow found that children’s vocabulary is enhanced by exposure to adults who use relatively
uncommon words in everyday conversations with the child. Family contexts, especially adult-child
conversations, increase the likelihood of the child developing a larger vocabulary and ability to
recognize the words in print, thus providing a strong foundation for literacy.
• Crain-Thoreson and Dale found that parental instruction in letter naming, sounds, and frequency of
story reading was predictive of reading precocity at age 4 (knowledge of print conventions, invented
spelling, and awareness of phonology).
• Huttenlocher reports that mothers influence children’s vocabulary and grammatical structure as well.
Children of “chatty” mothers averaged 131 more words than children of less talkative mothers by 20
months (by 24 months the difference was 295 words). There are differences in complexity of sentence
structure relative to children’s environments as well. Children who are exposed to their mother’s use
of complex sentences (dependent clauses, such as “When…” or “because…”) are much more likely to
use complex sentences. These early experiences impact a child’s ability to read.
Sources:
Crain-Thoreson & Dale, P. S. (1992). Do early talkers become early readers? Linguistic precocity,
preschool language, and emergent literacy. Developmental Psychology, 28, 421–429.
Huttenlocher, J. (1997). In S. Begley, How to build a baby’s brain. Newsweek, spring/summer, 28–32.
Snow, C. E. (1993). Families as social contexts for literacy development. New Directions in Child
Development (61, 11–25). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Lecture Suggestion 2: Infant Speech Perception—

Use It or Lose It?
Create a lecture on the speech perception abilities in young infants and the contribution of biology and
experience to this ability. Discuss research evidence of categorical perception (the ability to discriminate
when two sounds represent two different phonemes, and when they lie within the same phonemic
category). Young infants have the ability to discriminate speech contrasts that are found in languages they
have not heard (Best, McRoberts, & Sithole, 1988), which suggests that categorical perception is an
innate ability and universal among infants.
The biological component of speech perception is complemented by the experiential component.

Experience plays an important role in the development of speech perception and language. The lack of
exposure to various sounds thwarts speech perception abilities. The Japanese language does not have a
phonemic distinction between r and l sounds. Your students may well have noticed that native Japanese
speakers have trouble pronouncing and discriminating between r and l sounds. Interestingly, Japanese
infants have no trouble discriminating between these sounds (Eimas, 1975). Research suggests that
infants gradually lose their ability to discriminate sound contrasts that they are not exposed to (Werker &
Lalonde, 1988). Consider showing the Development video from The Mind series because it demonstrates
Werker’s research.
Sources:
Best, C. T., McRoberts, G. W., & Sithole, N. M. (1988). Examination of perceptual reorganization for
nonnative speech contrast: Zula click discrimination by English-speaking adults and infants. Journal
of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 14, 345–360.
Eimas, P. D. (1975). Auditory and phonetic coding of the cues for speech: Discrimination of the r-l
distinction by young infants. Perception and Psychophysics, 18, 341–347.
Werker, J. F., & Lalonde, C. E. (1988). Cross-language speech perception: Initial capabilities and
developmental change. Developmental Psychology, 24, 672–683.
Lecture Suggestion 3: Auditory Skills and Language Development
This lecture extension highlights how the sensation of hearing affects the development of language in
children. It should come as no surprise that language development is intimately linked to auditory
perception. Let’s face it, how can one develop language, or vocabulary for that matter, when one is
unable to hear speech? This becomes an issue for young children who experience multiple ear infections
in early childhood. Language development is delayed if the auditory system is blocked and hearing is
muted or nonexistent. Recent research suggests that it is not only the sensation of hearing that is
important for language development, but also one’s ability to process that auditory information.
Specifically, the ability to process multiple stimuli in a rapid and successive fashion is believed to be a
cornerstone for language acquisition (Benasich, Thomas, Choudhury, & Leppaenen, 2002). Further,
individuals with developmental language disorders demonstrate deficits in rapid processing of both verbal
and nonverbal information.
Source:
Benasich, A. A., Thomas, J. J., Choudhury, N., & Leppaenen, P. H. T. (2002). The importance of rapid
auditory processing abilities to early language development: Evidence from converging
methodologies. Developmental Psychobiology, 40(3), 278–292.
Lecture Suggestion 4: Birth Order and Language Development
There is some evidence that suggests that language development in firstborn children is more advanced
than that of laterborn children. One study found that firstborn children had more advanced lexical and
grammatical development, whereas laterborn children had more advanced conversational skills (Hoff-
Ginsberg, 1998).
We know from Santrock’s text that the verbal communication that parents have with their children affects
the children’s language development. Thus, it is not surprising that birth order may affect language
development given that parents most likely communicate with firstborn and laterborn children in different
ways. Indeed, research suggests that mothers use different categories of language (e.g., social-regulative
versus metalingual language) when interacting with one child than when interacting with two children
(Oshima-Takane & Robbins, 2003). Further, this research also found that older siblings also use different
categories of speech when interacting with both their mother and younger sibling and when interacting
with their younger sibling alone.
Although there is some evidence that the language development of firstborn children is more advanced
than that of laterborn children, not all of the research supports this claim. A relatively recent study found
that the language competence of firstborn children was more advanced than that of laterborn children only
in maternal report, not in measures of children’s actual speech or in experimenter assessments (Bornstein,
Leach, & Haynes, 2004). Thus, the relationship between birth order and language development is quite
complex. However, it certainly is mediated by parental communication and how that differs for children
who are firstborn as opposed to laterborn.
Sources:
Bornstein, M. H., Leach, D. B., & Haynes, O. M. (2004). Vocabulary competence in first- and
secondborn siblings of the same chronological age. Journal of Child Language, 31(4), 855–873.
Hoff-Ginsberg, E. (1998). The relation of birth order and socioeconomic status to children’s language
experience and language development. Applied Psycholinguistics, 19(4), 603–629.
Oshima-Takane, Y., & Robbins, M. (2003). Linguistic environment of secondborn children. First
Language, 23, 21–40.
Lecture Suggestion 5: Does Feedback Facilitate Language Learning?
One study examined whether providing feedback would facilitate the immediate and delayed learning of
foreign language vocabulary (Pashler, Cepeda, Wixted, & Rohrer, 2005). Participants in this study were
given a Luganda word with its English translation. Luganda words were chosen for this study because
these words are fairly easy to pronounce, but are unfamiliar to American participants. Participants were
presented with the word pairs in the following way: the Luganda word was printed in a text box, and the
English translation was printed in a box immediately below it. To assess learning, the Luganda word was
presented in a text box, and the text box below was blank so that the participant could write in the English
translation.
This experiment took place online, and participants were randomly assigned to one of five conditions.
After viewing the word pairs two times, participants were shown the Luganda word and the blank text
box and were asked to type in the correct English translation. Following the participants’ response, they
either (1) immediately moved on to the next word, (2) moved on to the next word after a 5-second delay,
(3) saw the word correct/incorrect for 5 seconds, (4) saw the correct answer for 5 seconds, or (5) these
participants were not tested on the words following their presentation. One week later, participants were
sent an email asking them to log on to complete the test again (obviously group 5 didn’t complete it the
first time). No feedback was given after this test session.
Only the correct-answer feedback group (group 4) showed significant improvement from the first to the
second testing session. These results suggest that providing feedback about correct answers may facilitate
language learning.
Source:
Pashler, H., Cepeda, N. J., Wixted, J. T., & Rohrer, D. (2005). When does feedback facilitate learning of
words? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 31(1), 3–8.
Lecture Suggestion 6: Ape Talk
The following is a passage from “Ape Talk—From Gua to Nim Chimpsky” that outlines the history of
attempts to teach apes to talk and sketches the controversy resulting from these attempts:
It is the early 1930s. A 7-month-old chimpanzee named Gua has been adopted by humans
(Kellogg & Kellogg, 1933). Gua’s adopters want to rear her alongside their 10-month-old son,
Donald. Gua was treated much the way we rear human infants today—her adopters dressed her,
talked with her, and played with her. Nine months after she was adopted, the project was
discontinued because the parents feared that Gua was slowing down Donald’s progress.
About twenty years later, another chimpanzee was adopted by human beings (Hayes &
Hayes, 1951). Viki, as the chimp was called, was only a few days old at the time. The goal was
straightforward: teach Viki to speak. Eventually she was taught to say “Mama,” but only with
painstaking effort. Day after day, week after week, the parents sat with Viki and shaped her
mouth to make the desired sounds. She ultimately learned three other words—papa, cup, and
up—but she never learned the meanings of these words, and her speech was not clear.
Approximately twenty years later, another chimpanzee named Washoe was adopted when she
was about 10 months old (Gardner & Gardner, 1971). Recognizing that the earlier experiments
with chimps had not demonstrated that apes have language, the trainers tried to teach Washoe the
American Sign Language, which is the sign language of the deaf. Daily routine events, such as
meals and washing, household chores, play with toys, and car rides to interesting places, provided
many opportunities for the use of sign language. In two years, Washoe learned 38 different signs
and by the age of 5 she had a vocabulary of 160 signs. Washoe learned how to put signs together
in novel ways, such as “you drink” and “you me tickle.”
Yet another way to teach language to chimpanzees exists. The Premacks (Premack &
Premack, 1972) constructed a set of plastic shapes that symbolized different objects and were
able to teach the meanings of the shapes to a 6-year-old chimpanzee, Sarah. Sarah was able to
respond correctly using such abstract symbols as “same as” or “different from.” For example, she
could tell you that “banana is yellow” is the same as “yellow color of banana.” Sarah eventually
was able to “name” objects; respond “yes,” “no,” “same as,” and “different from”; and tell you
about certain events by using symbols (such as putting a banana on a tray). Did Sarah learn a
generative language capable of productivity? Did the signs Washoe learned have an underlying
system of language rules?
Herbert Terrace (1979) doubts that these apes have been taught language. Terrace was part of
a research project designed to teach language to an ape by the name of Nim Chimpsky (named
after famous linguist Noam Chomsky). Initially, Terrace was optimistic about Nim’s ability to
use language as human beings use it, but after further evaluation, he concluded that Nim really
did not have language in the sense that human beings do. Terrace says that apes do not
spontaneously expand on a trainer’s statements as people do; instead, the apes just imitate their
trainer. Terrace also believes that apes do not understand what they are saying when they speak;
rather they are responding to cues from the trainer that they are not aware of. The Gardners take
exception to Terrace’s conclusions (Gardner & Gardner, 1986). They point out that chimpanzees
use inflections in sign language to refer to various actions, people, and places. They also cite
recent evidence that the infant chimp Loulis learned over 50 signs from his adopted mother
Washoe and other chimpanzees who used sign language.
The ape language controversy goes on. It does seem that chimpanzees can learn to use signs
to communicate meanings which has been the boundary for language. Whether the language of
chimpanzees possesses all of the characteristics of human language, such as phonology,
morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics, is still being argued (Maratsos, 1983;
Rumbaugh, 1988).
Classroom Activities
Classroom Activity 1: Do Animals Have

