Language Acquisition

 

LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Topic I: The development of Speech Production.

1.      Explain the concept of vocalization, babbling, and speech?

Vocalization:

-          Infant make a variety of sound, crying, cooing, and gurgling.

-          The variety of sound is same everywhere.

-          Unlearned ability.

Babbling:

-          Around the seven month

-          Described as repeated syllables (syllable reduplication); consonant + vowel type consonant + vowel + consonant

-          Distinctive

-          Non-intentional connection (not under central cognitive control).

            Speech:

-          Children first word

-          It occurs around 1 year of age but can occur much earlier or much later.

-          Intentional connection (under central cognitive control).

-          Discontinuity between babbling and meaningful speech.

2.      How is the process of early speech stages?

·         Naming : one – word utterances

Children can be said to have learned their first word when they are able to utter a recognizable speech form, children when this is done. In conjunction with some object or event in the environment. The speech form may be imperfect.

e.g. ‘da’ for daddy, and the associated meaning may be in correct.

e.g. ‘all people are called ‘da’, but as long as the child uses the speech form reliably. It may be concluded that the child has acquired some short of word knowledge.

a.       Some of this variability has to do with physical development such as the musculature of the mouth.

b.      Certain brain development is also involved since the creation of speech sound must come under the control of speech areas in the cerebral cortex.

c.       The definition of naming in this context is when children put words to the object. First word have been reported as appearing in children from as young as 4 month to as old 18 months. Some of this variability has to do with physical development, such as musculature of the mouth, which is essential for proper articulation of sounds. Certain brain development is also involved since the creation of speech sounds must come under the control of speech areas in the cerebral cortex. (Bates, Thal, Janowsky, 1992)

 

·         Holophrastic functions : one word utterances

-          Children do not only use single words to refer to object: they also using single words to express complex thoughts which involve those object.

-          Research has shown that by using single word, children can express a variety of semantic function and complex ideas.

-          Holophrastic means the child use single word to express the thought while the adult will use the whole sentence.

e.g. peach, daddy, spoon, to describe a situation where daddy had cut a place of peach that was in a spoon rather than say it in a full sentence like the adult does.

·         Telegraphic speech :one –word utterances

Children do not proceed as rapidly to two words utterances as one might expect.

a.       Variety of purpose and semantic relation.

-          Purpose : child uses language to request, warn, name, question and etc.

-          Semantic relations : as agents, action, experiencer, receiver, state, object, possession, location and etc.

b.      Low incidence of function words

Functions include: articles, prep, and ‘be’ (am, are, is, were, was, been).

Children familiar with nouns, verbs, and adjectives only, as the daily utterance that they use after hearing from the surrounding environment.

 

c.       Close approximation of the languages word order.

-          The final feature of the child’s utterances which might be noted is the close correspondence of the child’s word order to that of proper sentence.

-          The children learning English tend to say ‘my cup’ rather than ‘cup my’,’not tired’ rather than ‘tired not’, and ‘daddy come’ rather than ‘come daddy’. Even with two words utterances child show some learning of the word order of the language.

d.      Syntactic vs semantic analysis

-          Focus was on syntax is Chomsky’s syntactic-based theory grammar which is did not detail the semantic component in his grammar.

-          e.g. ‘mommy chair’ = noun + noun, and ‘truck table’= noun + noun.

-          Characterizing utterances wholly in terms of syntactic form fails to uncover important information which is the variety of semantics relations and purposes for which utterances are used.

·         Morpheme acquisition

-          Once 2-3 word utterances have been acquired, children have something on which to elaborate.

-          They star to add function words and inflections to their utterances. Function word like the preposition ‘in’ and ‘on’, the articles ‘the’, ‘a’, and ‘an’, the modals ‘can’, and ‘will’, and the auxiliaries ‘do’, ‘be’, and ‘have’, begin to appear, together with inflections such as the plural /s/ on ‘cats’, and /z/ on ‘dogs, and tense markings such as the /t/ past tense form on ‘worked’.

 

a.       The brown morpheme acquisition research.

The most notable piece of research on morpheme acquisition to date is that done by the noted psycholinguist Roger Brown (1973). Brown focuses on the acquisition of different function in English. He found that children acquired the morphemes in a relatively similar order.

b.      Our explamatin of order of acquisition.

-          Variable 1 : ease of observability of referent.

-          Variable 2 : meaningfulness of referent.

-          Variable 3 : distinctiveness of sound in signaling the referent.

c.       Giving rating to these variables

In the brown study on each of these variable state that H (hight), M (medium), or L (low). Until the children learns to understand and wants to express ideas of the past which involve a continuing action. So in the summary column, this morpheme receives an L-L-L pattern.

Topic II : The Development of speech production

1.      How is the process of later speech stages?

Later Speech Stages: Rule Formation for Negatives, Questions, Passives and Other Complex Structures

a.       Negation development

Before presenting some of the acquisition data concerning negation, it may be useful to review some of the features of the negation process. Let us consider some sentences and their negation.

o   Affirmative:    Kim is hungry

o   Negative:         Kim is not hungry

Kim isn’t hungry

o   Affirmative:    Kim wanted some candy

o   Negative:         Kim did not want any candy

Kim didn’t want any candy

b.      Features of Negation

There are 5 different things in producing the negative formation.

1) Where to insert the negative marker.

2) When and where to insert auxiliary ‘do’.

3) When auxiliary ‘do’ is used, the tense from the verb is shifted to the auxiliary ‘do’.4) Lexical Concordances must be made in the case of the negative.

5) Optionally, AUX + NEG (did + not) can be contracted to ‘didn’t’.

A research has done under negation formation. The research involved 3 children and as the results it revealed 3 types of period.

-          Period 1-‘No Money’. This is the earliest period. The form of ‘no’ or ‘not’ placed at the front of an affirmative utterance.

-          Period 2-‘I don’t want it’. The negative marker tends to appear internally within the utterance rather than outside it as in the previous period, and the auxiliary ‘do’ appear with the negation marker. Some researchers believe that children treat don’t and can’t as single words and do not analyze them as Aux + Neg.

-          Period 3-‘Paul can’t have one’. The period before the perfect negatives are formed. The copula ‘be’ and the modal ‘will’ appear with negation and imperative negation. The child has a good idea of when ‘do’ must be inserted and when is not.

c.       Question formations

-          Question forms also demonstrate a complex abstract task which young children can solve.

-          Two basic forms: 1) Yes-No Questions-solicit a yes or no answer 2) WH Questions-that uses who, what and etc.

d.      Yes – No Questions

-          Involves same basic syntactic consideration as in the formation of negatives.

-          Sentences which have copula ‘be’, modal, AUX have that item in front of the sentence in a question. E.g: Is John a very tall boy?

e.       WH Questions

-          PRO (reduced substitute) forms are formed by substituting the phrase which is targeted for questioning with an appropriate WH word.

-          WH word is always placed at the beginning of the sentence.

f.       Passive formations

The children can make the passive sentence when 13 years old.

3 phase of passive formation:

-          Relying: catch the sentence or structure (around 4 years old).

-          Interpreting: understand the sentence, which is subject and object (9 years old).

-          Applying: use the sentence or structure (13 years old).

g.      Other problems

Structure with 2 or more verbs

-          The acquisition of complex sentences, utterances containing 2 or more verbs.

-          All of these complex forms consist of clauses that are attached to the end of the utterances.

-          WH-clauses appear with abstract adverbials. E.g: Can I do it when we get home?

-          It is interesting that the adverbs ‘when’, ‘where’ emerge before the nouns that they replace.

h.      Verb problems

-          Carol Chomsky found that some complex grammatical structures may not be acquired until quite late, even at the age of 10 or 11 years.

-          Children sometimes apply it incorrectly depending on the verb in the main clause.

Topic III : The Development of Speech Comprehension.

1.      How is the phenomena of fetuses and speech input?

-          The ear of the fetus is developed enough to send sounds to the brain is unknown.

-          The effects of the mother’s voices on the fetus’s intrauterine listening may explain post-birth listening preferences of the neonate for the mother’s voice and for the language the mother spoke while pregnant.

-          3-day-or younger infants be able to differenciate between Mother’s voice and another woman’s voice.

-          The first 12 hours after birth when the mother was talking to the newborn.

2.      How is the phenomena of newborns and speech input?

-          Infants may even prefer their native language at birth.

-          The neonates choice to listen to French, the language their mother spoke while pregnant.

