05 Oct What is easy about creating language rich homes? challenging? What are the seven reasons for using language. What’s most interesting about the Multilingual brain? Whic
- Read Chapter 7 "Do Pigs Have a Wishbone"
- Use complete sentences to answer the following questions. Each response should be at least a 5 sentence paragraph
- What is easy about creating language rich homes? challenging?
- What are the seven reasons for using language.
- What's most interesting about the Multilingual brain?
- Which stage of language development do you still you personally need to work on?
C h
a p
ter7
"D o
P ig
s H a
v e W
ish b
o n
es? "
: U
n fo
ld in
g L
a n
g u
a g
e
O ne even
ing a n u
m b
er o f years ago, w
h en
o u
r y o
u n
g est so
n w
as
ab ou
t four, I w as p
rep arin
g d
in n
er an d
studying for an ex
am o
n
ch ild
ren 's language developm
ent w hile h
e p u
rsu ed
his favorite
h o
b by o
f rearranging th e kitchen cupboards. S
u d
d en
ly h
e gazed
u p
, reg ard
ed th
e p o
rk ch
o p
s in m
y h
an d
, an d
asked, "D o pigs have
w ish
b o
n es?" I rem
em b
er laughing at th is "cute" co
m m
en t an
d
jo ttin
g it dow
n o n
a scrap o f paper, b
u t I d
o n
't recall h
o w
I
resp o
n d
ed ; quick
explanations w ere th
e rule in th
o se d
ays o f
retu rn
to gradu ate stu
d y
an d
p art-tim
e w ork. N
o d o
u b
t D oug w
as
left to co n
tem p
late th e m
ysteries o f w
ishbones o n his o
w n
.
N o
t long ago , w
ith stu d
en t days an
d ex
am s fa r b
eh in
d m
e, I cam e
u p
o n
th at scrap o
f p ap
er stu ck
in a d
u sty
cookbo ok. A
fter years o f
stu dying o
th er children's lan
gu age d
ev elo
p m
en t, I w
as struck by
th e iro
n y
o f having overlooked th
e im p
o rtan
ce o f m
y ow n son's
w ords. W
ith those four sim ple w
ords, D o ~
, like m o
st children o f
his age, show ed th
at in a few
sh o
rt years h e b
ad m
astered th
e m ost
com plex rule system
o f th
e h u
m an
in telle
c t-w
ith no form
al
instruction . I d
id n
't pay m u
ch atten
tio n
at th e tim
e, b u
t th at funn
y
question, w ith all th
e learning th at lay behin
d it, p
resaged w ell for
his future w ith reading, w
riti ng, organizin g solution
s to problem s,
reasoning ab
o u
t abstract
ideas, an
d
even lead
ership ability.
M oreover, by using language, D
oug w as buildin
g his ow n brain.
I have learn ed
a g reat deal since th
at day in th e kitchen
, an d
I
w ould like to help you appreciate, b
etter th an I did, your ow
n
children 's language developm
ent. T o u
n d
erstan d how
yo u can take
th e m
o st constructive role in h
elping it unfold, w e should first
consider th e four things th
at a child m u
st learn: its purposes, its
m echanics , its m
eanings, an d
its rules.
T H
E P
U R
P O
SE S O
F L A
N G
U A
G E
N
a tu
re's M y
sterio u
s D ev
ice
W h
ere does language co m
e from ? E
xperts h av
e w aged in
tellectual
fisticuffs ab o
u t w
h eth
er it is p rep
ro g
ram m
ed o r d
eterm in
ed b
y
in p
u t in
to specialized areas o
f th e b
rain . A
s usual , th e an
sw er lies
so m
ew h
ere in b
etw een
. B oth '1anguage," a general term
for th e
u se o
f verbal sym bols, an
d "sp
eech," its m ean
s o f expression, are
an instinctive reflection o
f h u
m an
s' n eed to co
m m
u n
icate. D id y
o u
k n
o w
th at a tw
o-m o
n th
-old reaching o
u t w
ith o n
e finger p o
in ted
is p racticing a form
o flan
g uage? H
ave you noticed how , b
y th
e age
o f six to nin
e m o
n th
s, w ith
o u
t know ing a single w
ord, a child can
p articip
ate in a "conversation
" an d
even control it? (If you d o
u b
t
this, w atch baby an
d G
ran d
m a som
etim e.) N
atu re h
as built th e
basics o f language into m
o st infants' b
rains. A
d eaf child starts to babble at th
e sam e age as do b
earing
children, so w e k
n ow
th at auditory stim
ulation is n o
t n ecessary for
p relanguage developm
ent. O n
e o f th
e m ost intriguing theories
proposed a "language acquisition device" som
ew here in
th e b
rain
th at m
akes it inevitable. N o one has yet located this m
ysterious
m ach
in e (w
hich I w him
sically picture as a sm all sq
u are b
ox w ith
lots o f w
ires sticking out), b u
t it is true th at infants aro
u n
d th
e
w orld
, exposed to differen t languages and dialects,
all babble
rem ark
ably sim
ilar sou
nds. T
hey produce
vow els
before
co nso
n an
ts an d
are instin ctively sensitive to so
u n
d differences.
