Language
Development
PATRICIA J. BROOKS
VERAKEMPE
DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
SERIES EDITOR
MARTYN BARRETT
BPS BLACKWELL
Contents
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1 What Enables Infants to Acquire Language?
1.1 What is the evolutionary context of language development? 1.1.1 Extended period of immaturity
1.1.2 Alloparental care
1.1.3 Reciprocal interaction between young infants and caregivers
1.1.4 Complex social environments
1.2 What are the abilities of language-ready newborns? 1.2.1 Attending to others
Methodology Box 1.1: The Still-Face Paradigm
1.2.2 Engaging others
1.2.3 Neurological and cognitive immaturity
Summary Further Reading
Chapter 2 What do Infants Learn Before they Speak their First Word? 2.1 What is there to learn?
2.1.1 Speech sounds
2.1.2 Rhythm and intonation
2.2 What are the linguistic abilities of newborns? 2.2.1 Recognising language
Methodology Box 2.1: Methods for Assessing Infants' Speech Perception
2.2.2 Discriminating between languages 2.3 How do infants discover the sounds of language?
2.3.1 Phonemic categories 2.3.2 Early vocalisations
2.3.3 Tuning into the native language 2.4 How do infants discover words?
2.4.1 Distributional information 2.4.2 Prosodic and phonological cues
Summary Further Reading XV 1 3 4 5 7 9 11 11 13 14 15
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18 19 21 21 23 25 25 26 28 29 29 31 34 37 37 39 40 41X CONTENTS
Chapter 3 How does Social and Cognitive Development
Support Language Development? 43
3.1 What do infants learn from interacting with others? 44 3.1.1 Incorporating the environment into the interaction 443.1.2 Understanding social signals 46
3.1.3 Understanding intentions 48
3.1.4 Learning to imitate 49
3.2 What do infants learn about the world? 51 3.2.1 Knowledge about objects 51
3.2.2 Knowledge about actions and events 52
3.3 What is the role of gestures in language development? 54 3.3.1 Development of gestures 55
3.3.2 The relationship between gesture and speech 57
3.3.3 Gesture as a possible facilitator of
language development 58
Summary 61 Further Reading 62
Chapter 4 How do Children Learn Words? 63
4.1 How does social interaction support word learning? 65
4.1.1 Inferring word meanings from social cues 65
4.1.2 Inferring word meanings from activities and routines 67
4.1.3 How caregivers can support word learning 69 4.2 When do children learn their first words? 70 4.2.1 Word comprehension 70
4.2.2 Word production 71
4.2.3 Word production errors 72
4.3 How is the child's vocabulary organised? 74 4.3.1 Organisation by meaning 74
4.3.2 Organisation by form 74
4.3.3 Organisation by morphological relatedness 75
4.3.4 Organisation by phonological similarity 76
4.3.5 Learning combinations of words 76
4.4 How do children learn so many words in such short time? 77 4.4.1 Mapping words to meanings 77
Methodology Box 4.1: Estimating Toddlers' Vocabularies with the Macarthur-Bates Communicative
Development Inventory 78
4.4.2 Eliminating unlikely meanings of novel words 80
4.4.3 Making assumptions about word meanings 81 4.4.4 Using syntax to infer meanings of novel words 84 4.4.5 Using morphology to infer meanings of novel words 85
Summary 87 Further Reading 88
Chapter 5 H o w do Children Learn to Combine and Modify Words? 89 5.1 Where does grammatical knowledge come from? 91 5.1.1 Nativist approaches to grammar 91 5.1.2 Usage-based approaches to grammar 96 5.2 Can infants learn about grammar before they even start to speak? 98 5.2.1 Extracting grammar from sound 99 5.2.2 Extracting grammar from distributional information 100 5.2.3 Generalising to novel words 102 5.3 How do children learn to combine and modify words? 102 5.3.1 Item-based learning of grammatical structures 103 5.3.2 Discovering schemas 104 5.3.3 Understanding and producing verbs 105
Methodology Box S.I: Elicited Production Studies with
Novel Words 107
5.4 Why do children make grammatical errors and how do they stop? 109 5.4.1 Errors in production 109 5.4.2 Errors in comprehension 111
Summary 114 Further Reading US
Chapter 6 What Kind of Language do Children Encounter? 6.1 How do we address children?
6.1.1 Child-directed speech prosody
Methodology Box 6.1: The Child Language Data Exchange System (CHILDES)
6.1.2 Child-directed speech phonology
6.1.3 Grammar and content of child-directed speech 6.1.4 Child-directed gestures
6.2 What are the functions of child-directed speech? 6.2.1 Relevance of child-directed speech 6.2.2 Affective bonding
6.2.3 Regulating the child
6.2.4 Teaching language and other things
6.2.5 The multi-functional nature of child-directed speech 6.3 Do differences in language input affect language development?