-          The Fetus may have been affected by the vibrations from the mother’s voice that reached its developing ears through the body tissues.

-          This ability to distinguish the language spoken by the mother could be ascribed to international differences between the languages which the fetus receives.

-          The conclusion is newborns are so responsive to sounds within such a short time of birth.

3.      What issue does related to the case of mute – hearing children?

People such as these may be born with cerebral palsy or some other abnormality that prohibits them from articulating speech. Person who are mute but hearing can develop the ability to comprehend speech without their being able to produce speech, so long as their basic intelligence is intact.

 

4.      What issue does related speech comprehension in normal children?

-          If children did not first learn to understand the meaning of words and sentences, they would not be able to use words or sentence in meaningful way.

-          The Comprehension of language precedes production does not mean a child must understand all of the language before being able to produce something. Rather, progress goes bit by bit.

-          The system of comprehension and productive do not develop separately for the normal child.

-          Children will then try to figure how to use it in production.

-          The child attempts to coordinates production to confirm to the system that has been develop for comprehension.

-           

5.      What is relative paucity of comprehension study?

Most of the language acquisition studies have been concerned with the development of speech production. The product of the speech production process, the child's utterance, is something that can be directly observed while the product of the comprehension process, meaning, cannot. Comprehension can only be inferred on the basis of relevant behaviour. Consequently, those researchers testing comprehension have had to rely on indirect methods.

Topic IV: The relationship of speech production, speech comprehension, and thought.

1.      Analyze the relationship of speech production and speech comprehension!

Speech comprehension necessarily precedes speech production. Speech comprehension is a mental process which the what speaker listener take the sound uttered by speaker and use it to interpreted what speaker have intended to convey. Speech production is a process of uttering articulated sound on words, i.e. how human generate meaning full speech. So speech production is hoe people use language.

Though is independent of language.

The reason:

-          The basis of all language is meaning.

-          Children must first hear speech sounds before they know what sounds to make.

-          Before assigning a meaning to speech sounds, children must hear the speech sound in coordination with the experience of object, situation, or events in environment.

2.      Analyze the relationship of speech comprehension and thought!

Thought as the basis of speech comprehension.

The reason :

-          The meaning that underlie speech comprehension are concept that are in a person’s mind.

-          Thought is independent of language, the function of language is to provide a means for the expression and communication of thought

-          Thought is independent of language.

-          The development of thought precedes the development of language.

 

 

 

    

Speech production

Speech understanding

 

Thought system

 

Topic V : The concept of parantese and baby talk, imitation, rule learning and correction.

1.      Explain the characteristic of parentese add baby talk!

·         Parantese.

Parentese: is the sort of speech that children receive when they are young.

Parentese is also referred to as “Motherese”, “Caregiver Speech”, ”Adult-to-Child Language”(ACL). The child receives input from many sources – mother, father, siblings, relatives, friends, etc.

Characteristics of Parentese :

-          Immediacy and Concreteness

The speech which parents and others use in talking to children has a number of distinctive characteristics which evidently aid language learning. For example ; parents generally talk to their children about what is happening in the immediate environment and not about abstract or remote objects and events.

-          Grammatically of Input

Generally, the speech directed to children is highly grammatical and simplified. Ungrammatical sentences are found to occur but rarely. Parents do not use ungrammatical sentences.

-          Short Sentences and Simple Structures

Speech directed to children by adults also tends to consist of short sentences with simple rather than complex structures. Such as ; the dog wants water as opposed to the dog which has been running a lot wants to drink some water.

-          Vocabulary : Simple and Short

The vocabulary typically used by adults is simple and restricted and has simplified phonology and structure, like 'see' instead of 'notice',' hard' rather than 'difficult', and has simplified phonology and structure. For example; consonants plus vowel word patterns such as 'mama', 'wawa', and 'byebye' are used rather than the more complex sound patterns of 'mother', 'water', and 'goodbye'.

-          Exaggerated intonation, pitch, and stress.

Adults exaggerate intonation and use a slower tempo and frequently repeat or rephrase what they or their children say. For example, adults tend to use higher pitch, slower speech, with more and clearer pauses between utterances, and they place more distinctive stress on word than they do when speaking with other adults. Additionally, adult speech to children refers more to the context of the conversation and often serves to clarify the children's utterances.

-          Older Children too adapt their speech

Not only adults but children tend to use simplified speech in talking with younger children. For example, 4 years old children produced simplified speech when talking to 2 years olds but not when talking to adults, even though some of the 4 years old did not have younger siblings.

-          Father versus Mother Speech

Though fathers and mother's for the most part make the same adjustment in structural aspects of a language. Fathers tend to employ different pragmatic approaches in the speech they use with children. For example, fathers more often wait for children to initiate conversations control through directives and imperatives and use more difficult vocabulary. Father Bridge Hypothesis states that the child is forced to make more adjustments towards more complex use of speech as he or she must make greater changes in order to communicate.

 

 

·         Baby Talk.

Baby talk is a form of Parentese but with its own characteristics. While parentese uses vocabulary and syntax, though simpler than that addressed to other adults, baby talk involves the use of vocabulary and syntax that is overly simplified and reduced. Baby talk adopts are those which have their basis in the early speech of children.

a.       Vocabulary

Generally words are modified to suit children abilities. Then they are used by parents. Most Baby Talk involves modifications in vocabulary. There are already established words like “bow-wow” (dog), “pee-pee” (urine), and “choo-choo” (train) in English. Form such examples we can see that the main sound structure of such words tends to be dominated by a Consonant + Vowel syllable unit which is often repeated. Another contraction principles for many Baby Talk words is that they are supposed to represent the sounds which various things make, they are onomatopoeic. Here the word has become an entry in standard baby talk vocabulary.

Sometimes baby talk vocabulary are formed by adding to the end of the word, for example ; kitty, ducky, horsey. Most baby talk word are formed by duublication of specific syillable of words like ; da da, baba, mama, dodo, dum dum.

b.      Syntax

Syntax less important in baby talk. Syntax plays a less prominent role in baby talk than does vocabulary. When they do, their utterances are strikingly similar to those in the children’s telegraphic stage of speech production. A mother might say, for example ; something like 'Mommy give Tony banana' instead of the  syntactically proper 'I will give you a banana'. In such an utterance, neither the modal 'will' not the article 'a' has been included.  And the names 'mommy' and 'Tony' have been substituted for the more difficult personal pronouns 'I' and 'you'. Substituting proper names for personal pronouns is a common feature of baby talk which is not usually found in speech between adults.

c.       Should baby talk be used?

Wether baby talk should or should not be used is sometimes a concern of parents, with intensity of concern varying from country to country. Since Baby Talk is a transition phase, in that is not continued for very long (children themselves will soon replace it rather than take the risk of being regarded as babies by older children), and since Baby Talk (like parantese) appears to be an almost universally occurring natural phenomenon.

A caution should be added here regarding the regular used of nonsense talk and mumblings to the child it may be used for fun, but only occasionally, since it does little to further language learning.

Characteristics of baby talk :

-          modification a vocabulary.

-          representy the sounds which various things make

(Onomatopoeic)

-          creating words which are not used outside of the family.

2.      Explain the effect of parentese and baby talk in language learning!

The studies done on these questions demonstrate a positive but small effect. Other research also provides evidence that Parentese may be effective but only for children who are very young. The effects of Parentese have been found to depend as much on the child as on the parent and on the interaction between the child and parents.

As long as the child receives appropriate language input which is appropriate for the child’s cognitive level, there is no good reason to believe that a child would not learn language at a level near that of his or her peers who do receive Parentese and Baby Talk.

3.      Explain the issues which relate to the phenomena of imitation, rule learning, and correction!

a.       What is learned by Imitation.

Most ordinary people believe that language is learned by imitation. By imitation it is meant that the child copies and repeats aloud the words which he or she hears. Through imitation, children learn how to pronounce sounds and words and they seem to enjoy imitating the sounds which they hear ( Masur, 1995). All this fine, however it must be kept in mind that there is an obvious limitation, which is that imitation can apply only to speech production and not to speech comprehension. Since we know that speech comprehension precedes speech production, we can say that imitation cannot be involved in the primary process of language learning, comprehension. Imitation is not involved in the construction of sentences. Abstract rules cannot be imitated for the simple reason that rules do not exist in the world but not the rules themselves; rules are formulations which involve observable entities. This is not to say that imitation is not important. It is, but not only for the development of the articulation of speech sounds.

b.      Productivity by rule

The child’s production of certain novel words and sentences cannot be explained by imitation. Children commonly produce ungrammatical words like : sheeps, mouses, regarding the PLURAL and good, comed, regarding to PAST. Why do they utter such word? It cannot be because of imitation because no one says such words for them to imitate. Similarly, why do children utter such ungrammatical sentences such : No heavy and no the sunshine, regarding the negative, When we can go and he is doing what, regarding the question

They cannot imitating such speech because no one says these things for the child to copy. Clearly, children have formulated rules in their minds according to which they construct novel utterances. They learn the plural morpheme and the past tense morpheme and then they apply those to new cases.