In fan
ts' left h em
isph eres can already sort o
u t h
u m
an speech from
n oises
in the environm
en t. Y
ou m
ight say th at children
are
biologically p ro
g ram
m ed to talk
. B y eight m
o n
th s, h
ow ever, th
e
brain is
already pruning
aw ay
so u
n ds
n ot
in the
child 's
environm en
t, so th at babies fro
m Jap
an o
r the U nited S
tates are
n ow
babbling in J apanese o r E
nglish . B
y adolescence, an d p
erh ap
s
even earlier, it is alm ost im
possible for m ost people to cap
tu re a
perfect native accen t in a foreig
n language, even w hen th
ey becom e
oth erw
ise fluent. M
ost o f o
u r lang
uage abili ties are h oused in w
idely sep arated
parts o f the left h
em isph
ere, although th is pattern
m ay differ in a
sm all
percentage of
peo ple.
F or
exam ple,
W ernecke's
area ,
respo nsible
fo r
und ers tanding
w ords
and co
n stru
cting
163 o f 330
g ram
m atical sentences, is a lo
n g
w ay from
B roca.'s area, w
h ere
th ey
g et
read y
to
be p
ro n
o u
n ced
. E
ffortless co
m m
u n
icatio n
d ep
en d
s o n
d ev
elo p
m en
t o f each
area as w ell as th
e th ick
fiber
connections b
etw een
th
em .
S o
m e
teach ers
have difficulty
u n
d erstan
d in
g h
o w
a child can do o
n e language task
very w ell, such
as getting th e m
ean in
g o
f a story, b u
t an o
th er quite poorly, su
ch
as retelling it clearly. U n
d erstan
d in
g th
e com plexity o
f th e sy
stem
h elp
s us targ et each
skill m o
re effectively.
S o
m e p
arts o f th
e right h em
isp h
ere co n
trib u
te as w ell, especially
w h
en
it com
es to
u
n d
erstan d
in g
an
d
in terp
retin g
lan
g u
age
m essages. C
learly, n o
t everything m atu
res at once. L
anguage
d ev
elo p
m en
t proceeds th ro
u g
h o
u t childhood; w
hile th e process
b eco
m es
less d ram
atic as plasticity declines at p u
b erty, m
o st
language skills can still b
e refined even in college an
d ad
u lth
o o
d .
B ecause th
e rig h
t h em
isp h
ere is m o
re active d u
rin g
th e first
co uple o
f years, so m
e authorities have suggested teaching b ab
ies
sig n language, w
hich d o
esn 't req
u ire m
atu ratio
n o
f special left
h em
isph ere sy
stem s o
r articulation ability. S om
e p aren
ts seem to
th in
k this h
elp s th
em co
m m
u n
icate w ith th
e infant, an d
vice v ersa.
T h
e ju ry
is still o u
t o n
w h
eth er this system
h as an
y p
erm an
en t
effect-p o
sitiv e o
r n eg
ativ e-o
n th
e child's developm ent.
O n
e yo un
g m o
th er takes g
reat delight in reporting h er in
fan t
daugh ter's progress-
w ith
o u
t sign lan g
u ag
e-to m
e. "O nly tw
o
m o
n th
s old, an d
I sw ear sh
e's im itating m
e. I say 'H
i,' an d
sh e says
'I-i-i-i.' M y h
u sb
an d
says it isn 't possible."
H er h
u sb
an d
h as
u n
d erestim
ated th
e p o
w er o
f th e language acquisition device
– an
d
also th e verbal inclin
ations o f m
an y
fem ales o
f th e species, w
ho
usually o p
erate o n
a slightly faster speech tim etable th
an th
eir
m ale peers. Y
et despite th e b
rain 's predilection
, it takes coaching
from the en
v iro
n m
en t to build the staggering n
u m
b er o
f neural
connections required for fu rth
er developm ent.