6.3.1 Cultural effects
6.3.2 Socio-economic and demographic effects 6.3.3 Effects of parental communication styles
Summary Further Reading
Chapter 7 H o w do Children Learn to Use Language?
7.1 How do children develop communicative competence? 7.1.1 Perspective taking
7.1.2 Pragmatic principles of conversation
117 119 120 121 123 125 126 128 128 129 130 130 133 134 135 136 138 139 140 141 142 143 146
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7.1.3 Non-literal use of language 147 7.1.4 Humour and teasing 151 7.1.5 Telling stories 152
Methodology Box 7.1: Eliciting Narratives with the Frog Stones 154
7.2 Do boys and girls differ in how they learn and use language? 156 7.2.1 Gender differences in general language development 156 7.2.2 Gender differences in the development of
communicative styles 157
Summary 161 Further Reading 162
Chapter 8 How does Language Development Affect Cognition? 163 8.1 How does using language support cognitive development? 165 8.1.1 Encoding and retrieving memories 165 8.1.2 Development of a personal past, present, and future 166 8.2 Does it matter which language children learn? 169 8.2.1 Language and colour cognition 169 8.2.2 Language and spatial cognition 172 8.2.3 Language and numerical cognition 176 8.2.4 Mechanisms behind effects of language on cognition 179 8.3 Does it matter how many languages children learn? 181 8.3.1 Rate of development in two languages 181 8.3.2 Cognitive effects of learning two languages 183
Summary 186 Further Reading 187
Chapter 9 What is the Role of Literacy in Language Development? 189 9.1 How do children learn to read and write? 192 9.1.1 The structure of -writing systems 192 9.1.2 Learning to read and write 196 9.1.3 Literacy instruction methods 199 9.2 How does literacy affect language development? 202 9.2.1 Literacy and phonemic awareness 202 9.2.2 Literacy and grammatical development 203 9.2.3 Literacy and vocabulary development 204
Methodology Box 9.1: Assessing Vocabulary Knowledge in Adults 20S
9.2.4 Amplification of individual differences in literacy 207 9.3 Why is learning to read difficult for some children? 209 9.3.1 Developmental dyslexia 209 9.3.2 Possible causes of developmental dyslexia 210
Summary 211 Further Reading 212
Chapter 10 What Causes Language Impairments? 213 10.1 What are the symptoms of Specific Language Impairment? 215 10.1.1 Deficits in auditory processing 215
Methodology Box 10.1: Standardised Assessment Tests
of Language Ability 217
10.1.2 Deficits in phonological processing 220 10.1.3 Deficits in lexical processing 223 10.1.4 Deficits in grammatical processing 224 10.1.5 Wider repercussions 226 10.2 Which children are at risk for Specific Language Impairment? 227 10.2.1 Genetic basis of language impairment 227 10.2.2 Neural markers of language impairment 228 10.2.3 Diagnosing language impairment 230 10.2.4 Predicting outcomes for late talkers 231 10.3 What might explain Specific Language Impairment? 233
10.3.1 Deficits in grammatical representation 233 10.3.2 Processing deficits 234 10.3.3 Impaired statistical learning 236
Summary 237 Further Reading 238
Chapter 11 How do Deaf Children Acquire Language? 239 11.1 Are sign languages acquired differently from
spoken languages? 241 11.1.1 Structure and processing of sign languages 241 11.1.2 Acquisition of sign languages 244 11.1.3 Age of exposure to sign language
and language acquisition 245 11.1.4 Age of exposure to sign language
and cognitive development 247 11.2 How does partial restoration of hearing affect
language development? 249 11.2.1 The mechanics of cochlear implants 249 11.2.2 The importance of sound 252
Methodology Box 11.1: Assessing Sequence Learning Abilities 2S3
11.3 Can deaf children create their own communication systems? 255 11.3.1 Gestural communication in isolated deaf children 255 11.3.2 Creation of sign language 258
Summary 260 Further Reading 261
Chapter 12 How does Language Development Affect the Brain? 263 12.1 Which areas of the brain process language? 264 12.1.1 Processing speech sounds in the brain 265 12.1.2 Processing grammar in the brain 266 12.1.3 Processing meaning in the brain 267 12.1.4 Connecting the different circuits 267
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12.2 When does neural specialisation for language develop? 271 12.2.1 Early specialisation of cortical areas for speech processing 271 12.2.2 Genetic underpinnings of neural specialisation 273 12.2.3 Adapting the brain to literacy 275 12.3 Is there a critical period for language development? 277 12.3.1 Age of recovery from brain injury 278 12.3.2 Age of exposure to a second language 279 12.3.3 Neural representation of a second language 281
Summary 284 Further Reading 285 Glossary 287 References 303 Name Index 367 Subject Index 379