Morpheme and structure rules are learned by children and when they are, they may strongly affect production. Undoubtedly the proper forms can be understood when such forms are spoken to the child. It is a different matter however for the child to learn the restrictive application of such rules.

c.       The frequent futility of correction

It used to be though by many that the correction of children’s speech is essential to improvement. When parents do attempt to correct their children’s speech, the results are often fruitless and frustrating. But, there are cases where parents’ correction, particularly with older children, may directly result improvement. In order to improve the child must a) note the difference between the child’s own utterance and that of the parent b) determine what the nature of the error is c) figure out a way to permanently change his or her grammar or strategies so that it yields the parent’s utterance in the future.

Topic VI: The concept of learning abstract words, memory, and logic in language learning.

1.      How do children learn abstract words?

Children acquire the meaning of words begin with the concrete and go on to the abstract. Children learn abstract words by experiencing those words. Metaphor also help children to comprehend the abstract concept.

2.      Explain the types of memory in language learning!

·         Child must remember a multitude of particular words, phrase and sentences along with the context, both physical and mental in which they occurred.

·         Such data provide the basis for structural analyses and the acquisition of vocabulary

·         If not they would have little basis for discovering abstract meaning and rules

·         Without a good memory, language learning would not be possible

·         Children a s young as 8 months begin to remember words

There 2 types of memory operate in language

First, associative learning is where a connection is formed between an object and the sound form name that object and episodic memory. Second, episodic learning where whole events or situation are remembered along with phrases and sentences that others have spoken.

3.      Explain the types of logic in language learning!

a.       Children uses inductive logic

This is use even in early grammatical phase of learning basic morphemes. E.g plural, children must scan the sentences uttered by mature speakers and then note that a suffix is added when 2 or more objects are being talked about. It showed that 1) there is a search for characteristic in speech and 2) those characteristic are related to object and etc. it represents the essence to the use of the inductive logic.

b.      Young children use deductive logic

This reflects a great deal of conceptualization and thinking on the part of the child.

 

Topic VII. The Deaf People In Producing And Comprehending Language

A. How Do People Use Sign Language And Gesture

1. The Use of Sign Language and Gesture

a. The Criteria for Sign language as a Sign Language

1. A Formal Criterion for a True Language

A Sign Language is a true language because the language system allows a signer to comprehend and produce an unrestricted number of grammatical sign sentences.

2.      An Informal Criterion for a True language

 Abstract sentences can be conveyed through signing. Such a sentences is a good test since it expresses a variety of complex semantic functions and relations and involves a number of events and situations.

3.       Complete and Incomplete Sign Language

The Findings showed that signers of such sign languages as American Sign Language, French Sign Language, British Sign Language and others can indeed communicate in sign whatever is expressed in speech. Other sign languages may be incomplete syntactically or limited in terms of vocabulary.

 

            b. The Classification of Gestures

            1) Gestures without Speech

a. Gestures using arms, head, torso.

We use gestures to communicate a variety of types of messages. Gestures are often similar but seldom universal. Coming upon another community’s gestures may lead to confusion for an outsider..

b.      Facial Gesture

Facial movements are used everywhere to convey a wide range of emotions and feelings.

c.       Iconic Gestures

In examining gestures, it becomes obvious that some gestures are more related, or suggest, the ideas that they are intended to represent than the others. The kinds of gestures having a close relationship between gesture and meaning are called iconic gestures. There are meaningful but more abstractly iconic gestures as well.

d.      Specialized communities and their gestures

There are also restricted gestures which are known and used by small groups : Stock Trading, Betting at a race, Music, Sports, Television

            2)  Gestures with Speech

a. Beat

Beat is a common gesture, where one’s hand or finger is kept in motion and is synchronized with what a person is saying. The purpose of beat is basically to emphasize the discourse function of concurrent speech.

b.      Iconic Gesture

The Gesture is made while the important portion of the sentence is being uttered. Making note of what people do when they talk such as their production of iconic and beat gestures, can be a very interesting pastime.

 

c. Speech-Based Sign Language

There are two types of sign language: one that relates to ordinary speech-based language and one that is independent of ordinary language.

a. Speech-based sign languages represent spoken words and the order of these words or morphemes as they appear in ordinary spoken languages.

b. Sign language based on the speech of ordinary language can be of two different kinds: one which represents the morphemes of speech and one which represents spelling.

1. Finger Spelling: Letter by Letter

There are both one-hand and two-handed systems of finger spelling. Users of both systems can sign relatively quickly but both processes are rather laborious. The two-handed system, however, is faster and provides more easily identifiable letters.

2. Morpheme by Morpheme (MnM) Sign Language: Signing Essential English and Seeing Exact English

Signing Essential English and Seeing Exact English are typical of this type of sign system, most of which were created the USA around the 1960s, before the interest in and widespread acceptance of ASL.

§  Advantages of MnM systems

a. Learner simultaneously acquires the morphology and syntax of both the sign and related speech-based language.

b. Easier for an adults hearing person to learn an MnM than ISL

§  Serious Disadvantages

a. Children do not learn MnM easily.

                        b. MnM is not preferred by the deaf community.

 

B. Explain the issues that relate to the Use of Oral Language

A. The Oral approach and Total Communication

The Oral approach has a worthy aim, to teach the hearing-impaired to produce and comprehend speech so that they can communicate with the hearing community.

1). Oral approach successful with the less Hearing-Impaired

The Oral approach focuses on the teaching of speech production. Its secondary focus is on speech comprehension. Be that as it may, in this approach children from the age of 2 or 3 years onwards are specially trained in the skill of articulating speech sounds.

2). Oral approach fails with the severely Hearing-Impaired

As was just noted, a great problem with the Oral approach is that it tends only to work for a portion of the hearing-impaired population.

3). Speechreading is not easy

The comprehension of speech is usually fostered through both exploiting any residual hearing that learners may have and teaching of speechreading, commonly known as “lipreading”. 

4). A Sensible Approach : Total Communication

Because of the large number of failing cases as a result of the application of the Oral approach, many Hearing-impaired persons were unable to communicate with the hearing community but were unable to communicate adequately with their Hearing-impaired friends are colleagues.

B. The Sign Language vs Oral Approach Controversy

1). Rationale of Oral Advocates in Excluding Sign Language

While Oral Approach advocates, such as Daniel Ling and the Ewings, may be even admit that sign language is a language, they argue not only that the learning and use of sign language negatively affects argue not only that the learning and use of sign language negatively affects the acquisition of speech but that without speech production there will the defective thinking.

2). One formidable advocate of the Oral Approach : Alexander Graham Bell

•      Alexander Graham Bell comes to America

Bell was intimately involved with deaf people and their education all of his life. His mother was deaf his hearing father was a well-known educator of the deaf who had invented a written phonetic alphabet.

•      Bell impress both sign langugae and oral approach advocates

Bell was invited to give a short course in oral teaching at the pro-sign Gallaudet American Asylum in Hartford. The Silent world, a magazine for the deaf, reported that not only was Bell successful in getting the pupils to articulate sounds but that by the end of two months Bell himself was communicating with his pupils by means of his newly acquired sign language.

•      Why Bell favoured the oral approach

Bell conceded the sign language to be aesthetically beautiful and easiest of all for deaf children to acquire and use among themselves. Bell cited two danger s (1) the children would use sign language and then, as a result of laziness, would not seriously apply themselves to learning (2) Bell believed that sign language was inferior compared to a speech-based language.

3). Bell versus Edward Gallaudet

The background of Bell and Edward Gallaudet were stratrlingly similar: both had deaf mothers and hearing fathers. Interestingly, Edward Gallaudet later became symphatetic to the oral method to the degree that he advocated a ‘ Combined Method’, the forerunner to the Total communication approach where both sign and speech are taught. He no longer scoffed at speechreading as he had when he first met Bell. Since the oral method can be effective in certain categories of hearing loss, this was, and still is, in our opinion,  a very sensible app.