T h
e d eaf children w
ho start to babble do n o
t d evelop speech
w itho
ut special
intervention, although
th ey
sh
o w
th
eir
predisposition to com m
unicate in sign language. T he b
etter th e
language environm en
t, th e b
etter any child 's outcom
e. P aren
ts
have a bigger role in this critical area o f learning th
an in alm
ost
any other. F ortun
ately, n
ature has also p
ro g
ram m
ed p
aren ts
in stinctively to becom
e their child 's b
est teachers. T h
e first lesson
1ey p resen
t is ab o
u t loving co
m m
u n
icatio n
.
> ru
n itive P
u rp
o ses
ID
in fan
t's first co m
m u
n icatio
n usually takes th
e fo rm
of a
)iercing w ail, w
h ich
so u
n d
s as if it arises fro m
a prim itive p
art o f
:he b rain
. It does. A s th
e child b egins to
coo, b ab
b le, an
d receive
verbal m essages, n
ew netw
orks are form ing in
language cen ters o
f th
e cortex. B y six to
n in
e m o
n th
s th e h
ig h
er centers assert so m
e co
n trol.
L anguage
is closely lin
k ed
w ith
em otion,
an d
it is im
p o
rtan t to
rem em
b er th
at children w h
o get en
o u
g h
cuddling an
d u
n co
n d
itio n
al love h av
e a b etter ch
an ce at learn
in g
language – a
n d
everything else.
u n
d erstan
d in
g -n
o t of th
e w o
rd s them
selves, b u
t o f th
e g am
e o f
conversation. S
uch children
can't "read"
gestures o
r facial
expressions o f em
o tio
n , size u
p w
h ere th
e o th
er p erso
n is "com
ing fro
m ," o
r u n
d erstan
d h
o w
to in
co rp
o rate others' points o
f view in
to
th eir
behavior. T
hey m
ay
verbally b
arg e
in to
situations
o r
w ithdraw
, w o
n d
erin g
w hy n
o o
n e seem
s to like th
em .
S ensitive periods for pragm
atics o ccu
r early in life, so it is unw ise
to expect overtaxed caregivers o
r electronic appliances to teach
th
ese im p
o rtan
t lessons. T hey req
u ire a real p
erso n
, face-to-face, resp
o n
d in
g directly to
w hatever th
e child says o r does.
S pecialized b
rain centers n
eed to
b e stim
u lated
for listening, speaking,
an d
u
n d
erstan d
in g
. M
o st
children invite
y o
u r
assistance, an d
th e adu
lt's positive resp o
n se is in
stin ctiv
e-an d
im
p o
rtan t. If M
o th
er, for exam ple, acts "different," seem
ing aloof or
u p
set, th
e in
fan t
responds w
ith b o
d y
language signaling
distress. D uring th
e first six m o
n th
s, a stro n
g b
o n
d w
ith a p aren
t o
r caregiver is also im p
o rtan
t to m
~ del ap
p ro
p riate p
ro n
u n
ciatio n
an
d g
ram m
ar as w ell
as to
teach th
e rules
of th e
gam e of
conversation .
H elp
in g
C h
ild ren
U n
d ersta
n d
P u
rp o
ses fo r L
a n
g u
a g
e
L ook at this list o
f seven reasons for using language, an d
notice h
o w
m an
y are b
ased o
n interaction w
ith others.
P R
A G
M A
T IC
S : L
E A
R N
IN G
T H
E G
A M
E O
F C
O N
V E
R S
A T
IO N
D id y
o u
know th
at playing peekaboo is a language gam e? It teaches
turn-taking, th e first lesson. B
etw een four an
d nine m
o n
th s this
concept is practiced over an d
over as children im itate adult w
ords an
d learn
th at "talk" involves w
aiting your tu rn
. T here are o
th er
rules to b
e learned: G estures go
along w ith sou
n d
s an d
help everyone u
n d
erstan d
w h
at is m eant; you can get people to do
things for you by m aking noises of various kinds; people respond
w hen you "talk" to them
. S om
etim es th
ey even know w
hat you m
ean: "W
ell, how
did
th at
taste, Jan
eel?" Janeel
w iggles
eloquently an d
em its a lo
u d
burp. "O h
, you liked it, didn 't you!"
A ll of th
ese reasons and conventions for usin g language com
e u
n d
er one h eadin
g- p
rag m
atics. C hildren w
ho lack th em
are at a serious disadvantage because they have trouble usin
g language as a
tool. M
uch "social m
aladjustm e n
t" stem
s from
such
poor 1 . In
stru m
en ta
l: T o satisfy needs an
d w
ants.
"L ou, if yo
u w
ould like a cookie, please use w o
rd s to a
sk m
e instead o f w