the Ability to Communicate?
This activity affords students an opportunity to discuss the utility of animal research in the study of
language development. Begin this discussion by describing research studies such as Washoe (the first ape
to be taught sign language) (Gardner & Gardner, 1971) and Koko the gorilla (Patterson, 1978). Following
is some information about Gua, who was the first chimpanzee whom psychologists raised as if human.
In 1933, Winthrop Niles Kellogg, his wife, and their son Donald (10 months old) engaged in an
experiment in which Donald was raised with a chimpanzee (Kellogg & Kellogg, 1933). Robert Yerkes,
Yale’s ape expert, arranged for the loan of Gua, a 7-month-old female chimpanzee. For nine months, the
Kelloggs and Gua lived in a bungalow near Yale Anthropoid Experiment State in Florida. Both Donald
and Gua were cuddled, fed, dressed, and tested. The Kelloggs reported in The Ape and the Child that Gua
learned to walk upright more quickly than did Donald. Gua liked to pull at hangings, such as curtains,
tablecloths, and skirts. Gua also recognized people better than Donald, by the smell of their chests and
armpits, and did better recognizing by clothes than by faces. Donald, on the other hand, recognized faces.
Although Donald liked perfume, Gua did not. Both reacted the same to sweet, salty, and bitter substances,
except that Gua was more likely to enjoy sour things. Gua recognized herself in a mirror before Donald
did, and she was also the first to become interested in picture books; however, Gua did not learn to speak
human words. At the end of the study, the Kelloggs concluded that when Gua was treated as a human
child, she behaved like a human child in all ways that her body and brain structure allowed. Donald and
his parents went on to Indiana University; Gua was returned to Yerkes, where she lived in a cage and was
part of experiments.
Have students discuss their opinions regarding the value of language learning studies with primates. What
have researchers learned from animal studies about the development or cause of language? Do they have
any ethical concerns? If they think that animal studies are beneficial for the understanding of language
development, they should describe how they think this type of research should be conducted.
Sources:
Gardner, B. T., & Gardner, R. A. (1971). Two-way communication with an infant chimpanzee. In A. M.
Schrier and F. Stollnitz (Eds.), Behavior of nonhuman primates. New York: Academic Press.
Gerow, J. (1988). Time retrospective: Psychology 1923–1988. Time. 16–17.
Kellogg, W. N., & Kellogg, I. A. (1933). The ape and the child. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Patterson, F. G. (1978). The gestures of a gorilla: Language acquisition in another pongid. Brain and
Language, 5, 72–97.
Classroom Activity 2: Which Comes First? The Chicken or the Egg?
This activity highlights some of the caveats of correlational research. First, share the following research
findings with the class. Vigil, Hodges, and Klee (2005) compared the communication of parents with
toddlers who have a language delay with that of parents of toddlers without such a delay. The results
indicated that both sets of parents produced the same amount of linguistic input, but the type of input
differed. Parents of toddlers with normal language development used more responses, expansions, and
self-directed speech than parents of toddlers with language delays. Ask students to explain this
relationship. The discussion should reveal that it is possible that the differences in parental
communication may contribute to language development, but that it is equally plausible that parental
communication is a function of toddler language. So which came first—parental communication or
language delay?
Students could then be broken down into groups and asked to design an experimental study that examines
the direction of cause.
Source:
Vigil, D. C., Hodges, J., & Klee, T. (2005). Quantity and quality of parental language input to late-
talking toddlers during play. Child Language Teaching & Therapy, 21(2), 107–122.
Classroom Activity 3: Language Development and Multiple Births
Research suggests that there are increased levels of language impairment (e.g., Mogford-Bevan, 2000)
and delay (see Kwong & Nicoladis, 2005; McMahon & Dodd, 1997) in multiple-birth offspring. Further,
it is possible that the extent of the impairment is more significant as the number of children born (e.g.,
quadruplets vs. triplets vs. twins vs. singletons) increases (see McMahon & Dodd). Ask students to use
the three perspectives on language development discussed in the text to formulate explanations for this
finding.
Discussion should reveal that these language delays are most likely due to both genetic and environmental
factors. See Mogford-Bevan (2000) for a discussion of both genetic and environmental factors that can
affect development.
Students should keep in mind that language delay is not a necessary characteristic of multiple births.
Kwong and Nicoladis (2005) found no differences in the linguistic environment of a set of triplets and
their singleton cousin. Further, the triplets’ language skills were in the normal range of development by
the end of the study.
Sources:
Kwong, T., & Nicoladis, E. (2005). Talk to me: Parental linguistic practices may hold the key to reducing
incidence of language impairment and delay among multiple-birth children. Journal of Speech-
Language Pathology & Audiology, 29(1), 6–13.
McMahon, S., & Dodd, B. (1997). A comparison of the expressive communication skills of triplet, twin,
and singleton children. European Journal of Disorders of Communication, 32(3), 328–345.
Mogford-Bevan, K. (2000). Developmental language impairments with complex origins: Learning from
twins and multiple birth children. Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica, 52, 74–82.
Classroom Activity 4: Supporting Arguments for

Three Views of Language Development
This activity gives students an opportunity to further their understanding of the three major views of
language development.
• First, have them break into small groups and assign them one of the three positions (biological,
behavioral, and interactionalist). As a group, they should identify the basis of language development
that their theoretical perspective assumes and generate evidence that supports that view using their
textbooks.
• Second, select one group from each perspective to present their theoretical position on language
development to the class. You can have the groups debate their positions or merely present the
arguments and evidence.
• Third, have the students who are not presenting determine which position makes the most sense to
them. If they cannot come to a consensus, or if they dispute all three of the theoretical claims, have
them generate a new perspective on the development of language. The new perspective can include
components of the three perspectives that were provided.
Logistics:
• Group size: Small groups (2 to 4 students) and full class discussion
• Approximate time: Small group (15 minutes) and full class discussion (30 minutes)
Classroom Activity 5: Observation of Parent-Infant Interaction
With this activity, students will assess the communication patterns of infants and the interactional
synchrony between caregiver and infant. If possible, videotape at least two infants between the ages of 9
and 18 months interacting with their caregiver in face-to-face play for approximately 10 minutes. Have
students identify the infant’s vocal and nonverbal communication behaviors. Depending on the
videotaped segment and the age of the infant, students should notice eye contact, cooing, pointing,
babbling, crying, laughing, facial expressions, intonation patterns, and so on. Next, the students should
focus on what the caregiver is doing to elicit communication from the infant.
• Instructions for Students:

1. List all of the infant’s behaviors that you consider to be communication.
2. List all of the caregiver’s behaviors that you think are eliciting communication from the infant.
3. What sounds did the infant produce? Were all of his or her sounds part of his or her native
language?
4. What babbling patterns were used? Did the infant have the same intonation patterns as his or her
parents’ native language?
5. Did it appear that the caregiver and the infant were having a conversation? Why or why not?
• Use in the Classroom: Discuss the students’ observations and highlight the interactional dance that
occurs and the many different ways that young infants communicate with their world. Note whether
the students considered all behavior to be communication, or whether they discriminated between
communicative and noncommunicative behavior.
Logistics:
• Materials: Two videotapes of parent-infant interaction
• Group size: Full class discussion
• Approximate time: Full class (25 minutes per videotape)
Source:
King, M. B., & Clark, D. E. (1989). Instructor’s manual for Santrock and Yussen’s child development: An
introduction, 4th ed. Dubuque, IA: Wm. C. Brown Communications.
Classroom Activity 6: Testing Language Development
This activity asks students to relate their development to the information provided in the textbook and to
design a research study regarding parental reports of infant development. Santrock describes the
development of language in infants in sufficient detail to allow for a comparison.
1. Have students ask their parents to indicate how old the students were when (1) the parents could tell
the difference between the cry communicating hunger and the cry communicating wet diapers, (2)
they spoke their first word (indicate what the word was), (3) they first put two words together, and (4)
they created their first sentence.
2. Ask students to bring their data to class and compare it to that provided in the text. Once the
comparison is made, have students indicate why the differences exist.
3. Break the students into groups, and ask them to design a retrospective study that would determine
when each of the initial stages of language development occurred. They should also identify the
problems with this type of study.
4. After sufficient time has passed, bring them back together, and have them describe their studies and
the difficulties they had in designing them.
5. As a class, have students design a more realistic study of the progression of language development
(longitudinal, naturalistic observation).
Logistics:
• Group size: Individual, small group (2 to 4 students), and full class discussion
• Approximate time: Individual (10 minutes before class meeting), small group (30 minutes), and full
class discussion (30 minutes)
Source:
King, M. B., & Clark, D. E. (1989). Instructor’s manual for Santrock and Yussen’s child development: An
introduction, 4th ed. Dubuque, IA: Wm. C. Brown Communications.
Discussion Board Prompts
For each chapter, a few discussion board prompts are provided. Some of these prompts may be
controversial, but all should encourage the student to further process course material. Although these
are intended for online discussions, they could easily be used for an in-class discussion.
1. Should U.S. schools require learning a second language during elementary school? Why or why
not? If yes, which language should be taught and why?
2. Why do teenagers have their own dialect? What benefits and costs could such a dialect have?
3. A surprising number of college students need to take remedial courses in reading and/or writing.
Should all high schools require a minimal standard of reading and writing in order to graduate?
Why or why not?
Journal Entry
For each chapter, a journal entry is suggested that encourages each student to apply that chapter’s
material to his or her own development.
Journal entry prompt: Were you taught to read using the whole-language approach or the phonics
approach? Provide examples of reading activities you were exposed to at school.
Personal Applications
Personal Application 1: Birth Order and Language Development
The purpose of this activity is to get students to think about how birth order could influence language
development. Begin by asking students to share their birth order. Who is firstborn? Second? Middle
child? Last child? Then ask students to share their perspective on how birth order may influence the
development of language. Perhaps language will be accelerated because infants are surrounded by many
more conversations. Alternatively, language could be delayed because the speech that surrounds the
infant is less well articulated and perhaps grammatically incorrect. Further, parents may spend more time
conversing with older siblings and thus spend less time in one-on-one conversations/interactions with the
infant.
One research study examining this issue suggests that secondborn children are more advanced than
firstborn children were in pronoun production, but that there was no difference in overall language
development (Ashima-Takane, Goodz, & Deverensky, 1996). This suggests that there are neither benefits
nor expenses in language development as a function of birth order. This activity could be turned into a
research project as well (see RP 1).
Source:
Oshima-Takane, Y., Goodz, E., & Deverensky, J. L. (1996). Birth order effects on early language
development: Do secondborn children learn from overheard speech? Child Development, 67(2), 621–
634.
Personal Application 2: “Hewo Witto Baby”
Think about the last time you were presented with a baby. Knowing that the child doesn’t understand
language, did you say things like “Hello,” or “How are you today?” Describe the tone of your voice. Did
it change when you spoke to the baby? Now think about times you have seen others talk to babies. While
some people are awkward and others are comfortable; we all tend to change our manner of speaking when
we interact with infants, and the changes are generally in the same direction. That is, most adults change
their speech and mannerisms in the same way when speaking to an infant. This behavior is part of child
directed speech, which is sometimes called motherese or parentese. Why do you think this occurs?
Now think about the ways in which adults talk to young children. When a mistake is made in grammar or
pronunciation, do they correct it or are they more likely to correct the meaning? How do you think this
adult behavior fits into the language development notion held by empiricists or behaviorists that each time
we talk to a child we are giving little language lessons to them? Is this a good argument about how
language is learned, and could it be used as an explanation for concepts like infinite generativity?
Personal Application 3: Does Day Care Facilitate Language?
The most comprehensive study of the effects of early child care has recently reported that children who
attend higher-quality child care in a center-type arrangement have better language performance at 4 and a
half years than children in any other kind of child care arrangement (NICHD, 2002). Ask students to
reflect on their own experiences with child care and discuss their opinions regarding this finding. Ask
students to indicate whether they agree or not and to offer potential explanations for the finding.
Source:
NICHD Early Child Care Research Network (2002). Early child care and children’s development prior to
school entry: Results from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care. American Educational Research
Journal, 39(1), 133–164.
Personal Application 4: Language Disorders and Socioemotional Development
It is not hard to imagine that language disorders may affect children’s socioemotional development. Let’s
face it, when you hear an adult speaking with some type of language impediment (e.g., an articulation
disorder, a voice disorder), it is easy to associate the disorder with “inferior” intellectual capability. But
do these two things go hand in hand? Do individuals with language disorders have less sophisticated
cognitive skills? Ask students to contemplate and share their thoughts on this.
After sharing their thoughts, ask students to also think about their early childhood experiences. Do they
remember a child with some type of language disorder (or were they themselves a child with such a
disorder)? If they do remember such a child, do they also remember how this child was treated by others
(e.g., teachers, peers)? What do they think the long-term consequences of this treatment might be?
After this discussion, share the findings of one study examining long-term consequences of
developmental language disorders with the class. This study examined men who had a severe receptive
developmental language disorder in childhood and compared them with their non-language-disordered
siblings and matched controls of another sample. The controls and siblings were matched on such things
as age, performance IQ, childhood IQ, and social class (Clegg, Hollis, Mawhood, & Rutter, 2005). They
found that the men with the developmental language disorder had normal intelligence but had
impairments in social adaptation (e.g., prolonged unemployment, few close friendships, and romantic
relationships) and higher rates of schizotypal characteristics. Ask students to contemplate the reasons for
these long-term consequences.
The authors of the cited study suggest that the long-term consequences are most likely due to some of the
deficits associated with the receptive language disorder (such as deficits in theory of mind, verbal short-
term memory, phonological processing) as well as the social adaptation problems that these individuals
have.
Source:
Clegg, J., Hollis, C. Mawhood, L., & Rutter, M. (2005). Developmental language disorders—A follow-
up in later adult life. Cognitive, language, and psychosocial outcomes. Journal of Child Psychology
& Psychiatry, 46(2), 128–149.
Research Projects
Research Project 1: Birth Order and Language Development
This research project follows from the Lecture Suggestion and Personal Application about Birth Order
and Language Development. Students can work independently or in small (2–3 students) groups.
Research examining relations between birth order and a variety of outcomes (e.g., personality) is
somewhat controversial—some studies find support for birth order effects whereas others do not.
Oshima-Takane, Goodz, and Deverensky (1996) found that secondborn children have more advanced
pronoun production as compared to firstborn children, but that the overall language development of
siblings was the same. Students could be asked to share their own experiences within their families and
to form an opinion regarding birth order and language development. After doing so, students could then
be sent to the library to research this topic. After examining the literature, students could report their
findings orally in class or in a written paper. It would be interesting to open the discussion in class,
because it would enable the instructor to also highlight how important it is to validate commonsense
notions and popular media reports in the empirical literature.
Source:
Oshima-Takane, Y., Goodz, E., & Deverensky, J. L. (1996). Birth order effects on early language
development: Do secondborn children learn from overheard speech? Child Development, 67(2), 621–
634.
Research Project 2: Caregiver-Infant Language
In this project, students will gain a better understanding of communication techniques that caregivers use
when interacting with infants, and they will gain experience with naturalistic observation methods.
Students will examine recasting, echoing, and expanding using naturalistic observation. They should go
to a local shopping mall and observe a caregiver with an infant 18 to 24 months old. The observation
period should be approximately 15 minutes. Using the provided data sheet (Handout RP 9-2), they
should record three instances of speech by the caregiver to the infant and classify each instance as
recasting, echoing, or expanding. In addition to noting the caregiver’s statements, they should also note
the infant’s response to each statement. Finally, they should answer the following questions:
• What types of techniques did the caregiver use with the infant you observed?
• How did the infant respond to the statement made by the caregiver?
• From your observations, do you think recasting, echoing, and expanding are effective techniques in
aiding infants to learn language? Why or why not?
• What variables might have affected the quality of data you collected? Might your conclusions have
been different if you had observed a different caregiver-infant pair? How?
Have the students present data from the research project in class. Do the observations agree with the
presentation in the textbook?
Research Project 3: Dementia and Language
There is some research to suggest that cognitive deficits, including language decay, may be predictive of
later cognitive impairment (see Jorm, Masaki, Petrovitch, Ross, & White, 2005). For this project,
students will be asked to explore this finding in the literature and/or in a naturalistic observational study.
This research project could include a review of the literature and research proposal, a naturalistic
observational study, or both.
Students could begin by exploring the literature relating to language development and cognitive
impairment/dementia (this could be done individually or in small groups). After exploring the literature,
students could generate an introduction and proposed methodology for a naturalistic observation
examining this relationship. Students could then visit a nursing home, personal care home, or retirement
community to investigate the hypotheses generated through their review of the literature. This project
would highlight the importance of interrater reliability and clear operational definitions of variables.
Upon completion of the project, data could be analyzed individually in written reports or for the class as a
whole (it would be possible to design the study as a class so that all students are collecting the same data).
Discussion should involve the actual findings, and how they relate to the literature as well as
problems/issues that arose during the study.
Source:
Jorm, A. F., Masaki, K. H., Petrovitch, H., Ross, G. W., & White, L. R. (2005). Cognitive deficits 3 to 6
years before dementia onset in a population sample: The Honolulu-Asia aging study. Journal of the
American Geriatrics Society, 53(3), 452–455.
Research Project 4: Biology and Language
Research in all areas of psychology is finding more and more connections between brain biology and
behavior. Research in language development is certainly no different. For example, some of the studies
indicate that polymicrogyria (a rare brain disorder that produces structurally abnormal cerebral
hemispheres) is related to severe developmental language disorders (Guerreiro et al., 2002), and that
children with developmental language disorders also have an increased brain volume and an increased
volume of cerebral white matter (Herbert et al., 2003).
Have students form groups, and send them to the library to research the underlying biology of language
development—either “normal” or “abnormal.” Have each group choose one area of the brain on which to
focus (you could have the groups identify the area themselves through their literature search, or you could
assign each group an area). Groups should answer the following questions:
1. What area of the brain did you find to be related to language development?
2. How is it related, specifically (i.e., does it relate to speech production, comprehension, etc.)?
3. How does it influence language (i.e., does it regulate particular neurotransmitters, is this area of the
brain smaller in children with language disorders, and so on)?
4. To what other behaviors/disorders is this area related (e.g., polymicrogyria is related to other
developmental disorders or delays, seizures, motor problems, and so on)?
5. How do these other disorders relate/connect to language development?
Students can report their findings orally or in written form, although oral presentations would allow the
dissemination of more information to the entire class. Alternatively, if one chooses to use written papers,
perhaps students could read one or two papers from other groups and critique them thus allowing the
dissemination of new information.
Sources:
Guerreiro, M. M., Hage, S. R. V., Guimaraes, C. A., Abramides, D. V., Fernandes, W., Pacheco, P. S.,
Piovesana, A. M. S. G., Montenegro, M. A., & Cendes, F. (2002). Developmental language disorder
associated with polymicrogyria. Neurology, 59(2), 245–250.
Herbert, M. R., Ziegler, D. A., Makris, N., Bakardjiev, A., Hodgson, J., Adrien, K. T., Kennedy, D. N.,
Filipek, P. A., & Caviness, V. S., Jr. (2003). Larger brain and white matter volumes in children with
developmental language disorder. Developmental Science, 6(4), F11–F22.
Research Project 5: Does Feedback Facilitate Language Learning?
This research project extends the Lecture Suggestion on the same topic. Students can be asked to design
an experimental study on whether feedback facilitates language learning in children. They can use a
methodology similar to the one used in the Pashler, Cepeda, Wixted, and Rohrer (2005) study or can
design their own. To design the study, students can be placed in small groups, and then the class can
reconvene as a whole and integrate their ideas into one methodology. After completing the methodology,
each student could be required to test children (the age of the children would need to be determined) to
determine whether feedback facilitates language learning. The number of children that each student
would need to test would depend on the number of conditions in the study. Students could then report
their findings in class, and the results could be discussed.
Research Project 6: Language Errors
This class project exposes students to the kinds of errors children make when they are acquiring language.
Have each student pair up with another student in the class. One student will act as the experimenter,
while the other will act as the observer. They should test two different children: one 3 to 4 years of age,
the other 7 to 8 years of age. In order to test the children, the project will have to be approved by the
human subjects review board at your school, and the students will need to get a signed informed consent
form from the children’s parents.
The children will receive from the students three different tasks evaluating their understanding and use of
the passive construction. Students should present an act-out task, an imitation task, and a production task.
The task and sentence descriptions follow. Handout RP 9-6 can be used as a data sheet to record
observations. The students should answer the provided questions as well.
• Act-out Task: Have several objects available—a toy car and truck; a toy doll; a toy horse, cow, dog,
and cat. Read the sentences below one at a time, and have the child act out the sentences with the
toys.
• Imitation Task: Present each of the sentences below to each child, and have the child repeat the
sentences back to you.
• Production Task: Perform the actions in each of the sentences below with the toys for the child. Ask
the child to tell you what happened starting with the first noun in the sentence. (For instance, for item
5, roll the car along so that it hits the truck, and then ask the child to tell you what happened
beginning with the truck.)
1. The car hit the truck. 6. The cow stepped on the horse.
2. The dog was kicked by the cat. 7. The cat kicked the dog.
3. The boy was bitten by the dog. 8. The cat was hit by the boy.
4. The boy hit the cat. 9. The dog bit the boy.
5. The truck was hit by the car. 10. The horse was stepped on by the cow.
• What did the 3- to 4-year-old child do in response to the act-out task? The imitation task? The
production task? Was performance on one task better than on the others? If so, which? What sorts of
errors appeared in the act-out task? What about the imitation task? The production task? Were the
errors similar in the various tasks?
• Compare the two children. What differences, if any, did you see on their performances on these three
tasks? How would you account for the differences? What is the nature of language learning that
seems to be occurring during this time?
• What criticisms could be leveled at the procedures you used in this demonstration? For example, do
you think each task should have had different questions?
Have students present the data from the research project in class. What kinds of errors did the younger
children make on the tasks? Were there individual differences within age groups present (i.e., did some of
the younger children perform all tasks well, while other children made errors with all tasks?)? How did
the older children perform on these tasks? Were some tasks easier? What do these findings tell us about
the development course for understanding active and passive sentences? What strategies did children use
when they made errors?
Film and Video List
The following films and videos supplement the content of Chapter 9. Please note that some of the video
descriptions are quoted from the publisher’s/distributor’s description.
Body Language: Cultural Differences (Insight Media, 2007, 30 minutes). In this program, a diversity
specialist outlines differences in behaviors among non-U.S. cultures and introduces multicultural
manners. The program covers such topics as greetings, physical contact between the sexes, smiling, and
embracing and emphasizes that acceptable norms vary among cultures.
Cross-Cultural Communication (Insight Media, 2002, 24 minutes). Providing a sociological and