 

C. Explain the issues that relate to the Use of Written Language!

The problem which remains is how deaf people are to communicate with members of the dominant hearing community. This is a different problem. In this regard two main approaches are available. One is speech (through the Oral Approach), which, as we know, benefits only those who have a moderate hearing loss. The other, little known, is the Written Bilingual Language Approach. The essential idea of this approach is that the meaningful written forms of an ordinary speech based language, such as English or Spanish, with its words, phrașes, and sentences, are to be learned initially through direct association' with objects, events, and situations in the environment. Even if written language is learned with the aid of sign, the final knowledge product is a separate language. Thus, just as hearing children learn language, initially by associating the speech sounds that they hear with environmental experiences hearing impaired children can learn language in a similar way, but through association of written forms with those environmental experiences.

By such teaching, hearing-impaired children will acquire essentially same vocabulary and syntax of the English language as hearing child: In the writing of any language, be it English, Danish, Chinese and etc. Learning of written language have advantage for the hearing impaired and their education i.e. :

1. The learning medium is appropriate.

2. No new knowledge need be acquired by instructors

3. Instruction can begin in infancy.

4. All bearing-impaired children can benefit.

5. Written language acquisition cam facilitate speech.

6. Writen language teaching is compatible with other approaches.

 

-Four phases of the teaching programme

1.      Word familiarization

2.      Word identification

3.      Phrase and sentence identification

4.      Paragpraph and stories

Topic 8: the phenomena of children and adults in second language learning.

The phenomena children and adult in second language

1.      explain the fectors which affect second learning

2.      what is the different between children and adult in learing second language

3.      explain the issue that relate  to critical age for second language learning

second language is different with first language,foreign language.these are:

1)      first language is the frist language that the child utter

2)      second language is bahasa except mother language for example Indonesian language for student in Indonesia

3)      bahasa inggris is a foreign language for student in Indonesia because English language in Indonesia ther is no group or community that utter that language

4)      firsct language is consciousness

5)      second language is unconsciousness

1.      factors which affect second language:

 

1)      psychological factors

1.      intellectual processing: is the way of thinking by leaner

a.       explication/deduction: the understanding about second language will be accepted kalau kaidah2 bahasa tersebut dijelaskan secara explicit

e.g: tata bahasa tntng bahasa diberikan penjelasan yang sejelas2nya: s+v

diberikan penjelasan oleh guru atau dosen.

b.      Induction

Cara berfikir dimana memahami bahasa tanpa dibberiukan penjelasan scara langsng: anak mempelajarinya melalui self discovering.(penemuan sendiri)

2.      Memory:ingatan

1)      Associative memory:road memory

Orang mengingat sesuatu dengan menghubungkan objek yang didengarnya.satu bunyi satu nama untuk sabtu objek

e.g. mengingat nama sseorang

2)      Episodic memory.

Mengingat sesuatu berdasarkan pengalam peristiwa2.

3.      motor skills: keterampilan yang berkenaan dengan motorik(articular of speech) kemampuan learner dalam mengucapkan/menirukan lafadz yang berkaitang dengan bahas a tersebut.

Karena kemampuan orang dalam menirukan ucapan or pronounciation berkenaan dengan process mental

2)      social situation: the place and what is like the situatinn.

The types of situation,setting and interactions which individual experiences can affect the learning of a second language.

1.      Natural situation: purely

e.g the children in different language plays they will be can utter language unconsciously.

2.      The classroom situation(dirancang)

3)      other pshycologycal variables: about motivasi the person to learn that language and community

1.      the person’s first language

2.      the persons community

3.      the person’smotivation

2.what is the differences between adult and children in second language learning?

Table page 177.

3.      Explain the issue  that related to critical age for second language learning:

a.       Tata bahasa

1.      Ada masa kritis: yanitu ytang bagus dalam mempeljari second language adalah usi dibawah 15

2.      Tidak ada batasan

So untuk memahami second language tidak ada batasan selagi mau dan selagi

b.      Proniuncitation

Kesimpilan: ternyata terjadi perbedaan pendapat oleh para ah;li tentang usia kritis yang tepat dlam mempelajari second language.

 

 

 

Topic 9: Reading principles and teaching in the perspective of psycholinguistics

1.      Explain the history of writing system.

Writing system are designed to represent the spoken words of a language. Only through individual words are other higher units of language, such as the phrase and sentence, represented. Writing system are mainly based on one of two principles, sound or meaning. The inventory of visual symbols of writing systems is constructed on the basis of the principles.

a.       Writing system based on speech sounds: phonemes or syllables

In the sound base system, each symbol represent a speech sound, a phoneme or syllable. There are many different sound-based writing scripts in use throughout the world today.

For example: Devanagari in india, Arabic in Egypt, the Hangul syllabary in south korea, the two Kana syllabatries in Japan, the Cyrillic alphabet in Russia and Bulgaria, and the Roman alphabet in English – speaking countries and Western Europe.

Some of this sound-based orthographies correspondent highly to their spoken forms. The orthographies of these language are easier to read than are sound-based orthographies where the correspondence of written symbol to sound is not high, as is the case for English.

b.      The unpredictability of English orthography

Many treatises and humorous poems have been written on the inconsistencies of English spelling and the pain it has inflected on learners.

1)      Why English orthography poorly represent English phonemes

Being essentially a sound-based writing system, English letters are intended to represent the individual phonemes of the language. Because the Roman alphabet was based on the Latin language, which used fewer phonemes than English, English orthography (and those of other European lands) had to make adaptations in order to suit its language.

In English, the following adaptations were made:

·         A letter could be assigned more than one phonemic interpretation, especially vowels. Thus, the letter a represents two phonemes, /a/ (want) and /æ/ (cat).

·         A combination of letters serves to represent other English sounds, e.g. th (think, that), a + C + e (/ei/ as in 'ate’ as opposed to 'at') and i +C+ e (/ai/ as in ‘bite' as opposed to bit), where C is any consonant.

Another principal reason why English letters frequently do not signal the correct sound is the failure of English spelling to reflect the changes that the spoken language has andergone. English spelling has changed relatively little over the past 600 years or so, compared to the great changes which have occurred in the spoken language.

2)      The origins of the English alphabet

The origins of the Roman alphabet lie with the Semitic peoples in the Middle East thousands of years ago. The Phoenicians adapted it to their needs and then carried that alphabet to Greece, from where it travelled to Rome. Both the Greeks and then the Romans made adaptations to suit their languages. The names of the letters changed as well. The letter A went from the Semitic name aleph, to the Greek alpha, to the Roman ah and the English a.

a.       Writing system based on meaning: morphemes

Chinese is essentially a system where symbols (characters) represent the morphemes of the language although symbols may be added to assist pronunciation. Japanese uses this system too (in addition to its syllabaries), having borrowed it from China more than 1300 years ago. In the Chinese system every character represents one or more morphemes as well as a single syllable. For example, the Chinese word kowtow (now incorporated into the English language) consists of two morphemes, know meaning 'knock' and tow meaning 'head'. The relationship between symbol and morpheme, therefore, is essentially conventional rather than pictorial, just as is the case for the English alphabet, whose letters (the capitals) are themselves rooted in ancient Semitic picture writing.

2.      Explain the approach of teaching reading.

Every child needs mental processes in reading because it involves the mind and cognitive of the child.

1)      The whole word approach

·         An approach in teaching reading where we directly introduce words.

·         more widely used

·         Approach by conveying all words.

·         E.g the picture of the glass has the word glass

The reasons whole word approach is better:

a.       Reading should only involve meaningful words, phrases and sentences.

·         Children can understand the relationship of words with the object.

·         Children learn to segment their native language morphically, syntactically, phonologically by induction.

·         Induction is a way of thinking where the child collects all the sounds he hears and then concludes the differences between the sounds themselves.

·         The child will conclude himself along with the frequent sounding of words based on the child.

·         The process of thinking induction, children pay attention to special symptoms of each of the words that appear during 5 years.

2)      The phonic whole approach

·         Emphasize to, the sound of each letter.

·         How to spell letter letters.

·         Just a little.

According to experts, a more correct way is the whole word approach because it directly introduces words. By using the whole word approach there will be no problem with phonic

3.      Explain the concept of reading readiness and a universal phase of reading program.

True readiness:

·         A child is ready to read when the child can understand spoken words (what others speak). This is all that is necessary.

·         The child is ready to read as long as the child can say the words or there is no problem by the child in speech.

