Language
Rūta Čepulytė
PSbns0-01
Content
Language
 Grammar
 Phonology
 Syntax
 Semantics
 Language development: 4 stages
 Production of language
 Language acquisition: 2 approaches to
language development
 Conclusion

Language
 The
communication of information
through symbols arranged according
to systematic rules.
Grammar
 The
system of rules that determine
how our thoughts can be expressed.
Major components of language:
 Phonology
 Syntax
 Semantics
Phonology
 It
is the study of the smallest basic
units of speech, called phonemes,
that affect meaning, and of the way
we use those sounds to form words
produce meaning.
Example:
Fat
Fate
Syntax
 Ways
in which words and phrases
can be combined to form sentences.
Example:
“John kidnapped the boy”
“John, the kidnapped boy”
“The boy kidnapped John”
Semantics
 The
rules governing the meaning of
words and sentences.
Example:
“The truck hit Laura”
“Laura was hit by truck”
Language development
 Babble:
meaningless speechlike
sounds made by children from
around the age of 3 months through
1 year.
Production of language
 By
age 1
 After
the age of 1 year
 By
age 3
 By
age 5
Production of language (2)
By age 1

By the time children are
approximately 1 year old, they stop
producing sound that are not in the
language to which they have been
exposed. It is the short step to the
production of actual words.
Production of language (3)
After the age of 1 year
 After
the age of 1 year, children
begin to learn more complicated
forms of language.
Production of language (4)
Age by 3
 Children
learn to make plurals by
adding s to nouns and to form the
past tense by adding –ed to verbs.
Production of language
By age 5
 Children
have acquired the basic
rules of language.
 They
do not attain a full vocabulary
and the ability to comprehend and
use subtle grammatical rules until
later.
Language acquisition
 Learning-theory
 Innate
processes
(Nativist Approach)
Learning theory approach
(to language development)
 The
theory suggesting that language
acquisition follows the principles of
reinforcement and conditioning.
Nativist approach
(to language development)
 The
theory that a genetically
determined, innate mechanism
directs language development.
Conclusion
To use of language is an important
cognitive ability, one that is not only
indispensable for people to
communicate with one another, but
also closely tied to the very way in
which people think about and
understand the world.
Language is a tool built for use by
humans, just as is a pair of scissors.
Scissors take the manipulating abilities of
human hands and use them to produce a
skill that normally could not be done by a
human being: namely cutting a fairly
straight line through a piece of paper.
References




Robert S. Feldman “Understanding Psychology” 9th edition
http://www.duke.edu/~pk10/language/psych.htm
[2010.11.10]
http://www.google.lt/images?hl=lt&q=language&psj=1&um
=1&ie=UTF8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=1280&bih=620
[2010.12.01]
http://www.google.lt/images?um=1&hl=lt&biw=1280&bih=
620&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=words&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq
=&gs_rfai=
[2010.12.01]