psychological perspective on cross-cultural communication, this program explores the nature and
significance of cultural variations in verbal and nonverbal communication.
Developing Language (Insight Media, 24 minutes). This program charts the development of children’s
language from birth to age 5, and then asks the question, “What is left to learn?”
Developing Language: Learning to Question, Inform, and Entertain (Films for the Humanities and
Sciences, 1994, 25 minutes). Starting right from infancy, this program charts the development of
language during childhood. Basic language acquisition, learned from rudimentary and higher-level
child/caregiver interactions, is described. Aspects of competence that go beyond the purpose of simple
communication are also considered, including the skill of using conversation for establishing and
furthering social relationships, the ability to employ language as a part of games, the capacity to
understand jokes, and the awareness of what other people know and understand at various stages of
maturation.
Doing What Comes Naturally: Childhood Language Acquisition (Films for the Humanities and Sciences,
47 minutes). Experts deflate misconceptions about childhood language acquisition.
Do You Speak American (PBS, 2005, 180 minutes). Is American English in decline? Is there a difference
between men and women in how they adapt to linguistic variations? These questions, and more, about our
language catapulted Robert MacNeil and William Cran—authors of The Story of English—across the
country in search of the answers
Gender and Communication: How Men and Women Communicate Differently (Insight Media, 2007, 20
minutes). Discussing research findings on communication differences between males and females, this
DVD presents and analyzes vignettes that illustrate the differences among male-male communication
interactions, male-female interactions, and female-female interactions. It considers verbal and nonverbal
differences in communication styles.
Gender and Communication: Styles and Stereotypes (Insight Media, 2008, 22 minutes). This program
explores the communication gap between men and women. It considers why some men emphasize the
literal meaning of words and why some women weaken their speech patterns. The program also examines
each gender’s motivations for asking questions.
Infancy: Beginnings in Cognition and Language (Magna Systems, 29 minutes). This video explores infant
senses and perception and the development of cognition and language during the first year of life. In
addition, the role that parents play in language learning is discussed.
Interpersonal Communication and Conflict (Insight Media, 2008, 21 minutes). In this program, Thomas
E. Harkins of New York University examines conflict, outlines the potential benefits of conflict, presents
various definitions for conflict, negates common misconceptions surrounding conflict, discusses sources
and patterns of conflict, and discusses conflict management and prevention. He looks at pragmatic and
social constructionist views of communication and conflict; emphasizes the role of context in determining
communication content; and explains how differences in core beliefs, values, attitudes, habits, and goals
can cause conflicts, even when these differences occur on a subconscious level. The program contrasts
constructive and destructive patterns of conflict, outlines the characteristics of destructive conflict, and
presents constructive methods of conflict management. It covers such topics as flexibility, paralinguistics,
avoidance and engagement, styles and tactics of conflict resolution, and the role of egocentrism in
conflict. The DVD features entertaining, illustrative vignettes.
Interpersonal Communication with People of Different Ages (Insight Media, 2008, 22 minutes).
Emphasizing the role of respect in all interpersonal interactions, this program examines communication
with individuals of different ages and considers the ways in which human development affects
communication abilities. It outlines the developmental psychology and life-space perspectives of human
development and explains that age groups are social constructs. The program explores the role of positive
and negative stereotypes in age-related communication, outlines the natural reasons individual create and
use stereotypes, shows how stereotypes provide categories that offer cues for appropriate behavior,
discusses the limits of stereotypes, and teaches how to employ stereotypes and the recognition of their
existence to treat people of all ages as unique individuals. The program also offers skills and techniques
for communicating with individuals of different ages and provides specific guidelines for modifying
communication to enhance interpersonal interactions with infants, toddlers, adolescents, and older adults.
Invisible Rules: Men, Women, and Teams (Insight Media, 2005, 33 minutes). Exploring the different
rules that men and women use to determine the appropriateness of behavior, this program shows how
such unwritten rules result in conflict and confusion. It offers techniques that improve cross-gender
understanding and facilitate teamwork.
Language and Thinking (Insight Media, 30 minutes). Brain development and language acquisition are
explored. This video features Elizabeth Bates, Jean Mandler, and Susan Curtiss’s perspectives on the
beginning of language and grammar.
Language Development (Films for the Humanities and Sciences, 40 minutes). This program emphasizes
the development of language in babies and young children from the first cry to the language development
of a 7-year-old. In addition, the program discusses the arguments in the nature-nurture debate, as well as
other theories.
Listening (Insight Media, 2008, 26 minutes). Differentiating between listening and hearing, this DVD
examines different types of listening, including discriminative, comprehensive, critical-evaluative,
therapeutic, and appreciative forms, and looks at the elements of the listening process. The program also
considers barriers to effective listening.
Nonverbal Communication and Culture (Insight Media, 2005, 20 minutes). This DVD addresses cultural
issues in nonverbal communication. It examines conscious and unconscious gestures; facial expressions;
cultural differences in voice, paralanguage, and the use of silence; and space and body distance. The
program offers illustrative vignettes and expert commentary.
Principles of Interpersonal Communication (Insight Media, 2008, 25 minutes). In this program, Karina
Alexanyan of Columbia University outlines the functions of interpersonal communication, instrumental,
prevention, phatic, affective, and deceptive forms; introduces the theory behind interpersonal
communication; and teaches how to increase the effectiveness of interpersonal interactions. Explaining
that communication cannot be separated from context and that context can be as important to
communication as the words spoken, Alexanyan explores the variables that define context, including
situation, style, function, participants, body language, and conscious and unconscious assumptions and
intentions. She considers the influences of group affiliation and diversity on interpersonal interactions;
discusses such facets of nonverbal communication as body language, personal appearance, proxemics,
paralanguage, haptics, and chronemics; examines listening and offers tips to improve listening
effectiveness; and covers such interpersonal skills as relating, conflict management, responding to self-
disclosure, giving and receiving feedback, and enhancing communication with individuals from diverse
backgrounds. The DVD includes vignettes that illustrate effective and ineffective interpersonal
interactions.
Scales of Symbolic Formation and the Acquisition of Language (Insight Media, 30 minutes). This video
discusses how symbolic capacity relates to language development by following a child’s development and
profiling a deaf child’s language acquisition.
Secrets of the Wild Child (NOVA/PBS, 1994, 60 minutes). In 1970, social workers in Los Angeles
discovered a modern-day "wild child," a 13-year-old girl who had been locked in a room in social
isolation for most of her life. At the time of her discovery, a debate raged over a hypothesis describing a
"critical period" of language acquisition. NOVA probes her strange and riveting story as doctors tried to
unravel this linguistic riddle.
Student and Adult Conflicts (Insight Media, 2006, 11 minutes). This program teaches how to manage
conflicts between teenagers and adults. It features illustrative vignettes that show an argument between a
student and teachers and a situation in which a storeowner mistakenly believes a group of youths has
stolen from him.
Talking (Films for the Humanities and Sciences, 1999, 52 minutes). For the newborn, the notion of
coexistence—that there are others in their world with whom they can communicate—begins with crying.
In this program, researchers and other experts join with parents to discuss the steps children go through in
mastering their mother tongue. Topics include the process of cognition, a baby’s ability to make use of
body language and semiotic gestures, babbling as a precursor to language acquisition, time frames for
learning to speak, and growing up in a multilingual home.
That’s Not What I Meant: Language, Culture, and Meaning (Insight Media, 2004, 55 minutes). In this
considers why communication between the sexes often goes awry. She discusses language and meaning;
signals, devices, and rituals; framing and metamessages; pacing and pausing; overlap and interruption;
indirectness; listening; and conversational style. Tannen also considers the effects of cultural factors on
communication.
Through Deaf Eyes (PBS, 2007, 120 minutes). Through Deaf Eyes explores nearly 200 years of Deaf life
in America. The film presents the experiences of American history from the perspective of deaf citizens.
Interviews include actor Marlee Matlin, I. King Jordan, other community leaders, historians, and deaf
Americans with diverse views on language use, technology and identity. Six artistic works by Deaf media
artists are woven throughout the documentary that complement the core of the film.
True Whispers: The Story of the Navajo Code Talkers (PBS, 2007, 60 minutes). Exploring the personal
and heartfelt story of the Navajo Code Talkers, this program tells the stories of the young Navajo men
recruited from harsh government boarding schools into the Marines during World War II. From 1942–
1945, the Code Talkers devised an unbreakable code in their native language and transmitted vital
messages in the midst of combat against the Japanese.
Unlocking Language (Films for the Humanities and Sciences, 29 minutes). Experts discuss the
development and transmission of language. Topics covered include language used to express abstractions,
the evolution of language, language as an innately guided behavior in unborn babies, infants and toddlers,
the parts of the brain involved in language, language disorders, and isolation of the Speech 1 gene.
Web Site Suggestions
American Academy of Family Physicians, information on Language Delay:

www.aafp.org/afp/990600ap/990600d.html
American Association for Applied Linguistics: http://www.aaal.org/
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association: http://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/
National Association for Bilingual Education: http://www.nabe.org/
Noam Chomsky Website: http://www.chomsky.info
Reading Wars: Phonics vs. Whole Language: http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/reading/
Statistics on Bilingual Education: http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=96
Warning Signs of a Language Delay:

www.babycenter.com/general/toddler/toddlerdevelopment/12293.html
Writing Development in Childhood: http://www.pbs.org/parents/readinglanguage/writing/main.html
Handout RP 9-2
Caregiver-Infant Language
In this project, you will examine recasting, echoing, and expanding using naturalistic observation. Go to a
local shopping mall, and observe a caregiver with an infant 18 to 24 months old. Observe them for 15
minutes. Record three instances of speech by the caregiver to the infant, and classify each instance as
recasting, echoing, or expanding. Note the caregiver’s statements and then the infant’s response to each
statement. Then answer the questions that follow.
Speech Response of Infant Age ____ Sex ____
Statement 1
Statement 2
Statement 3
• What types of techniques did the caregiver use with the infant you observed?
• How did the infant respond to the statement made by the caregiver?
• From your observations, do you think recasting, echoing, and expanding are effective techniques in
aiding infants to learn language? Why or why not?
• What variables might have affected the quality of data you collected? Might your conclusions have
been different if you had observed a different caregiver-infant pair? How?
Handout RP 9-6
Language Errors
This class project exposes you to the kinds of errors children make when they are acquiring language. Pair
up with another student in the class. One of you will act as the experimenter, while the other will act as
the observer. Test two different children, one 3 to 4 years of age, the other 7 to 8 years of age. In order to
test the two children, the project will have to be approved by the human subjects review board at your
school, and you will need to get a signed informed consent form from the children’s parents.
The children will receive from you three different tasks evaluating their understanding and use of the
passive construction. Present an act-out task, an imitation task, and a production task. The task and
sentence descriptions follow. Use the provided data sheet to record your observations. After you have
collected your data, answer the questions provided.
Act-out Task: Have several objects available—a toy car and truck; a toy doll; a toy horse, cow, dog, and
cat. Read the sentences below one at a time, and have the child act out the sentences with the toys.
Imitation Task: Present each of the sentences below to each child, and have the child repeat the
sentences back to you.
Production Task: Perform the actions in each of the sentences below with the toys. Ask the child to tell
you what happened, starting with the first noun in the sentence. (For instance, for item 5, roll the car
along so that it hits the truck, and then ask the child to tell you what happened beginning with the truck.)
1. The car hit the truck. 6. The cow stepped on the horse.
2. The dog was kicked by the cat. 7. The cat kicked the dog.
3. The boy was bitten by the dog. 8. The cat was hit by the boy.
4. The boy hit the cat. 9. The dog bit the boy.
5. The truck was hit by the car. 10. The horse was stepped on by the cow.
Handout RP 9-6 (continued)
• Compare the two children. What differences, if any, did you see on their performances on these three
tasks? How would you account for the differences? What is the nature of language learning that
seems to be occurring during this time?
• What criticisms could be leveled at the procedures you used in this demonstration? For example, do
you think each task should have had different questions?
Task Child 1 Child 2