·         A child can be thought to read the words, phrases and sentences as long as the child understands in speech.

·         Usually the child can begin to read starting from 2 years

Program to teach the child in reading

There are 4 phases:

1.      Word Familiarization

Phase of bringing children closer to the word, biased to the game,

e, g picture of orange with orange writing

2.      Word identification.

e.g buku, bola

The child will conclude where the letters o and up hrase

3.      Identification

This is Budi

4.      Paragraph and book reading.

Children can already read story books.

Conclusion; a whole word approach is better way to teach the the child to read because it is considered as effective an efisien way as expert said.

 

Topic 12: bilingual, cognition, transfer, and learning strategies (1)

1.      Explain the varieties of bilingualism.

a.      Mastering two languages in the same modality.

Two language in the same modalities. Modalities is how that language used, for example: spoken language and written language. When someone can overcome two language, for example both spoken language. He mastered English verbally and he also mastered German verbally, that means he mastered the same modality for different languages.

For example, two speech-based languages such as spoken English and spoken German, or two sign-based languages such as American Sign Language and Japanese Sign Language.

b.      Mastering two languages on different modalities.

For example. The English he masters is the spoken language, while the French he masters is the written language. It is also referred to as a person who has bilingual abilities but different modalities.

E.g : spoken German and American Sign language or spoken French and written Sanskrit.

There's no good reason to exclude any of these combination from the label of bilingualism. Any discussion of bilingualism, however should make clear just what modalities are being considered. Because the languages that are most involved in research in bilingualism are mostly ones that are speech-based. Conclusions that are drawn for speech-based language, however may generally be extended to language based on other modalities as well.

Proficiency in the second language.

May be evaluated with respect to a variety of variable, including knowledge of syntax, vocabulary, and pronunciation (signing or Writing for non speech).

Bidialectalism.

We probably would not want to regard as bilingual someone who knows two dialects of the same language, e.g : British Yorkshire English and American Midwestern English. While these dialects differ in significant respect, the difference are not so great that linguistics consider them separate language.

The benefit of bilingualism :

·         to enable people to communicate members of other cultures in their own.

·         language can be used as an instrumental of national policy.

2.      Explain the effect of bilingualism on language and intelligent.

Whether learning a second language at early age, while the child is still in the process of acquiring the native or first language has a negative effect on acquisition of the native language.

a.       The effect of bilingualism on firts language development.

·         negative report

The most well known and influential piece of research for it's time was that of madorah Smith back in the 1930s.  Smith ( 1939) gathered comparative data on language of pre-school children in Lowa, where she did her graduate work, and in Hawaii, where she went to teach. The Lowa children were essentially white and monolingually English while the Hawaii children were ethnically diverser, of Chinese, Filipino, Hawaiian, Japanese, Korean, and Portuguese parentage, and bilingual, with English as one of their language. Smith recorded sentence uttered by the children and evaluated the sentence in terms of standard English usage. The principal finding was that bilingual children from Hawaii had many more errors in their English speech than did their Low counterpart. This led Smith to conclude that bilingualism caused retardation in language development.

·         Positivee report.

One long-term study by Brick, Lambert, and Trucker (1976) with native English speaking children in a French immersion programme found that by the fourth of fifth grade, the second language french skills, including reading and wy, were almost as good as those of native french speaking children. Importantly, all of this was achieved at no loss to their English native language development (as compared to a control group of English monolingual children). Children who learn second language show good ability in practicing the second language without losing their native language.

b.      The effect of bilingualism on Intelligence.

Does learning a second language at an early age, while the child is still in the process of acquiring some aspects of the native or first language, have a process or negative effect on a child's intelligence, thinking ability, creativity, or cognitive function.

·         Negativee report.

Were found in comparison of monolingual and bilingual in Wales ( Saer, 1922,1923). Saer tested the intelligence of 1400 children between the ages of 7 and 14. Based on the higher scores for monolinguals on IQ tests, he conclude that bilingual's thinking processes were confused by the use of two languages. Saer's later research studying monolingual and bilingual University students also yielded similar results: that monolingual students' IQ scores were higher than the bilingual's. Drawing conclusion from the findings of these studies, he argued that the confused thinking of bilingual's was of a permanent nature since it persists in student through out their University career.

·         Positive reports.

One of the first studies to find positive effect on Intelligence for bilingualism was that of peal and Lambert (1962). The subject in this study were 164 elementary school children at the age of 10. Monolingual and bilingual children were matched for socio economic background and were given a variety of intelligence tests. The bilingual children, who were balanced bilingual (having an equal ability in two languages), had significantly higher scores on 15 put of the 18 measure of intelligence.

 

Conclusions:

·         There's no evidence that early bilingualism will harm the intellectual or cognitive development of the child in any way.

·         There's good reason for favour early bilingualism.

3.      Explain the process of Acquiring Bilingualism.

a.       Sequential learning of two languages.

Can occur for a child when the child learns a second language at school. This is common enough situation which most of us are familiar with and hence needs little amplification.

First language in the home, second language in the community.

The parents could be immigrants, foreign resident or simply people who have moved from one part of a country to another part, such as from English speaking Toronto to French speaking Quebec City. The parents speak one language at home, which is different from the one their children are exposed to outside the home, on the streets or at school. Sequential acquisition of the second language may take place at a variety of ages and under a variety of situations.

Development of a second language.

In sequential bilingualism young children pass though four common stages :

·         Silent

·         using gesture

·         producing abbreviated utterance

·         producing grammatical utterance

b.      Simultaneous Learning.

One person speaks one language only or one person speaks two languages.

·         Each person speaks one language only to the child ( one person - one language).

When the mother speaks one language while the father speaks another. It it can be a frequent baby sitter or other family member who speaks the other Language. Each person uses one language exclusively. For example, the mother might speaks to the child only in Spanish while the father speaks to the child only in English.

·         each person speaks the same two languages to the child ( one person two languages)

The others learning case is when the same person uses two different languages when speaking to the child. For example, the mother uses both Spanish and English, and the father does the same. The two languages are mixed by each parent.

The 1P-1L situation is better.

We tend to think that the difference in speed of learning between the 1P-1L and 1P-1L situation would be significant. Just how great this difference might be is for empirical research to determine. It might only be a matter of months before the 1P-2L child sorts out. The two sets of language data and derives their Grammar.  Yet it could be a year or more. Overall it would seem that the 1P-1L situation is better since learning may be faster and less mixing might occur.

A simultaneous trilingual case (1P-1L*3).

By the age of 3 each of the bits, in turn became trilingual Elin English, Japanese, and Russian. These languages were maintained by the children into adult good even though the family lived in an English speaking community.

Development stages in bilingual language learning.

Children learning two first languages simultaneously follow the same route as other children learning their first language.

·         one word utterance

·         two and three word utterances.

·         complexity with morpheme acquisition and

·         complex sentence.

Topic 12: bilingual, cognition, transfer, and learning strategies (2)

4.      Explain the transfer effects of first-language on the learning of second language.

1.      The similarity relationship between the first and second languages will determine the rate of learning.

Ø  The similarity between the first language and second language will determine the sooner or later people master the second language, the more similarity there is between the first and second language, the greater the opportunity for children to master the second language.

Ø  Example: Minang and Indonesian languages.

2.      The one’s knowledge on his/her first language may help the learning of a second language.

Ø  Someone's knowledge of the first language that he has, it will help him to master the second language, because if people already have good knowledge of the first language, then later he will be better to compare with the second language he learned.

Ø  For example, the first language was Indonesian, then he learned English, so his knowledge of Indonesian would make it easier for him to learn English.  This is easy because he can compare Indonesian with English, both about grammar, vocabulary, and about sound.

3.      No language is inherently more difficult than any other since it depends on the similarity relations between the second language and the first language, in terms of syntax, vocabulary, and pronunciation.

What one’s first language is will affect one’s learning of the second language.

1.      Not every second language will be learned at the same rate.

2.      The nature of similarity relationship between the first and second languages will determine the rate of learning.

For example: after having learned English as a first language, learning French would not be as difficult as would learning Japanese. There are differences between English and French syntax but these differences are small in comparison to the monumental differences between the syntax of English and Japanese.

3.      To extent that two languages have similarities, such as: The position of the article (as in English and French). Gender (designation of nouns as masculine or feminine, as in French and Italian). Obligatory marking of nouns for plurality, and similar syntactic structures (as in English and French), there will be greater facilitation.

