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8/4/2019 Constructing a Language
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Usage-Based Linguistics Human beings aren¶t born with specific set of communicative
behaviors (unlike animals)
Generative grammar is not as complexly confusing, andlanguage acquisition can be explained by being integratedwith other cognitive and social-cognitive skills.
*Intention-reading: share attention with others and follow it,imitatively
Pattern-finding: form perceptual and conceptual categoriesand analogies
Usage-based linguistics: language structure emerges fromlanguage use! Includes the core grammar as well asidiosyncratic and things in between.
Grammaticalization: linguistic constructions are themselvesmeaningful linguistic symbols, NOT algebraic procedures
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Origins of Language Around 9-12 months infants understand the social world
Begin gaze-following and social referencing Behaviors are triadic²interactions between both
objects and people to share attention. They learn thereis a joint attentional frame, defined intentionally andform a common ground.
First, infants monitor intentional states of others towardsoutside objects and engage with them as a scaffold
Second, infants monitor intentional states of adultstowards themselves and their attentional states This helps them understand communicative intentions
It is crucial to basic symbol learning
And to pragmatic context skills
Pointing is an early triadic gesture of intention
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Words Word±learning easier when adults name new
objects as the focus of attention
Tomasello¶s studies show that children don¶t need
adults to direct attention and name objects, theycan discern adult¶s focus of attention in complicatedsituations. Also, adults specific behaviors (smile or nod) aren¶t enough to indicate intended referent
Children use a variety of cues to read adult
referential intentions, showing flexibleunderstanding
A child discerns through intentional reading whichobject or action an adult refers to with a new word
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Complex Constructions
and Discourse Children focus attention on topic of conversation, not on
linguistic structures!
Early on, children first distinguish between what is presently
in the joint attentional frame and what is new to aconversation
Around 24 months, children can talk about a focused topicin a joint-attentional frame
5 year olds use about twice as many nominals (referents)as younger children, showing they understand the listener is
following They also talk about a central theme and make it the
subject of the conversation
Pressure to adjust utterance to listener¶s understanding indiscourse circumstances lead them to develop theory of mind
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Biological, Cultural, and Ontogenetic
Processes
*The fundamental unit of intentional action (and of language learning) is stored exemplars of utterances
Ex: µthank you¶, µI wanna X¶, µI¶m Xing¶
How µX¶ contributes to larger communicative structure
In experiments of cultural learning, young children canreproduce adult¶s intended (not accidental) actionswhen they don¶t even perform it
To learn a language: (1) hear an adult utterance,
(2) segment communicative intention into componentparts, and
(3) store comprehended utterance and components
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Application:Intention Reading
andChildren with Autism
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRpuFGWs2hQ
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Why Study Autism?
Attention reading a major component of development
Consistent with usage-based model
Emphasizes the significant of jointattention by linking cognitive linguistics
with experimental psychology Suggests an alternative to normal
development based on learning withoutembodiment
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Overview of Autism
Brain development disorder
Diagnosed based on key behaviors rather thancause or mechanism
Known to be inherited, but still poorly understood
Characterized by abnormalities in social interactionand communication
Usually diagnosed by age 2
Syndrome-specific deficit of joint attentional skills
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Nonlinguistic Cognitive Abnormalities
Hyper-systemizing
Creating «rules» to describe internal events that
can not be understood otherwise Cannot empathize with others or understand
their motivations
Limited ability to see the big picture
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Delays in Acquisition: The Autistic Patterns
Nearly 50% do not acquire language atall
No babbling or gesturing at 12 months
Lacking single words at 16 months
Lacking two-word spontaneous phrases
at 24 months Attention sharing tests very important in
diagnostics
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Abnormality in LanguageStructure and Use
Verbal communication sometimes limited to labeling
Sentences usually only represent the world at it is, marked bythe lack of embedded clauses, propositional attitudes, lack of
discourse on ongoing or past activity Conversational deficits: does not distinguish between new and
given info, rarely express intention, inability to understand literalvs. intended meanings, difficulty with irony, jokes, and lies
Avoidance of representations of emotional states
Narrative discourse: do not consider listener's needs, lack of causal explanations
Cut off from social-historical aspects embodied in language
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Theory of Mind in SocialCognition
The first sign of «mind» in communication is in conceptualizing othersas intentional, volitional beings
Understanding that others have minds is the enables joint attention
Longitudinal studies found that responses in individual autistic toddlersto bids for joint attention predicted language gains several years later [independent of IQ level]
Those with the poorest non-linguistic joint-attentional skills have thelowest linguistic performance
Evidence that joint attention is a precurser to
language -They develop around the same time(~1 year old) in normal
children-They simultaneously in autistic children, occurring at varying
ages - In some autistic children neither can develop ± in verbalchildren there is not one without the other
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Alternate strategies inacquisition
Heavier reliance on lexical and syntactic knowledge: moreknowledge is needed to pass theory of mind tests such asfalse belief tests due to lack of empathy
Different linguistic cues to cope with lack of social-cognitive development and symbolic understanding
Lack of symbolic skills make it difficult to focus attention:the preferred approach is repetitive tasks to make up for the deficit
Tomasello theorizes that they integrate information intocontexts through piecemeal efforts that are not embodied,leading to inefficiency
Hypothesis that excesses in neurons cause over-connectivity in key brain regions
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Bibliography
Flusberg, Helen. «Evaluating the theory of mind hypothesis of autism.»C urrent Directions in Psychological Science. 16.6 Dec. 2007.
Holth, Per. «An operant analysis of joint-attentional skills.» T he Journal of Early and Intensive Behavioral Intervention. 2.3 Fall 2005.
Norbury, Courtney Frazier. «Barking up the wrong tree.» Journal of Experimental C hild Psychology. 90.2 Feb 2005.
Rogers, Sally J. Imitation and the social mind . London: Guilford Press, 2006.
Tomasello, Michael. C onstructing a Language. Harvard University Press,2003.
Tomasello, Michael. The C ultural Origins of Human C ognition. Harvard
University Press, 1999.
Watt, Nola. «Prelinguistic predictors of language outcome at three years of age.» Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Science. 49.6 Dec 2006.
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