Sex ____ Age ____ Sex ____ Age ____
Act-out task
Sentence 1
Sentence 2
Sentence 3
Sentence 4
Sentence 5
Sentence 6
Sentence 7
Sentence 8
Sentence 9
Sentence 10
Imitation task
Sentence 1
Sentence 2
Sentence 3
Sentence 4
Sentence 5
Sentence 6
Sentence 7
Sentence 8
Sentence 9
Sentence 10
Production task
Sentence 1
Sentence 2
Sentence 3
Sentence 4
Handout RP 9-6 (continued)
Sentence 5
Sentence 6
Sentence 7
Sentence 8
Sentence 9
Sentence 10
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
Hier, une dizaine de soldats allemands s’amusaient devant
l’éléphant. La bête jetait tout le temps sa trompe en avant, mais
aucun des soldats ne savait ce que cela voulait dire. Je fis un clin
d’œil au gardien, pris une pièce de deux centimes dans mon porte-
monnaie et la jetai à l’éléphant. Il la ramassa et frappa violemment
contre les barreaux. Le gardien approcha ; il lui donna la pièce et
reçut en échange un morceau de pain dans sa gueule ouverte. La
joie des soldats ! Maintenant tous cherchaient des piécettes et les lui
jetaient. Le gardien eut une bonne récolte. Quand je partis, il me
salua gentiment. Nous étions de connivence, et je me promets de lui
servir encore souvent d’amorce.
La seule otarie qui reste crie affreusement toute la journée, en
s’étalant devant les deux cormorans, ses camarades, mais, quand
elle en approche trop près, ils lui donnent des coups de bec, et alors
l’otarie de crier. Le gardien me dit qu’elle se lamente ainsi parce
qu’elle est seule et que les cormorans ne veulent pas jouer avec
elle.
Quelle adorable créature d’avoir ainsi besoin d’affection !
8 avril 1915.
Ce sacré merle ! il vous en a une sérénité !

— Cher, tu m’enchantes !
Il est perché là, sur cette cheminée d’une maison abandonnée,
dominant les jardins en fleurs gaiement ensoleillés. Si on pouvait
annoter cette musique, quelle fraîcheur ! ou faire une grammaire de
cette langue naïve, quel imprévu !
Ah ! le voilà parti. Enfin on ne peut tout de même pas nous priver
de ce soleil, ni du chant de ces chéris, mais moi personnellement, je
n’arrive pas non plus à m’ôter la vision des étouffements des
tranchées, des cadavres, la bouche pleine de terre de l’avoir mordue
dans leur agonie, des yeux des morts ouverts, comme regardant le
ciel bleu au-dessus d’eux, des désespoirs dans les familles à
l’annonce de la mort, et j’entends l’exclamation : « Onze Robe ! »,
« Notre Marcel ! », « Unser Hans ! », « Our Dick ! ». Et les odeurs, les
odeurs… Ah ! mon Dieu ! Ah ! mon Dieu ! J’ai bien à écouter le chant
du merle !
28 avril 1915.
Journée radieuse. Depuis le premier avril, le directeur du jardin

zoologique a obtenu de la commandanture que les militaires
allemands doivent payer une entrée de vingt-cinq centimes. Le jardin
est envahi de soldats.
Il est en boutons, en bourgeons et en fleurs. Des parterres de
tulipes — l’harmonie des couleurs n’est pas toujours bien choisie —
des plates-bandes de pensées, de narcisses, et un gazouillement
adorable de tous les oiseaux dans les arbres. Ils trouvent dans ce
jardin libre pâture ; ils passent par les mailles des cages de leurs
confrères captifs et se gorgent.
Des chaises sont disposées autour du kiosque. Le chalet Louis
XVI est ouvert : sur ses terrasses, des chaises et des tables. Les
bébés jouent, mettant des notes gaies dans leurs cris et dans le
jardin. Des dames prennent du thé, du café, des gâteaux, et l’on
cause en brodant, en crochetant. Les figures sont graves et les
propos n’ont rien de la frivolité insipide des temps heureux.
— Oh ! maintenant qu’ils ont passé l’Yser ! fait une jeune dame,
en levant la tête de sa broderie.
Un monsieur et une dame âgés s’approchent d’une dame seule
qui crochète une dentelle de store. Doucement ils lui demandent
quelque chose.
— Non, toujours pas de nouvelles, crie-t-elle, comme ne pouvant
se dominer ; depuis cinq mois pas de nouvelles.
Ils restent assis, silencieux.
Arrive un groupe de messieurs que je connais. L’un a un fils de
dix-huit ans qui est en Hollande avec sa mère : c’est leur unique
enfant, idolâtré comme un dieu. Le père et la mère se sont rendus
malades à vouloir empêcher leur fils de s’engager : enfin ils y sont
parvenus, et le père, là devant moi, a l’air heureux. Un autre, un
avocat, a ses trois fils à la guerre : l’un est déjà estropié, il a un bras
ankylosé par une fracture. Mais, par ce printemps, ce père aussi a
l’air content : en somme, ils vivent tous les trois !
Je me promène en m’asseyant de temps en temps pour m’étirer
au soleil. Dans l’allée des perroquets, tous sont sur leurs perchoirs.
C’est une débauche de couleurs merveilleuses et de cris
discordants. N’importe, la beauté domine. Je m’arrête à leur gratter
la tête.
Les bébés jouent.
L’otarie veut jouer avec les deux cormorans qui partagent son
domicile ; elle nage, en criant, autour de la dalle au milieu du bassin,
sur laquelle ils sont installés. Ils la piquent de leurs becs quand elle
veut monter ; lorsqu’elle a réussi tout de même, elle crie en se
tournant vers l’un et l’autre, les implorant de jouer avec elle ; mais
les cormorans ne veulent pas et continuent à piquer jusqu’à ce
qu’elle se laisse glisser dans l’eau comme un sac rempli d’huile. Elle
recommence alors à nager autour de la dalle, en criant
désespérément. Les deux oiseaux restent féroces et implacables
dans leur antipathie.
Les paons brillent, scintillent de mille couleurs au soleil. Un paon
blanc à hérissé sa queue. Tout son être est tendu dans cet effort. La
croupe, aux plumes ébouriffées, levée, les ailes écartées, les jarrets
tendus, il tourne lentement vers le soleil et la brise et fait strider ses
plumes : c’est, au travers des mailles de la cage, un miroitement
nacré, où tout le prisme évolue en des reflets moelleux.
Dans une grande cage, plantée d’arbres, des oiseaux granivores
du pays. Quel est ce petit bougre qui fait tutututûûût ? Je voudrais le
voir. C’est un chant que j’entends toujours dans les bois à Genck ;
mais je ne parviens pas à l’apercevoir.
Le faisan doré, élégant et prestigieux de couleur, fait des passes
devant sa faisane, en étalant vers elle son collier rayé orange et
bleu. Elle lui échappe constamment, et lui de recommencer
ardemment sa poursuite à travers la cage ensoleillée, d’où jaillit
comme une coulée d’or et de pierres précieuses en fusion.
Le faisan de Lady Amherts, lui, mince et aristocratique, en sa
parure blanche chamarrée de vert, de bleu, d’or, piétine sa faisane
qui est douillettement nichée dans la terre chaude et poudreuse.
Quelle tristesse de voir les cages des lions, des tigres et des ours
vides !
Les bébés jouent.
Un vautour à calotte brune, foncée et veloutée ; le cou nu, rose
strié de bleu et de noir ; face nue, rose ; yeux noirs changeants,
perçants, fixes, mobiles, féroces ; bec orange, encastré dans du gris
tendre ; goître en boule couvert de plumes ; pattes puissantes ; des
plumes lui font collier. Il est sur son perchoir, secoue désespérément
ses larges ailes en se soulevant sur ses pattes ; mais l’élan est
impossible dans cette cage, et lourdement, une à une, il les laisse
retomber pour recommencer, le moment d’après, ses efforts inutiles
vers la liberté… à moins que ce ne soit pour se dégourdir les
membres.
A côté, le vautour de Kolbe, gris beige, au long cou nu, se
couche, la tête hors les barreaux de la cage, pour se faire caresser
et gratter. Il veut prendre, de ses mandibules puissantes, le bloc-
notes avec lequel je le chatouille. Puis tout doucement, quand je lui
ai enlevé toute méfiance, il se laisse faire, et j’avance ma main
jusque sur son crâne que je gratte et la peau du cou que je triture. Il
ferme, d’une paupière bleue remontante, à moitié les yeux, la tête et
le cou abandonnés à la volupté de la caresse. Ah ! le bougre,
comme il aime cela ! Mais je viendrai souvent te caresser, tu es
exquis… Oui, un vautour exquis, doux et grand comme une brebis,
avec de fortes pattes gris argent. Ah ! pauvre créature dégénérée,
déviée de ta vraie nature, tu es peut-être née au jardin ? Tu ne sais
pas ce que c’est que la féroce, l’enivrante liberté ; tu ignores la force
de tes ailes toujours repliées, le coupant de tes mandibules. Tu
prends les bénéfices de la captivité et de ton impuissance. Ah flûte !
tout est triste, je vais rentrer…
Les bébés jouent.
En longeant les avenues, des enfants du quartier de l’Ancien
Canal viennent du Parc en chantant. Un garçonnet de sept ans a,
aux bras, deux chaînes de fillettes de cinq, quatre et trois ans. Elles
dansent en frétillant de la croupe et brandissent un bras en l’air.
Elles chantent : lala, lalalaaa, lalalaa, avec les voix canailles et les
gestes crapuleux des femmes en ribote de leur quartier. Ah zut ! tout
est triste… Et là-bas, on s’empuantit, on s’asphyxie, on se démolit,
on se déchire, on se pulvérise, on se calomnie et l’on se hait, et tout
pourrit…
4 mai 1915.
Les trams circulent presque vides ; les rues sont de plus en plus
désertes. Avec cela, un printemps adorable. Sur les branches des
arbres fruitiers, les fleurs grimpent les unes sur les autres ; les
branches ont de grosses touffes d’un blanc exquis et parfumé, et il y
a tant, tant d’oiseaux qui chantent sur les arbres des avenues et
dans les jardins, derrière les maisons brûlées et abandonnées !
Comme leurs propriétaires, à l’étranger, doivent y penser
maintenant ! Je crois qu’on entend mieux les oiseaux parce que les
rues sont plus silencieuses, et peut-être aussi parce que nous
n’avons pas encore entendu une note de musique depuis l’invasion
et que le moindre son harmonieux, après les discussions sur la
guerre par ces voix rudes et âpres des Flamands, caresse notre
oreille charmée et surprise.
Derrière chez nous, il y a un merle qui a le langage le plus
spirituel, le plus expressif, en même temps que le plus
délicieusement modulé. Ah ! la chère créature ! si je pouvais la
prendre dans le creux de la main et lui gratter doucement la tête, en
signe de reconnaissance ! Toutes les bêtes aiment qu’on leur gratte
la tête : si le merle se laissait faire une fois, il y reviendrait, et pour
moi ce serait une grande joie.
Au jardin zoologique, des dames viennent avec des jeux de