4.      There can be significant similarities in terms of vocabulary.

5.      A learner would not be starting at zero as he or she would if learning Japanese. (Although Japanese has many borrowed words from English, the nature of Japanese pronunciation and writing tends to obscure them.)

Pronunciation would be a major learning problem, though, because the sound systems of those two languages are quite different. It can conclude that the greater the similarity between two languages in terms of their syntax, vocabulary, and sound system, the more rapid the rate of acquisition in the two languages. If we had to scale the importance of these variables, we would give syntax and then vocabulary the greater weight. Good pronunciation cannot compensate for poor syntax or vocabulary. Good syntax with good vocabulary is a winning combination for second language success.

 

5.      Explain the strategies for second language production and becoming second language learner.

A.    The Strategy for Second-Language Production

c.       Applying first-language knowledge to the second-language.

d.      The greater input, the more the opportunity for language learning.

B.     The Strategy for Becoming a Better Second-Language Learner

a.       Verification: checking to see if their- hypotheses about the language are correct.

b.      Inductive processing: creating hypotheses about the second language based on one's second or first language knowledge.

c.       Deductive reasoning: using general logic in problem solving.

d.      Practice: such as repetition, rehearsal, and imitation.

e.       Memorization: including mnemonic strategies and repetitions for the purpose of storage and retrieval, and

f.       Monitoring: being alert to the making of errors and paying attention to how one's message is received by the listener. While one could argue that these are strategies that any language learner naturally uses, research indicates that the explicit teaching of such strategies will improve the capacity of the learner.

 

 

 

Topic 13: the relationship between language, thought, and culture.

1.      Explain the theories regarding the dependence of thought and culture on language.

THEORY 1

SPEECH IS ESSENTIAL FOR THOUGHT

Proponent:

a.       Thought is a kind of behavior which is originated from speech production.

b.      Thought is defined as sub-vocal of speech and behavior.

Inadequacies of the Theory:

1.      In reality, children who have no speech production can still comprehend speech and think.

It is occur like with the mute children, they still have comperehend speech and think but they speech with their own way like the cases of mute hearing that we have learned. so the persons without the ability to speak can think.

2.      In normal children, speech comprehension develops before speech production.

Process of speech production precedes speech production.

The comprehension and production process develop in a parallel mode with production always trying to keep up with comprehension.

The child attempt to production with respect to the system that has been developed for understanding.

1.  The case of telling a lie: Simultaneously speaking aloud while thinking about something different.

2.  Meaning and thought occure without behavior

·         Behavior of the body is essential for thought: behavioral responses couyld be the basis of thought in addition to speech utterance

·         A daredevil researchers’s body is pralysed by a drug

3.  Interpreting between languages can be done

Work for a simultanius interpreter, while listening to one language, the Interpreter is the dame time speaking in another,.

THEORY 2

LANGUAGE IS ESSENTIAL FOR THOUGHT

Proponents: Thought is derived from speech production and speech understanding.

Inadequacies of the Theory:

1.       Deaf persons without language can think.

As do hearing persons,these persons just as intelligently  and rationally with respect to their environment.

2.      Multilingual are whole persons

They learned in childhood

3.      The children who can speak more than one language appear no different from monolingual children in terms of personality, and perception of the world.

 

THEORY 3:

Language Determines or Shapes Our Perception of Nature

Proponents: One’s knowledge of vocabulary or syntax influences one’s perception and understanding of nature.

Inadequacies of the Theory:

1.      Perception, interest, and need DETERMINE vocabulary.

Children use their interest and perception to developed vocabulary.

2.      Colour and snow vocabulary

1)      Colour words

Knowing words influence perception of the world

2)      Snow words

Dramatic vocabulary differences from language to language

3.      ‘Lack of vocabulary does not indicate lack of concept.

4.      Knowledge overrides literal word meanings.

5.      Multilingual view nature

So there is no foundation forms or guides thought in the way we perceive nature.

 

THEORY 4:

Language Determines or Shapes Our Cultural World View

Proponents: Knowing a language will influence one’s cultural, social beliefs or views of the world.

Example: Language embodies the spirit and national character of people.

·         Same language yet different world views.

·         Different languages yet similar world views Inadequacy of the Theory

·         Same language but world view changes over time.

·         One language can describe many different world views.

2.      formula the best theory on relationship between language, though, and culture

The Best Theory part (1):

·         Thought is Independent of Language

The function of language is to provide a mean for the expression and communication of thought.

·         The development of Thought Precedes the Development of Language

THOUGHT-SPEECH UNDERSTANDING- SPEECH PRODUCTION

·         the notion of thingking in language is a fallacy

e.g the sound foem is not thought itself but simply a reflection of thought

The Best Theory (2):

Language Can Assist inConveying New Ideas and Culture

·         Language is Used to Provide Beliefs and Ideas.

The novel sentences are created and understood on the basis of what a speaker already knows about the language in terms of its syntax and vocabulary.

·         Language may be used to Change Beliefs and Values.

1.      Communist persuasion

-The use of language persuasion bring success to the covil rights and women’s right movements

1.      Language used to demand, insult and dominate

2.      Equal right result in equality in vocabulary and language use

3.      Vocabulary changes

4.      Subservient women’s language styles change

So. The success of the civil and women right is because of persuasive use of language.

Topic 14 : Language and Brain (1)

1. Explain general brain and structure

The general structure of the brain is that of a whole which is divided into vertical halves which seem to be mirror images of one another. It looks much like a walnut with the two parts joined around the middle, except that there is little space between the two halves in the real brain.

brain is called a hemisphere. There is a left hemisphere and a right bemispkere. the hemispheres come out of the brain stem, which connects to the spinal cord. The hemispheres maintain connection with one another through a bundle of fibres called the corpus callostem. The brain, together with the spinal cord, is referred to as the central nervous system of the human body. There is a covering on each hemisphere, called the cortex, which is a furrowed outer layer cell marter. It is the cortex that is concerned with higher brain functions in both humans and animals.

Each cerebral hemisphere is divided into four parts or lobes: from front to back there are the frontal, temporal, parietal (located above the temporal), and the occipital. This division of the brain into lobes is loosely based on physical features and not on actual separations. General functions such as cognition (to some degree) occur in the frontal lobe, hearing occurs in the temporal lobe, general somaesthetic sensing (feeling in the arms, legs, face, etc.) in the parietal lobe, and vision in the occipital lobe. Each hemisphere has these lobes with these functions. As we shall see later, there are other hemispheric-specific functions which are also located in some of these areas. For example, the left hemisphere typically involves language.

The corpus callosum not only serves to connect the hemispheres but is itself a principal integrator and coordinator of the mental processes carried out in the two hemispheres. The brain of the average human adult weighs from l'to 1.5 kg (2.25 to 3.25 lb).

 

2. Explains hemispheric structure and function

Left and right hemispheres control opposite sides of the body

  The brain controls the body by division of labor, so to speak.  The left hemisphere controls the right side of the body, including the right hand, right arm, and right side of the face, while the right hemisphere controls the left side of the body.

  Vision

 Stroke will not affect vision and hearing in exactly the same way.  There is what is called the field of vision, where each half of the eye sends what he feels to one hemisphere of the brain while the other half sends what he feels to the other hemisphere of the brain.  If only part of the eye is damaged, then the other half of the eye can still see what is on that side of the body and can then send images to the brain.

 Audition

 Hearing works in a manner somewhat similar to vision, with acoustic nerve fibers in each ear distributing signals that enter the two hemispheres of the brain.  However, more fiber from each ear crosses into the other hemisphere while only a small amount is directly in the hemisphere closest to the ear.

 

3. Explain hemispheric dominance

Typically, the left hemisphere dominates the right

 Although the hemispheres of the brain divide the body's work, they do not do it in the end.  This phenomenon, in which one hemisphere is controlling, is called dominant.

 Hand and foot preferences

 The left hemisphere dominates the right hemisphere.  The result of such domination is that such people tend to prefer the right side of their body.

 Left-handers

 About 9 percent of the population worldwide is left-handed but, contrary to expectations, only about 10 percent of left-handed people have right hemisphere dominance.  The majority of left handlers are dominant in the left hemisphere but their dominance tends to be less marked than left-handed people.

 Ambidexterity

 Those who can use both hands equally well, we call ambidexurous

 Sound preference

 Speech sound is distinguished from other types of sounds including music, signal sounds, and sounds.  Two hemispheres specialize in processing these two types of sounds.  For true left-handed people, speech sounds are mainly processed in the left hemisphere while music, sounds, and animal sounds are mainly processed in the right hemisphere.

