Language is what defines us as human
Children learn language with minimal effort as oppose to how difficult adults find it
One theory is that children learn language through a natural process rather than being taught
Nature or Nurture debate: To what extent are we born with the ability to speak?
How we learn to speak is still unknown
The Speech Home project by Deb Roy was a very important recent study of how children learn language : an effort to closely observe and model the language acquisition of a child over the first three years of life.
Positive reinforcement encourages language
Parents simplify their speech for children - elongating pauses and simplifying lexis
They converge towards the childs language - Parentese
Babies don't listen to words, but sounds - Phonological awareness outstrips semantic awareness
By the time a child is 5 they will know 5,000 words and learn roughly 30 thousand more a year
Without knowing the noun of an object, a child will use determiners instead 'that one'. sometimes with a point
New born babies respond to their mother's voice in a way that they do not respond to others
Noam Chomsky is known as the Godfather of linguistics
The forbidden experiment - raising a baby with no communication
There is a gene that controls our ability to shape words: FOXP2 That suggests we are born with the ability to speak
Chomsky's LAD (language acquisition device) is supported by FOXP2
We are born with the ability to speak but it must be stimulated to develop properly
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