cartes et, sous un grand arbre, elles jouent à trois sur une petite
table pendant toute une après-midi, sans échanger d’autres mots
que ceux nécessaires pour le jeu. Il y a plusieurs groupes. On
n’entend plus le français : seulement le flamand et l’allemand. La
société qui parle le français est à l’étranger, les Allemands se sont
implantés mieux que jamais et parlent à plus haute voix qu’avant. Ils
sont chez eux, quoi ! Des officiers allemands goûtent avec du café et
des gâteaux, beaucoup de gâteaux.
Le directeur du jardin est maintenant toujours assis à l’entrée
pour voir si le public arrive. Il est aux abois : presque tous les
abonnés sont partis avant d’avoir payé leurs cotisations de l’année. Il
a réduit l’abonnement de cinquante-cinq à quarante francs :
beaucoup d’abonnés ont écrit que malgré les temps durs, ils
continueront à payer cinquante-cinq francs. Heureusement, car que
deviendraient les dames et les bébés de la ville sans le jardin
zoologique ?
Il vient de passer une jeune dame habillée d’une jupe kaki, d’un
paletot de satin vert d’eau, coiffée d’un chapeau bleu marine avec
une couronne de fleurs rouges. C’est à hurler ! Si j’étais un homme,
pareille femme me serait odieuse. J’en vois souvent une autre qui
porte une jupe beige, un paletot demi-long noir, un chapeau bleu
marine, des gants blancs, une ombrelle verte et un sac en cuir
violet : si je l’aperçois à temps, je change vite de trottoir.
Celles que je viens de décrire sont celles qui choisissent elles-
mêmes leurs toilettes ; d’autres, qui laissent faire leurs bonnes
couturières de Bruxelles, sont tolérables ; mais, en ce moment, les
dames qui se font habiller à Bruxelles sont parties et l’on ne voit plus
que les autres. Les femmes, ici, ne se préoccupent pas de regarder
si la couleur ou le genre d’étoffe va à leur teint ou à leur type, et
encore moins d’un ensemble harmonieux dans leur toilette.
Encore une qui passe : les pieds blancs, la jupe à damiers noirs
et blancs, le paletot vert épinard, le chapeau bleu marine, des gants
jaunes. Cependant les perroquets sont aussi parés des couleurs les
plus folles : je ne sais comment ils s’arrangent pour être merveilleux.
Chez les créatures parées par la nature, on constate aussi des
gaffes de goût. Le faisan noble a pour moi deux tares qui
l’empêchent d’être complètement noble : bleu nuit miroitant ; joues
bleu pervenche ; yeux rouges à point noir ; huppe bleu nuit droite sur
la tête ; sur le dos, une plaque de petites plumes cuivre en fusion ;
ailes bleu sombre lustrées ; les côtés, en avant vers l’épaule, jaspés
bleu et jaune clair ; pattes roses ; queue raide, bleu sombre et blanc
à peine teinté de jaune. Eh bien la tare — outre qu’il est trop lourd de
corps — sont ces plumes, d’un blanc jaunâtre trop clair et trop criard,
des ailes et de la queue, dans cet ensemble sombre, sobre et
vraiment noble : pour être impeccable d’harmonie et d’aristocratie, il
faudrait que la jaspure des ailes et les plumes claires de la queue
fussent comme la plaque du dos, couleur cuivre en fusion.
Donc, mesdames, allez-y de vos couleurs disparates : la nature
ne fait pas mieux que vous quand elle veut trop bien faire, et y va
aussi naïvement.
Voilà, je rentre. J’ai fait une promenade solitaire délicieuse, en
m’asseyant à chaque instant pour écrire, soit sur les bancs des
avenues, soit à l’église, ou chez Van de Laer en buvant mon lait
chaud, et au jardin zoologique.
Un orage éclate avec de gros coups de tonnerre : ils sont
cependant moins secs que les coups de canon. Eh bien, Caroline et
moi n’arrivons pas à cacher notre nervosité : cela nous rappelle trop
le bombardement. Mon mari trouve aussi que le tonnerre est plus
énervant qu’avant le bombardement.
5 mai 1915.
Le merle, après chaque phrase bien articulée, fait : Hihihirurutiti,

comme s’il riait de lui-même ou des autres, car il parle, il explique,
c’est certain, il blague ses voisins : ses intonations sont trop
railleuses pour être mécaniques. Quel délice d’avoir ces candides
créatures autour de soi ! Maintenant il y en a cinq, six, qui
s’égosillent, chacun penché sur une éminence des ruines.
10 mai 1915.
Je n’ai sans doute pas de cœur de m’occuper du merle qui vole

dans les jardins des maisons en ruines. Mais c’est la seule voix
harmonieuse, à inflexions civilisées, que j’entende.
Tururûtû, tuturûtu, titiriti.
Turlutute, turlutute, pirewirewite.
Le son est plein, velouté, et les phrases articulées avec une rare
logique. Enfin il me charme. Tant pis si je manque de cœur ou de
sérieux : ce doit être de cœur plutôt.
22 mai 1915.
Je n’ai pas osé aller m’installer à la campagne cette année, et,

comme je ne sais où aller tous les jours pour faire ma promenade —
on ne peut traverser l’Escaut sans passeport — je retourne toujours
au jardin zoologique. Hier, j’ai observé longuement la grue
couronnée du Sénégal. Peu de bêtes sont plus aristocratiques
qu’elle, en ses couleurs sobres, discrète en ses mouvements et
gestes et en son allure futile et spirituelle. Elle est gris fer, le
plumage long et effilé, pas tassé ; haute sur de fines pattes sèches,
ciselées ; un cou qu’elle allonge et raccourcit à volonté et dans tous
les sens, en des ondulations souples, et qu’elle penche de côté,
avec sa tête comme piquée au bout, pour regarder de son œil latéral
le ciel, quand il tonne ou qu’un aéroplane passe. Elle écoute et
observe, en ce même mouvement, les feuilles qui bruissent sur les
arbres, les moineaux qui passent. Elle abaisse le cou, et son œil de
nacre mouvant suit les mouches par terre. Comme elle a dû tendre
le cou et plonger son œil scrutateur vers le ciel pendant le
bombardement, quand les obus fendaient l’air en mugissant ; elle est
cependant habituée à des cris étranges dans ce jardin zoologique,
mais ça…
La tête est fine, à bec noir ; deux plaques de chair nue en forme
d’écusson, la moitié du haut rose pâle, celle du bas rose vif, lui
encadrent la figure comme deux bijoux d’émail rose ; sous le menton
un médaillon de même ; une huppe courte de peluche noire
descendant jusque sur le bec ; sur l’arrière du crâne, une touffe
hérissée et éparpillée en un goupillon de brindilles d’or. Le corps
ovale, la poitrine grise, les ailes grises, les sous-ailes de côté blanc
ivoire, les plumes extrêmes brun roux profond : le tout s’harmonisant
délicatement. Dans une cour de grues, je me la représente grande
d’Espagne. Elle s’ébroue en étendant les ailes, fait des bonds, puis
des pas comme de contre-danse, se becquète en tortillant son cou
sous les plumes pour s’ôter la vermine ; elle se lisse, se secoue,
s’ébouriffe en des grâces et des gestes de toute élégance.
Ces bêtes n’ont rien d’humain : le public, la galerie, n’existent pas
pour elle ; tous les appels et « pst, pst » pour attirer son attention
sont inutiles. Elle ne connaît que son gardien et, quand elle daigne
s’occuper d’autre chose que de se bichonner, de faire des grâces ou
de fureter le ciel autour d’elle, c’est pour tendre le cou obstinément
dans la direction d’où il doit venir lui apporter sa pitance.
Tout d’un coup, le bec droit, les ailes étendues, les deux plaques
d’émail se gonflant et s’abaissant comme des soufflets, elle clame,
en des sons cuivrés, des appels de ralliement, dirait-on, et je
m’étonne de ne pas voir toutes les grues du jardin voler au rendez-
vous pour se rendre à un sabbat, loin dans les airs. Elle se tait,
recommence sa toilette, retire une patte sous elle, tourne son cou en
torsade sur le dos, fourre son bec sous les plumes d’une aile, et
posée sur une patte, comme sur un socle de fer forgé, elle reste
immobile, isolée de ce qui se passe autour d’elle, sa couronne d’or
scintillant, son œil latéral scrutant le ciel.
30 mai 1915.
La ville est très peu animée : de plus en plus de magasins

fermés. Tous ceux qui, en revenant d’exil à Anvers, se promenaient
désœuvrés, et aussi pour voir les allemands, ne sortent plus : ils
restent mornes et toujours désœuvrés, dans leur quartier. Je
retourne voir les bêtes. Le jardin aux beaux arbres remplis de fleurs,
avec les animaux à l’air heureux, à l’exception des oiseaux de proie,
bien entretenu et d’un goût parfait, est comme un lieu enchanté où
tous les chants, tous les cris, tous les bourdonnements,
susurements, chuchotements, vagissements des créatures vous
deviennent familiers, où leurs gestes, leurs attitudes, leurs habitudes
vous charment, vous repoussent ou vous attirent. Moi, quand j’en ai
assez d’être assise au milieu des dames qui brodent, crochètent,
bavardent, médisent, goûtent trop copieusement et préparent, en
gavant leurs enfants, la perpétuation du diabète qui les attend
comme un patrimoine de famille, quand je suis bien horripilée de tout
cela et choquée que les animaux étalent en pure perte leur beauté et
leur vie intéressante et que jamais les abonnés ne se donnent la
peine d’aller les regarder, je fais le tour du jardin et toujours mon
spleen fait place à une curiosité qui me prend toute.
Aujourd’hui, par exemple, c’est une horreur qui m’a arrêtée, car,
s’il y a une bête immonde entre toutes, c’est bien l’hippopotame,
avec son mufle carré, plus large que son crâne défoncé, et dont la
bave coule, avec ses mâchoires comme des meules à broyer des
pierres, — il ne mange cependant que de l’herbe, — ses petits yeux
observateurs, libidineux, à fleur de tête, encastrés dans des orbites
protubérantes, ses toutes petites oreilles qui pointent au moindre
bruit, ses narines en fente remplies de boue. Son corps bas, sur des
pattes naïves à peine équarries, et qui tient du porc et de lui-même,
est recouvert d’une peau en fonte… Hou ! Il est étalé là dans le
soleil, les yeux à demi fermés, m’observant et se demandant ce que
je lui veux à le détailler ainsi. « Je voudrais que tu ouvres ton groin
pour que je puisse voir là-dedans ; puis, je ne te voudrais pas
comme voisin de table, tu m’offusques ! »
Ce qu’il s’en fiche ! Jamais créature ne fut plus heureuse de ses
habitudes fangeuses. « Du moment qu’il y a du soleil, et que je
puisse m’y étaler loin de vos simagrées ! Jamais, dans votre vie,
vous n’avez eu un moment de bien-être comme moi j’en ai, des jours
entiers, à me laisser roussir, à baver, à fienter et à vous considérer
comme une quantité inexistante. L’opinion publique !… Peuh ! »
30 mai 1915.
Le dindon domestique, tout blanc, se pavane, la queue en
éventail, les plumes ébouriffées, tout son être hérissé, devant le
treillage derrière lequel se trouve, le cou tendu, la femelle de son
congénère, autre dindon domestique. Il a les yeux entourés de bleu ;
le cou, la tête et le chiffon qui lui pend par-dessus le bec,
sanguinolents. Le chiffon est fripé comme un lambeau d’entrailles ; à
volonté, il injecte de sang, ou fait bleuir en bleu de ciel, ou laisse
pâlir en un blanc violacé cette masse amorphe qui pendille de droite
et de gauche. Il va et vient, apoplectique ou anémique, dément de
désir. Il est magnifique, antipathique, plein de morgue et
d’acariâtreté. Il tend le cou et fait kloukoulou ! kloukoulou ! Kwole,
kwole, kwole !
8 juin 1915.
Les paons en fureur d’amour.