Topic 15 : Language and Brain (2)

4.Explain lateralized hemispheric functioning

Lateralization

Besides their general functioning, the hemispheres have some very special- ized structures and functions. Some functions occur in one hemisphere while other functions occur in the other hemisphere. This separation of functions is called lateralization. Incoming experiences are directed to the left or right hemisphere depending on the nature of those experiences, be they speech, faces, or sensations of touch. We will see that speech production and speech understanding are mainly located in the left hemisphere.

Left-hernisphere specializations

The main language centres are Broca's Area, in the front part of the brain, Wernicke's Area, towards the back, and the Angular Gyrus, which is even farther back. Broca's Area and Wernicke's Area are connected by tissue - the Arcuate Fascieulus. For roughly 99 per cent of right-handers and about two-thirds of left-handers (Damasio. & Damasio, 1992). Language is located in the right hemisphere in less than 5 per cent of the US population. For these persons, in addition to language, all other specific left and right hemispheric functions are also reversed. In addicion to language, the left hemisphere is concerned with logical and analytical operations, and higher mathematics.

Right hemisphere specialization

The right hemisphere is involved in recognizing emotions, recognizing faces, and perceiving the structures of things globally without analysis. If the area of the brain which deals with faces, for example, is damaged, the person will not be able to recognize the faces of people, even close family, and even that person's own face when looking into a mirror.

Sex differences and lateralization

Some studies suggest that there are differences between the brains of human males and females. It may be that females have a thicker left hemisphere while males have a thicker right hemisphere. Because language abilities typ- ially are located in the left hemisphere and visual-spatial abilities are located in the right hemispheres, such findings, if validated, suggest a female pro- pensity for language and a male propensity for the visual-spatial.

Split brain effects

It was found that 'split-brain' persons could still use speech and wriung in the disconnected left hemisphere but that their right hemisphere had little such capacity. In normal persons, the right hemisphere has more capability. When tactile (touch) information passed to the left hemisphere, split- brain patients were completely capable of verbally describing objects and talking about things they had just touched.

 

5.Explain language areas and their functioning

Broca's area,  the motor area, and speech production

The speech-production process would begin in Broca's Area, pass on through the arcuate fasciculus to the motor arca and from there to the articulators of speech for vocalization.

Wernike's area,  the auditory area, and speech understanding

·         Speech comprehension

Carl Wernicke, a German neurologist (1848-1905), in considering that Broca's speech area was near that part of the brain which involves areas which control the articulators of speech, reasoned that in the same way two other areas of the brain must similarly be involved in the process of speech comprebension. According to Wernicke, on hearing a word, the sound of a word goes from the ear to the auditon area and then to Wernicke's Area. It is from Broca's Area that the vocalization of speech would then be activated.

·         Reading

When a word is read, according to Wernicke, the information goes from the eyes to the visual area of the cortes in the occipital lobe, from there to language areas. The areas which have been proposed for the processing of speaking, listening, reading, writing, and singing are mainly located at or around the Sylvian and Rolando fissures. Several specific areas have been identified.

Some of the neural pathways that are considered to be involved in the processing of spoken language.

 1. Speech production. The basic structure of the utterance is thought to be generated in Wernicke's area and is sent to Broca's area for encoding. The motor programme is then passed on to the adjacent motor area, which governs the articulatory organs.

2. Reading aloud. The written form is first received by the visual cortex, then transmitted via the angular gyrus to Wernicke's area, where it is thought to be associated with the auditory representation. The utterance structure is then sent on to Broca's area.

3. Speech comprehension. The signals arrive in the auditory cortex from the ear, and are transferred to the adjacent Wernicke's area, where they are interpreted.

6. Explain Right-Hemisphere Language Abilities

1.      Right-Hemisphere Language Abilities

A.    Typical Language Functions

While the left hemisphere is involved in most language tasks, recent end occurs that the right hemisphere is too involved in language processing (see Beeman & Chiarello, 1998, for a good review).  More precisely, 'both hemispheres receive similar input and both attempts to process input, for every language process ... the hemispheres compute differendy information at each level of processing (eg, semantic processing), so that each hemisphere is the most adept at handling particular  inputs and producing particular outputs "(Chiarello & Beeman, 1998, p. x).

a.       Word semantics

The right hemisphere has been found to be more adept at processing single lexical items and the semantic relations between them, while it is the  left hemisphere that combines syntactic, semantic, and pragimatic information into a conceptual representation of a sentence (Faust, 1998)

In one experiment, Faust and Kravetz (1998) studied the role of each hemisphere in sentence processing.  - formation of various sorts to the right and left hemispheres through the left and right visual fields.  , and pragmatic information while the right hemisphere was engaged in word-processing.

Laterality studies using single words also indicate a difference between the two hemispheres (Chiarello, 1998).  Beernan (1998) proposes that the left hemisphere uses relatively focused semantic coding to quickly select a single contextually relevant meaning, while the right hemisphere employs are relatively coarse semantic coding to weakly activate several meanings that are only distantly related to the input word.  Beeman also argues that the coarse semantic coding would allow the right hemisphere to utilize semantic over-laps of distantly related words, which helps a person to draw inferences, understand metaphors, and organize the global structure of discourse. 

 

b.      Understanding discourse and other minds

There is increasing evidence that the right hemisphere is critical for under-standing discourse (Beeman, 1993, 1998, Hough, 1990; Kaplan, Brownell, Jacobs, & Gardner, 1990; Brownell & Martino, 1998; Stemmer &  Joanette, 1998).  Thus, patients with right-impaired damage (RHD) have impairments concerming narrative scripts, interpretations, inferential processing, integration of information or conceptualization of the unit as a whole, construction of, new conceptual models, and inferences about another person's beliefs and intentions (  Stemmer & Joannett, 1998). 

The right hemisphere has an ability to use 'knowledge of the world', involved in scripting, where a number Patients who have damage in the right hemisphere show structuring prob- lems in story recall (Moya, Benowitz, Levine, & Finklestein, 1986)  , and their speech is disrupted, particularly at the level of discourse, jumping from one topic to another incoherently (Brownell & Martino, 1998).  They experience difficulty in making inferences as well.  Entences are related to a topic. 

 

c.       Metophor

The coarse semantic coding of the right hemisphere may also relate to the ability of this hemisphere to understand the metaphor (Brownell, 1988).  When normal participants listen to natural language, blood flow increases to both hemispheres (Knopman, Selnes, Rubens, Klassen, Meyer, & Niccum, 1980).    In the view of Chiarello (1998, p. 148), 'RH [right hemisphere] lexical semantic processes are unique, and serve to complement and enrich those of the LH (left hemisphere).'

7. How does The Bilingual Brain Work ?

A. Increased problem solving skill

Doubling down on a pair of languages rather than just one does take extra work, but it's work young children are generally not aware they're doing. Bilingual people of all ages are continually addressing what research psychologist Ellen Bialystok of Toronto's York University calls the dog-chien dilemma, encountering an object, action or concept and instantaneously toggling between two different words to describe it. Such nimble decisionmaking ought to improve on-the-fly problem solving, and studies show that it does.

Language researchers often point to the famed Stroop test, which asks subjects to look at the word red, for example, which is presented in an ink of a different color, say blue. Then they are required to say aloud or identify on a computer the ink color. That requires an additional fraction of a second to accomplish than if both the word and ink color were the same. Everyone experiences that lag, but for bilinguals it's measurably shorter. "Monolinguals always need more time," Bialystok says. "It's a lifelong advantage for bilinguals."

B.     SOCIAL EMPATHY

Lynch also believes albeit based primarily on his own observations that multilingual kids may exhibit social empathy sooner than children who grow up speaking only one language, which makes developmental sense. The theory of mind understanding that what's in your head is not the same as what's in other people's head does not emerge in children until they're about 3 years old. Prior to that, they assume that if, say, they know a secret you probably do too. There's a kind of primal narcissism in this a belief that their worldview is the universal one. Once they learn that's not the case, self-centeredness falls away at least a little and the long process of true socialization begins. There's nothing that accelerates the acquisition of that kind of other-awareness like the realization that even the very words you use to label the things in your world dog, tree, banana are not the same ones everyone uses.

