This summary focuses on Cognition and Language. It contains: terminology, structure of language, 3 areas of language, milestones in language development, bilingualism, theories of language acquisition, problem-solving, and decision making.
This summary is written according to Chapter 8 from the te...
Chapter 8 – Cognition and Language
(Pages 228 - 247)
Language: Turning Thoughts into Words
Structure of Language
Language: the arrangement of sounds used to communicate thoughts and feelings
Has to following characteristics:
1. It is symbolic – system of signs and purposeful symbols are used to represent something
2. It is infinitely generative – can be rearranged and combined limitlessly to convey ideas
3. It is structured (rule-governed) – enables people to produce and interpret meaning universally
4. It is semantic (meaningful) – enables us to send and receive information, allows for
communication and socialisation
3 key areas of language:
1. The Medium of Transmission through:
Phonetics: the study of sounds in human speech
It looks at the physical production, sound transmission and perception of the sounds
of speech
Phonology: the methodical organisation of sounds in languages
It describes the way sounds function within a language to translate meaning
Phone: a unit of speech sound, can be the smallest contrastive linguistic unit used to
bring about change in meaning (a set: phonemes)
2. Grammar:
Morphology: the system of meaningful forms in words
The identification, analysis and description of the language-system’s morphemes
Includes root words, prefixes and suffixes
Phonemes Morphemes Words
Syntax: the order in which words are put together to form a sentence
Sentences are combined used specific/fixed rules, a sentence always has a subject
and a predicate
3. Semantics (Meaning): (how words and their fundamental meanings relate to each other)
Lexicon: a language’s word stock (language’s dictionary)
Discourse: written and spoken communication
Milestones in Language Development
1. Precursors of speech: the foundations of sound which are used by new born babies
Attending to talking, hearing changes in sound, rhythm and tone
Although the noises they make are not considered words, they still communicate emotions
2. Vocalisation: the stage characterised by babbling and cooing.
Starts at 3-4 months old and ends between 9 and 12 months old, but can continue even
after their first words
Babbling: the production of a wide variety of sounds that correspond to phonemes and
eventually, becomes repetitive consonant-vowel combinations, such as ‘lalala’.
3. Word development
Child first need to distingush between speech and non-speech (10 – 18 months)
Speech is broken into words and then sounds
Playing with these sounds leads to planned and organised speech
Before speaking children need to understand many words = receptive > productive vocab
Receptive vocabulary: comprehension of speech
Productive vocabulary: when and how the child responds or talks
4. Holophrases: single words used as sentences. E.g. ‘up’ means ‘Please pick me up’
Used around 12 months
5. 2-word sentences
1
, Used from 18 months to 3 years
Use content words, articles and prepositions in 2-word sentences to express an action (Me
jump), possession (My bottle) or location (Mama outside)
Learn about grammar by listening to other people speak
Language acquisition at this age can be characterised in 4 ways:
o Telegraphic speech: content is brief and certain unimportant words are
excluded (E.g. ‘Give bottle’ instead of ‘Please give me the bottle’)
Ignores articles, prepositions and other nonessential words
o Over-extension: occurs when a child applies the meaning of a word too widely.
E.g. using ‘cat’ to describe all animals
o Under-extension: occurs when a child restricts the meaning of a word.
E.g. using the word ‘brush’ only for their toothbrush
o Over-regularisation: when a particular grammatical rule is used too much
E.g. If a child learns to add an ‘s’ to make a word plural, they might say ‘tooths’
instead of ‘teeth’
6. Sentence construction
Construct more elaborate sentences
Happens between 3 and 6 years old
Vocab increase rapidly: 5-9 words daily
Become more aware of and familiar with metalinguistic awareness: the ability to
consciously reflect on the nature of language
Allows children to understand literal and implied meanings, therefore they can use
metaphors and later learn sarcasm and irony
Bilingualism: Learning More Than One Language
Bilingualism: the acquisition of two languages that use different speech sounds, vocabulary and
grammatical rules
Does Learning Two Languages Simultaneously Slow Down Language Development?
Simultaneous acquisition: occurs when a child is exposed to 2 languages from birth
At first children will occasionally mix words and sounds, but when they are about 5, they are
capable of keeping languages separate
Successive acquisition: occurs when a monolingual child is exposed to a second language
(E.g. learning a language at school that is different from your home language)
Learning a 2nd language is influenced by unique temperament; learning style; and skills in
social, cultural, cognitive and linguistic areas
The degree to which a child learns a second language is dependant on how proficient they
are in their home language
Does Bilingualism Affect Cognitive Processes and Skills?
Greater cognitive flexibility and analytical thinking
More creative solutions in cognitive tasks
Can Animals Develop Language?
Communicative units used by animals lack the symbolic quality of human language and are
directly related to their semantic content
Animal communication cannot be generated infinitely either as they are simply repetitive
communications
Noam Chomsky tried to teach a chimpanzee, but it never got past a 4-year old’s level as it
could not understand syntax and vocab was limited. Many believe is was not mastery of
language, but rather learnt behaviours
Language in Evolutionary Context
2
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