Hier, en m’arrêtant devant la cage des paons, je vis trois ou
quatre mâles en parade devant les paonnes. Leurs queues étaient
en éventail ; leurs plumes, debout, s’entrechoquaient en un bruit
stridulé ; le cou des bêtes, contre cet écran, était raidi ; l’œil
hypnotique ; les ailes pendaient à terre, battaient convulsivement ;
les plumes du croupion étaient hérissées ; des pattes, ils grattaient la
terre. Ils scintillaient au soleil comme des idoles d’émail.
Une femelle s’avance. Un mâle fait demi-tour, se précipite et
l’étreint en des soubresauts, pendant que l’éventail s’abaisse sur
eux : ce fut saccadé et bref. Il se relève, chancelle, redresse son
éventail, bat, désemparé, des ailes qui traînent énervées à terre ;
puis il se jette sur d’autres mâles qui paradent également.
L’un d’eux poursuit une paonne en criant : Cawauw, tandis que
son écran, en fendant l’air, fait fffreûeût. Elle lui échappe ; il s’avance
encore doucement, grattant la terre et vibrant de l’éventail, et essaie
de l’encercler, de l’acculer, mais encore une fois elle fuit, se picote,
fait sa toilette, insensible à tant d’amour et de beauté offerts comme
appât. Tous poussent des Gawauwauw ! et se pavanent
frénétiquement devant les indifférentes. Puis, doucement, ils se
calment, rabattent leurs éventails, et se promènent. Ils ont la gorge
gonflée, le cou bosselé, tant l’émotion a été grande. C’est une des
plus belles, des plus passionnées scènes d’amour que j’ai jamais
vues.
13 juin 1915.
L’aigle ravisseur, brun pâle mordoré : les jambes emplumées, le

bec noir, l’œil fulgurant. Il est dans une cage d’un mètre cinquante
carrés ; un unique bâton comme perchoir. Il s’y démène, bat des
ailes furieusement ; il regarde, désespéré, autour de lui, cherchant
une issue ou quelque chose à quoi s’agripper dans ses efforts pour
voler. Il scrute le ciel bleu, se jette contre les barreaux, s’y
ensanglante les épaules et retombe à terre ; après ces efforts inutiles
recommencés toute la journée, il finit par se blottir sur son perchoir,
l’œil haineux, les griffes incrustées autour du bâton.
Ah ! cette impuissance devant la force brutale, implacable, qui
anéantit ses efforts, l’avilit, mais ne le terrasse que pour un instant :
car il recommencera tantôt son travail de révolte et de libération, et
qui sait ? une barre peut céder… Ah ! quelle douleur que celle de
l’aigle ravisseur…
25 août 1915.
Dans les ruines autour de moi, il y a constamment de petits et de

grands voleurs. Je les menace ordinairement de la police. Mais hier,
parmi ces maraudeurs, il y avait une voix de fillette si fraîche, si
joyeuse, que je l’ai écoutée, craignant même qu’elle partît trop vite.
— Oh ! une rose, une rose, bégayait-elle, ivre de joie.
J’entendais grimper sur le tas de décombres posé contre le mur,
et une petite main délicate et sale s’étendait vers une de nos roses
qui penchait au-dessus. Avec beaucoup de peine, elle l’attira à elle
et un bonheur gourmand éclata dans sa voix. Elle continua à fureter
dans les jardins.
— Oh ! deux pommes ! J’ai deux pommes !
Un petit gloussement sensuel suivait.
— Oh ! qu’il fait beau ici ! qu’on s’amuse ici !
Et des rires, comme des boules de cristal dévalant sur du
marbre, suivaient toutes ces exclamations de bonheur. Dieu, qu’il y a
des créatures limpides, et elle se trouvait parmi des maraudeurs !…
9 novembre 1915.
C’est insupportable. Nous avions un adorable petit matou de six

mois, gris tigré, à larges rayures noires. Il ronronnait toute la journée
et fouillait le ventre de sa mère pour téter encore et, quand il avait
trouvé le téton, il ronronnait plus goulument, bien qu’il n’en tirât plus
une goutte de lait. Il se hérissait devant les chiens et, sur la pointe
des pieds, le dos en ogive déjeté de côté, la queue droite,
ébouriffée, avec l’extrême bout seul qui remuait, il leur faisait face,
les oreilles couchées, tout son être arqué, sifflant ghauw, ghauw vers
eux, de sa gueule ouverte, en laissant passer entre les dents
pointues une adorable languette rose, également en pointe. Il sortait
par les fenêtres de la cuisine de cave et jouait sur le trottoir, où ne
passe plus personne, à attraper les feuilles mortes ; il les tapotait ou,
la tête entre les épaules, le corps frétillant, il bondissait dessus, les
prenait par tas entre les pattes et se roulait sur le dos, toujours
ronronnant, et même férocement, comme s’il se livrait à un délicieux
massacre. Puis il grimpait sur ce qui reste de la façade de la maison
d’à côté et disparaissait dans les décombres.
Eh bien, voilà cinq jours qu’il n’en est pas revenu, des
décombres. Je craignais, comme il se laissait caresser et prendre
par tout le monde, que quelqu’un ne l’eût ramassé pour en faire une
gibelotte. Pensez donc, par ce temps de quasi famine, quelle
délicieuse gibelotte qu’un petit chat grassouillet, nourri de lait et de
pâtés préparés avec amour par Caroline.
Mais voilà que nous entendons, depuis le jour de sa disparition,
des miaulements de petit chat dans les décombres. Caroline monte
par une échelle sur le mur du jardin, tire l’échelle à elle, la pose de
l’autre côté pour descendre. Ainsi, de mur en mur, elle a fait tous les
jardins, a visité toutes les ruines, appelant Kobeke, Kobeke, au
risque de tomber dans les trous de cave masqués par des briques.
Moi, je regardais par les fenêtres du grenier, inspectant les lieux
pour pouvoir crier à Caroline : « Il est là », si je le voyais. Eh bien,
nous ne le trouvons pas ; il se tait pendant que nous cherchons.
Caroline et moi, nous y pensons toute la journée et ce miaulement
qui s’affaiblit nous affole. Pensez donc, cette créature pleine de joie
va mourir tout doucement de faim : cette pensée nous est bien plus
odieuse que la supposition qu’on en aurait fait un lapin sauté.
12 novembre 1915.
La pluie, la pluie, la pluie, et atmosphère tiède.

Les grandes avenues sont désertes, les feuilles mortes jonchent
le pavé, les terre-pleins et les trottoirs. C’est joli, joli ! Il faut prendre
garde de glisser : on ferait comme un rien le grand écart.
Ici et là un Landsturm-man mélancolique. La lumière est comme
si on la regardait à travers un verre d’eau. Moi, je me sens alors une
bête aquatique et j’aime à me mouvoir dans cette atmosphère
d’aquarium.
Les trams marchent à vide. A l’avenue de Keyser, les vendeurs
de journaux, saturés d’eau, la figure lavée par la pluie, bleuie par le
froid, car l’atmosphère tiède, c’est pour nous les bien couverts et les
bien nourris et qui en prenons ce que nous voulons. Mais eux, qui
sont là depuis le matin à clamer, à piétiner, à se faire macérer dans
la saumure de leurs sales vêtements imbibés, eux grelottent et leurs
pauvres cris discordants me donnent de l’angoisse.
Au jardin zoologique, personne, si ce n’est encore, de ci de là,
deux soldats regardant tout de même les bêtes. Dame, ceux-là,
après les tranchées et les obus, doivent se sentir dans le paradis de
se balader sous cette eau tiède, certains qu’en ce moment aucun
engin ne va les aplatir ou les écarteler. Aussi ne s’occupent-ils pas
du temps : ils jouissent visiblement du moment de répit.
J’espère que nos petits mannekes, également, reçoivent ainsi
quelques jours de congé pour aller se refaire dans l’une ou l’autre
ville de la belle France et pouvoir penser à autre chose qu’à tuer et à
être tués.
Je parle à un gardien des fauves que l’on a dû abattre.
— Heureusement qu’ils sont morts. Où aurions-nous cherché les
chevaux pour les nourrir ? Un tigre, un lion, un ours mangent bien,
chacun, cinq kilogrammes de viande par jour. Nous n’aurions pu les
donner. Alors quoi ? nous les aurions vus maigrir et entendus gémir
de faim, se mettre à mugir d’aussi loin qu’ils auraient aperçu l’un
d’entre nous, qui les nourrissons. Non, il vaut mieux qu’ils soient
morts : je n’aurais pu les voir souffrir, car ils deviennent pour nous
comme nos enfants.
Puis je suis retournée lentement chez moi, l’eau me dégoulinant
des jupes.
5 avril 1916.
Depuis le commencement de la guerre, dit le Hannover Kurier,

on a fait rentrer tous les bateaux-phares de la côte de la Frise
occidentale et les phares ont été éteints. Cela a conservé la vie à
des milliers d’oiseaux de toutes espèces. Attirés et aveuglés par la
lumière des phares, des centaines et des centaines de ces bêtes
allaient chaque nuit se jeter contre les vitres et les barreaux et
tombaient morts. Habituellement, en automne et au printemps, des
multitudes d’oiseaux chanteurs, des alouettes, des sansonnets, des
grives, des canards, des mouettes, etc., venaient se tuer sur les
bateaux-phares de Borkum et Héligoland. Près du phare de
Héligoland, on trouvait, il y a quelques années, trois mille oiseaux
morts par semaine. Maintenant il y vit des milliers de mouettes, des
canards sauvages et beaucoup d’autres oiseaux aquatiques.
7 avril 1916.
Quelle effervescence parmi les bêtes du jardin zoologique ! Le

printemps les émeut. Dans la cage des tourterelles, les mâles
suivent, en roucoulant et s’inclinant bas, les femelles indifférentes,
qui picotent tranquillement les graines dans la terre, ne se souciant
pas de ce concert d’amour. De guerre lasse, ils les abandonnent un
instant pour picoter un grain de maïs, puis ils recommencent leurs
salamalecs de convoitise.
Les paons blancs sont isolés cette année. Quel blanc chaud,
moelleux, ouaté, à ombres ivoirées ! Ils commencent par étendre
leur queue en rayons devant la paonne impassible. Ils virent
lentement en abaissant l’écran vers elle en des frémissements
passionnés ; ils trémoussent leurs ailes et leurs croupions et grattent
la terre de leurs pattes. Ceux qui sont sur le bâton font leur toilette,
s’ébouriffent, secouent la queue, se gonflent le goître et poussent
des appels, répétés par les paons bleus de l’autre côté du jardin. Le
plumage de tous les oiseaux est renouvelé : il brille, reluit, miroite,
rayonne en une joie de couleurs et de teintes merveilleuses. Quand
j’en fais la remarque aux gardiens, ils me regardent étonnés :
— Les oiseaux sont toujours ainsi, répondent-ils.
Le faisan de Lady Amherst a les plumes posées en écailles de
poisson. En quelques jours, son collier blanc, bordé de noir, a envahi
toute la tête, ne laissant que le bec libre à nu. Il est là à virevolter
devant sa femelle havane qu’il veut acculer dans un coin : elle
s’échappe. Il fait frrut… en ébouriffant ce collier devant elle, en une
pose de côté : elle s’évade. Petite cruche, ne vois-tu pas sa beauté,
ni son émoi ? Que te faut-il pour t’impressionner ?
Le faisan doré pirouette devant la sienne, il l’encercle en faisant
ruisseler l’or de son collier ; elle aussi s’évade, effarouchée.
Il y a de grandes corbeilles de narcisses, de rhododendrons en
fleurs ; les tulipes commencent à dérouler leurs calices ; tout
redevient beau et attrayant. Il n’y a que cette guerre infâme qui
s’envenime et devient de plus en plus hideuse. Rien qu’en y
pensant, des bouffées pestilentielles vous prennent à la gorge et on
croit entendre la chute brutale des obus.
La paix !… pas avant que le dernier homme valide ne soit
estropié ou pulvérisé…
19 septembre 1916.
Dans des bassins, des canards étrangers, couleur ocre, la tête

