Phonemic development Exemplar theory view t d attractor

Phonemic development

Exemplar theory/view /t/ /d/ attractor

Categorical perception Continuous perception Categorical perception

Categorical perception [p] [b] [d] Liberman 1957

Categorical perception Like adult speakers of English, English infants perceive the gradual transition from [b] to [t] categorically. Eimas et al. 1971

Categorical perception is a unique human capacity and restricted to language. Eimas et al. 1971

Categorical perception • Categorical perception also occurs in other species. • Categorical perception is not restricted to speech. • Categorical perception is not characteristic of all speech sounds.

Phonetic assimilation • Context-free strategies • Context-bound strategies

Phonetic assimilation [d{s] [b. Ed] [sek] [h{n] [da] glass bread snake hand star Reduction of consonant cluster

Phonetic assimilation [b{n] van [d{t] that [n. Er] there [d{k] Jack [d{b] jam [d. Ek] check Word-initial fricatives are replaced by stops

Phonetic assimilation [b. Ot] pot [do] toe [d. I] kiss Voicing of wordinitial stops

Phonetic assimilation [dat] duck [det] gate [zus] shoes [m{ts] match [t{b@dz] cabbage Fronting of consonants

Phonetic assimilation [n. Op] knob [b{t] bad [d. Ot] dog [duf] stove Devoicing of final obstruents

Phonetic assimilation [böt] [gög] [gök] [g. Ig] [g. Og] [d. Ot] [gök] [g. Ik] but big book pig dot duck stick Harmonization of initial consonants (if the word ends in a velar consonant)

Motherese • Exaggerated stress patterns, exaggerated intonation • Many repetitions • Many vocatives/attention getters • Many questions • Simple sentences and simple grammatical constructions • Basic vocabulary

Fatherese • Question-answer • Request-response • Focus of attention response

Early words

Pragmatic development Language is an instrument. Language us used to … • • express anger ask a question promise someone to do something warn somebody

Pragmatic development Language is learned in social interactions involving three important components: • speaker • hearer • things and events talked about

Pragmatic development Bühler 1934 Organon Model

Pragmatic development dyadic interactions

Pragmatic development 9 -months revolution Tomasello 1999 Triadic interactions

Vocabulary development 1; 2 – 1; 3 First words 2; 0 100 -600 words 9 -10 words a day 6; 0 14, 000 words 18; 0 50, 000 words

Vocabulary development vocabulary development

Vocabulary development What leads to the vocabulary spurt?

Vocabulary development What leads to the vocabulary spurt?

Vocabulary development • The vocabulary spurt begins when children recognize the symbolic nature of language (i. e. when they recognize that everything has a name. • The vocabulary development is trigged by advanced articulatory skills.

Vocabulary development 1; 0 1; 1 1; 2 1; 3 1; 4 1; 5 1; 6 daddy, mommy bye dog, hi, uh oh baby, ball, no eye, nose, banana, juice, shoe, kitty, bird, duck, car, book, balloon, bottle, night-night, woof, moo, ouch, baa, yum apple, cheese, ear, cracker, keys, bath, peekaboo, vroom, up, down, that grandpa, grandma, sock, hat, cat, fish, truck, boat, thank you, cup, spoon, back

Vocabulary development • Words referring to people daddy, mommy, baby • Words referring to animals dog, kitty, bird, duck • Words referring to body parts eye, nose, ear • Words referring to food banana, juice, apple, cheese • Words referring to toys ball, balloon, book • Words referring to cloths shoe, sock, hat • Words referring to vehicles car, truck, boat • Words referring to household objects bottle, keys, bath, spoon • Words denoting routines bye, hi, uh oh, night-night, no • Words denoting activities up, down, back • Sound imitating words woof, moo, ouch, baa, yum • Deictics that

Vocabulary development Children’s early words function as speech acts (i. e. there is no functional distinction between words and utterances.

Vocabulary development What do children need to understand in order to learn words? They need to understand the symbolic nature of language.

Vocabulary development What do children need to understand in order to learn words?

Vocabulary development see 1. I saw Peter. 2. I see what you mean. run 1. She is running down the stairs. 2. She ran into Peter. car 1. vehicle 2. toy have 1. She has a dog. 2. I have finished my work.

Vocabulary development head of a department head of a nail header body part head of a team flower head to head

Vocabulary development balloon orange moon ball Partitioning of the conceptual space

Vocabulary development doggy dog

Vocabulary development Word First referent overextensions dog mooi moon ticktock watch baw ball mum fly horse fly fm worm wau-wau sound of train sch (Germ) dog cat, horse, rabbit, lion, tiger, all four-legged animals cakes, round marks on window, round shapes in books, round postmarks, letter O clock, gas meter, fire hose on spool, bath scale with round dial apples, grapes, eggs, squash, bell clapper, anything round cow, calf, pig, moose, all 4 -legged animals specks of dirt, dust, all small insects, child’s own toes, crumbs of bread, toad flies, ants, all small insects, heads of timothy grass all animals, toy dog, soft house, slippers, picture of old man in furs all moving machines

Vocabulary development Why do children overgeneralize word meanings? • Hypothesis 1: Children are not yet able to distinguish dogs from other animals. • Hypothesis 2: Children’s restricted vocabulary forces them to overgeneralize words.