C.     REDUCED RISK OF ALTZHEIMERS AND DEMENTIA

Language skills acquired early can pay late-life dividends. In one study, bilinguals experienced the onset of age-related dementia 4.1 years later than monolinguals, and full-blown Alzheimer's 5.1 years later. "One school of thought says that any cognitive reserve — education, multilingualism, even playing Sudoku puzzles — strengthens the brain and helps it resist disease," says Bialystok. "The other says that the brains of multilinguals experience the same level of disease as those of monolinguals, but they cope with it better. They function at a higher level than they would otherwise be able to function."

8. Explain the relationship between sign language and Brain

            The first thing to understand is that signed languages are natural human languages. They evolve naturally wherever a group of deaf people need to communicate. Signed languages are fully capable of the same complexity as spoken languages. They are different based on country — British Sign Language and American Sign Language are very different, for example, even though a deaf American traveling in England would have no trouble reading English. Signed and spoken languages are complex linguistic systems that simply differ in how they are expressed and perceived.

            The left hemisphere houses a core language network. Broca’s area (in the front of the brain) is heavily involved in language production, while comprehension requires Wernicke’s area (at the side, towards the back of the brain). These areas were identified in studies of patients in the 1860s, but they are far from the whole story. In the last 20 years neuroimaging research shows that much of the brain is engaged in various aspects of language processing.

9. Explain the issues that relate to language disorders (aphasia)

a. Broca’s aphasia

            Broca’s aphasia is a form of aphasia in which the person knows what they want to say but is unable to produce the words or sentence. It is also known as non-fluent aphasia and expressive aphasia, and severity can range from mild to severe. People with Broca’s aphasia are typically aware of their communication difficulties. Broca’s aphasia is due to damage to Broca’s area in the left hemisphere of the brain, named after French scientist Paul Broca.

Broca’s aphasia is often described as having the words “on the tip of your tongue.” It is called non-fluent aphasia because speech is effortful and involves starts and stops. Another defining feature is that if sentences are produced, they often have incorrect syntax, or word order and grammar.

Comprehension, or reading and listening, are less affected than speech and written expression. Simple sentences are easiest to understand. For instance, “John likes ice cream” is easier to understand than “Ice cream is a food that is liked by John.” People with Broca’s aphasia are often able to understand most of what is said to them, but they have trouble responding.

Someone with Broca’s aphasia can also experience less obvious communication impairments. This can include yes/no confusion, or saying yes when they really mean no. Using the correct pronouns can also be difficult and the individual might use “he” to refer to a woman.

Speech therapy can be very helpful for people with Broca’s aphasia. People with Broca’s aphasia can improve in their communication abilities for a long time following a stroke, especially with therapy and support.

b. wernicke’s aphasia

            Aphasias are conditions of the brain that impact a person’s communication abilities, particularly speech. Wernicke’s aphasia causes difficulty speaking in coherent sentences or understanding others’ speech.

Wernicke’s aphasia is the most common type of fluent aphasia. It occurs when the left middle side of the brain becomes damaged or altered. This part of the brain is known as Wernicke’s area, named after Carl Wernicke, a neurologist. Wernicke’s area of the brain controls human language. It’s also near where we store our personal dictionaries. Someone with Wernicke’s aphasia may have difficulty processing the meaning of spoken words.

c.Other Speech-Related Aphasias

In addition to the kinds of aphasias which can occur from damage to the two main language centers of the brain, Broca's Area and Wernicke's Area, there are other aphasias which occur due to damage at sites near or between those areas and  at other sites in the brain as yet undetermined.  Damage to the area which leads into Wernicke's Area from the auditory cortex may result in pure word deafness, where one cannot recognize the sounds of words as speech but can hear other types of sounds.  For example, a person might be able to hear music quite clearly and even sing a melody which he or she has just heard, but be unable to recognize the lyrics of the "song as being words.

A condition known as conduction aphasia is characterized by a poor ability to repeat words despite relatively good comprehension.  Persons with this aphasia might substitute a closely related sound for the one they actually hear, e.g.  for 'teethe' (the verb) they say 'teeth' (the noun) and for 'bubble they say' bupple '(here inventing a new word but one that conforms to the sound pattern of English).  Some may also have the ability to repeat strings of four or five digits, e.g.  3-8-4-2-7, yet be unable to repeat a simple three-syllable sentence accurately, such as 'Joe is here', 'Betty the'.  Anomic aphasia involves problems in finding the proper words for spontaneous speech, even though language comprehension and repetition are good.  Typically, such a person has difficulty finding the correct names for objects.  This is a phenomenon which we all experience at times, e.g.  'Hand me that uh ... uh ... uh ... thing over there.'  In this aphasia, however, the loss is frequent.  There are also reported cases of patients being unable, in response to a verbal command, to perform skilled motor movements with their hands: even though they understand the command and their spontaneous hand movements are perfectly normal.  Thus, while a person might spontaneously be able to pick up a pen, he or she may be able to perform the same task when asked to do so.  This inability to respond appropriately to verbal com- mands is called apraxia.  There is also global apbasia, a terrible condition in which many or all aspects of language are severely affected, presumably due to massive damage at numerous sites in the left hemisphere or to criuical connections between language areas.  Such patients demonstrate little speech comprehension and display, at best, some stereotypic and automatic sequences of speech sounds.  One woman who had suffered a massive stroke could say nothing but four nonsense syllables, 'no la doh', every time she tried to speak.  Determining the type of aphasia In trying to determine what kind of aphasia will be produced by what kind of damage, there is a number of variables that must be taken into consideration.  It is not just the location of damage to the brain that matters, it is also important to know what the nature of the damage or the lesion is.  Was tissue completely destroyed or was the damage slight?  Did the damage occur suddenly or gradually over time?  Because childhood lesions may leave a mild deficit that can be difficult to detect, and since the same lesions in an adult would be much more noticeable, it is necessary to know the age at which the damage occurred.

d.Reading and writing aphasias : dylexias

            Problems of hemispheric dominance, after reading and writing have been acquired, With of e defects in visual perception, for example, may play some role  in difficulties in reading and writing.  Some children may only be able to cause vrite backwards (deer as reed) or upside-down, or in reading they are nfise letters (b with d, p with g, u with n, m with w) and engage in other may anomalies.  As was noted earlier in Chapter 3 on reading, the orientation of letters is a general exception to the way we observe other objects.  For sill eximple, pick up a pencil and no matter which way we hold it, we ir is best not to present the letters to the child in isolation but in contact.  Thus, the b and d should be shown in words, e.g.  tub, dog.  In this the child can see the proper orientation of the letter and the word in which it appears. 

Dyslexia may be subdivided into two basic categories: alexia, which in- volves disorders in reading, and agrapbia, which involves disorders in writing.  One may be afflicted by both conditions at the same time, in which case the person is unable to either read or write properly.  In pure agrapbia there is a total loss of the ability to write, even though the hand can be used skilfully for other purposes.  Thus, for example, a person who has had a left-hemisphere stroke may be able to read the simple sentence 'How are you?', And yet be unable to write it.  Also, some may be unable to read a phrase yet be quite able to write it as dictation.  That condition is termed alexia without agraphis, where a patient may not even be able to read what they themselves have identified it as a pencil.  To help remedy such problems as those with letters, way, just written!  It is, in a way, the written equivalent to certain aphasias mentioned earlier, where individuals may be able to say what they want, yet, when their speech is auditorily recorded and the tape is played back to them, they are unable to understand what they are  have just said.

e.localism and holism

            This particular model of looking at the structure and function of language by relating specific aspects of language to certain localized areas of the brain is called the localist model.  Although it is true that certain areas of the brain are involved in language, it is also necessary to take into account a holistic or global brain phenomenon in order to understand what is happening.

 The effects on language of broader psychological factors, such as attention span, motivational dissipate, etc., must be considered.  A holistic type of model does just this.  For example, you start to say something and suddenly you are dis- tracted and break off, or you forget what you wahted to say.  It would be foolish to include that you experienced a momentary breakdown in speech production due to some damage to your Broca's Area.  Or, when a friend says something but you don't catch the words and respond with What ". This is not an indication of damage to your Wernicke's Area. Sonie sort of holistic multi-dimensional explanation is required here.

 Also, there are cases of  aphasia which have been examined clinically that do not correspond to the localist model Some patients with aphasia have turmed out to have areas of their brains affected or unaffected in ways that do not correspond to the view that a certain behavioral malfunction must always be the result  of the damage to one particular area of ​​the biain.

The localist model has been successful in explaining roughly 85 per cent of aphasias, but the other 15 per cent are anomalous and baffling They represent people who have language disorders but don't have damages in alertness  , the rate at which auditory and visual memory.