plus pâle, la queue noire, tournent comme des toupies autour des
femelles, plus grandes, plus épaisses qu’eux ; ils « coincoinent », ils
jacassent, puis font des bonds agressifs, qu’elles évitent
adroitement. Alors ils allongent le cou vers elles, et soufflent et
reniflent comme des créatures aux abois.
Elles voguent tranquillement à deux, tournent de temps en temps
le bec l’une vers l’autre en se caquetant dans la figure quelque
chose qui fait : « rwanerwanewaw ». Cela veut dire évidemment :
« Que ces mâles sont embêtants ! il va encore falloir s’exécuter », ou
peut-être : « Quel bonheur d’être femelle dans la création : quand
l’heure est venue, avec quelle tendresse nous disons oui ! mais au
moins, nous ne sommes pas affligées de cette obsession malséante
qui s’étale devant tout le monde. »
30 novembre 1916.
Je crois que l’œil le plus beau au monde est l’œil du hibou grand-
duc : une grande boule noire comme liquéfiée, bordée d’une bande
de feu liquide, mais adoucie par la myopie et la souffrance de la
captivité. Je me trouve devant la cage. Il fait un Chchinit effarouché
et suit peureusement les mouvements de mes yeux, seule chose
qu’il semble voir dans ma figure. Oh ! qu’il est beau, qu’il est beau, et
que je l’aime, surtout maintenant que nous sommes nous-mêmes
pris dans une trappe d’où nous ne pouvons bouger.
Par le froid qui commence, les bonnes avec les enfants se
réfugient dans le palais des éléphants, où il n’y a plus que des
zèbres, des chameaux, des girafes et le rhinocéros. Il y fait chaud et
les enfants que les mamans envoient, bien emmitouflés, prendre de
l’air frais et pur, ne respirent pendant des heures que l’odeur du
fumier de ces animaux.
Le jardin zoologique est lamentablement triste : la moitié des
bêtes ont disparu, elles sont mortes et on ne peut les remplacer ;
d’autres ont été envoyées en Hollande parce qu’on ne pouvait plus
les nourrir ; celles qui restent ont l’air lonely. Moi, je me promène
dans ce jardin, bien désemparée aussi.
Les grues font un tour de valse quand elles voient arriver leur
gardien ; nous, quand nous voyons arriver un de nos gardes-
chiourmes, nous avons envie de nous fourrer dans un petit trou, tant
ils nous épouvantent.
5 juin 1917.
Je me promenais au soleil couchant dans les pinières. J’allais

passer entre deux arbres quand j’aperçus une toile d’araignée
accrochée à quatre fils. Heureusement que je la vis : je l’aurais
détruite en passant. Je me baissai et la regardai : la toile était fine et
achevée ; l’araignée se tenait au centre, elle avait le corps doré, les
pattes noires. Je touchai un des fils, elle fut tout de suite en émoi,
mais, comme elle n’aperçut pas de proie, elle se remit au centre. La
toile et l’insecte, scintillants au soleil, l’une comme des fils d’argent,
l’autre comme une goutte d’or, formaient un chef-d’œuvre. Dieu qu’il
y a des choses exquises !
Oui, mais voilà, des avions de combat survolent les pinières,
s’exercent aux massacres, et le canon tonne au loin et, à chaque
coup, de jeunes membres se dispersent aux quatre vents. On ne
peut pas oublier un instant la calamité qui pèse sur le monde sans
qu’on vous la rappelle brutalement.
En rentrant, je me suis assise dans une chaise longue au milieu
d’une pelouse. L’approche de la nuit est délicieuse, je veux me
délecter de ce qui m’entoure.
Le canon fait : Boum, boum ! berbereboum.
21 août 1917.
Stupide comme une vache !

Dans la prairie, à côté de mon jardin, on avait oublié une vache.
Elle s’impatientait, marchait le long de la clôture en fil de fer ; puis, la
tête vers le village, et exactement dans la direction de sa maison,
elle meuglait. Elle allait bien de temps en temps vers l’autre bout de
l’enclos, où se trouve la sortie, mais elle revenait meugler du côté
d’où l’on pouvait venir la délivrer. Accourt une fille qui lui crie de loin :
— Oui, j’arrive.
La vache répond en une vraie clameur d’impatience et de joie. La
fille hâte le pas.
— Oui, j’arrive, j’arrive.
La vache va vers la sortie en poussant des « Heun, heun » de
satisfaction.
— Tu t’es embêtée seule ? J’ai eu à faire, mais je ne t’oubliais
pas.
La vache sortit de la barrière, faisant toujours : « Heun, heun » et,
à pas pressés, se hâta vers l’étable, comme nous tous, nous nous
hâtons vers notre foyer quand nous avons été absents trop
longtemps à notre goût.
Stupide comme une vache !
29 novembre 1917.
Le vieux condor, la figure pelée et ridée, le nez surmonté d’une

crête molle, enfonce frileusement sa tête dans un collier de duvet
blanc qui lui fait capuchon. Il est tout recroquevillé par le froid et me
regarde, quand j’approche, d’un doux regard de bête matée. Puis il
rejette le capuchon, allonge le cou, secoue sa bavette et, d’un pas
lent, fait le tour de sa cage. Il se secoue encore une fois, étend ses
ailes noires aux pennes grises, les laisse retomber pesamment, fait
toc, toc toc, tac, tac, de l’estomac, puis se recroqueville et, la tête
enfouie dans son collier, le regard vers les nues, il ne bouge plus.
Le gardien s’approche pour fermer les cages, mais lui, le condor,
a le privilège de ne pas être enfermé la nuit.
1917.
La grue du Sénégal claironne sa musique à soufflet, puis fait
quelques tours sur le gravier humide de sa cage. Elle se picote, et,
lasse du froid et d’être seule, elle tourne son cou en forme de S sur
le dos, fourre sa tête sous ses ailes, puis replie une patte sous son
ventre et reste, tremblotante de froid, en équilibre sur l’autre pied.
Elle me fait pitié, l’adorable grue couronnée du Sénégal.
6 février 1918.
Je me suis arrêtée devant la cage du rat Guypu ou rat castor de

l’Amérique du Sud. Il est grand comme un lapin sauvage, mais plus
gros : gris, à moustaches, avec deux dents énormes et courbées, de
l’orange le plus vif, qui lui sortent de la bouche.
Ils étaient deux. L’un était assis au bord de son bassin d’eau, et
buvait et mangeait. L’autre nageait, mais il sortit de l’eau et, avec les
pattes de devant, exactement comme nous nous servons de nos
mains, commença à se nettoyer le museau, la tête, puis la gorge,
l’estomac et le ventre. Après, de ses doigts écartés, il se gratta les
bras et, des pattes de derrière, nettoya son arrière-train ; puis de
nouveau, avec celles de devant, il se lissa, comme pour donner un
dernier coup de peigne et de brosse. Tout cela avec adresse,
délicatement, comme un être accomplissant une tâche qui doit être
nettement faite et non bâclée.
Après être venus me regarder, tous deux se remirent, au bord de
leur bassin, à boire et à manger. J’eus la sensation de deux
créatures raffinées et sachant bien comment et pourquoi elles
faisaient tel ou tel geste.
Je me serais très bien entendue avec ces rats castors.
16 avril 1918.
Je me promenais tristement dans le jardin zoologique, d’où le

manque de nourriture a fait disparaître presque toutes les bêtes.
Mais bientôt je m’arrêtai, la vue charmée, devant une cage où cinq
paons blancs, la queue en éventail, tournaient lentement, les pennes

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Topical Approach To Lifespan Development 7Th Edition Santrock Solutions Manual Full Chapter PDF

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Topical Approach to Lifespan

Development 7th Edition Santrock

II. HOW LANGUAGE DEVELOPS

III. BIOLOGICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES

1. Define language and describe its rule systems.

2. Describe how language develops through the life span.

3. Discuss the biological and environmental contributions to language skills.

Patricia Kuhl Todd Risley Roger Brown

Lecture Suggestion 1: Environmental Influences on Literacy

Lecture Suggestion 2: Infant Speech Perception—

The biological component of speech perception is complemented by the experiential component.

Lecture Suggestion 3: Auditory Skills and Language Development

Lecture Suggestion 4: Birth Order and Language Development

Lecture Suggestion 5: Does Feedback Facilitate Language Learning?

Lecture Suggestion 6: Ape Talk

Classroom Activity 1: Do Animals Have

Classroom Activity 2: Which Comes First? The Chicken or the Egg?

Classroom Activity 3: Language Development and Multiple Births

Classroom Activity 4: Supporting Arguments for

Classroom Activity 5: Observation of Parent-Infant Interaction

• Instructions for Students:

Classroom Activity 6: Testing Language Development

Personal Application 1: Birth Order and Language Development

Personal Application 2: “Hewo Witto Baby”

Personal Application 3: Does Day Care Facilitate Language?

Personal Application 4: Language Disorders and Socioemotional Development

Research Project 1: Birth Order and Language Development

Research Project 2: Caregiver-Infant Language

Research Project 3: Dementia and Language

Research Project 4: Biology and Language

Research Project 5: Does Feedback Facilitate Language Learning?

Research Project 6: Language Errors

Film and Video List

Cross-Cultural Communication (Insight Media, 2002, 24 minutes). Providing a sociological and

Web Site Suggestions

American Academy of Family Physicians, information on Language Delay:

American Association for Applied Linguistics: http://www.aaal.org/

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association: http://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/

National Association for Bilingual Education: http://www.nabe.org/

Noam Chomsky Website: http://www.chomsky.info

Reading Wars: Phonics vs. Whole Language: http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/reading/

Statistics on Bilingual Education: http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=96

Warning Signs of a Language Delay:

Writing Development in Childhood: http://www.pbs.org/parents/readinglanguage/writing/main.html

Speech Response of Infant Age ____ Sex ____

Handout RP 9-6 (continued)

Task Child 1 Child 2

Handout RP 9-6 (continued)

Ce sacré merle ! il vous en a une sérénité !

Journée radieuse. Depuis le premier avril, le directeur du jardin

Au jardin zoologique, des dames viennent avec des jeux de

Le merle, après chaque phrase bien articulée, fait : Hihihirurutiti,

Je n’ai sans doute pas de cœur de m’occuper du merle qui vole

Je n’ai pas osé aller m’installer à la campagne cette année, et,

La ville est très peu animée : de plus en plus de magasins

Les paons en fureur d’amour.

L’aigle ravisseur, brun pâle mordoré : les jambes emplumées, le

Dans les ruines autour de moi, il y a constamment de petits et de

C’est insupportable. Nous avions un adorable petit matou de six

La pluie, la pluie, la pluie, et atmosphère tiède.

Depuis le commencement de la guerre, dit le Hannover Kurier,

Quelle effervescence parmi les bêtes du jardin zoologique ! Le

Speech Response of Infant Age Sex