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Related Concept Videos

Language Development01:22

Language Development

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Children master language quickly and with relative ease, supported by both biological predisposition and reinforcement. B. F. Skinner (1957) proposed that language is learned through reinforcement, while Noam Chomsky (1965) argued that language acquisition mechanisms are biologically determined.
The critical period for language acquisition suggests that the ability to acquire language is at its peak early in life. As people age, this proficiency decreases. Language development begins very...
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Language is a system of communication that allows the expression of thoughts, ideas, and feelings. The brain processes language in both hemispheres.
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Non-verbal communication plays a critical role in human interaction, influencing how individuals perceive emotions and psychological states. It operates through four primary channels: facial expressions, eye contact, body language, and touch. These non-verbal cues help convey meaning beyond spoken language and are often culturally influenced.Facial Expressions and Emotional RecognitionFacial expressions are among the most powerful and universal forms of non-verbal communication. Research has...
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Components of Language01:24

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Language, whether spoken, signed, or written, consists of specific components: lexicon and grammar. The lexicon is the vocabulary of a language, comprising its words. Grammar is the set of rules used to convey meaning through the lexicon. For example, English grammar adds “-ed” to most verbs to indicate past tense. Words are formed by combining phonemes, which are the basic sound units of a language. Different languages have different sets of phonemes (e.g., “ah” vs.
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Language and Cognition01:27

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Language serves as a bridge between ideas and communication, influencing how individuals perceive and interact with the world. Psychologists have long debated whether language shapes thought or vice versa. This discussion gained grip with Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf in the 1940s, who proposed that language determines thought, a concept known as linguistic determinism. They suggested that the vocabulary and structure of a language influence how its speakers think and perceive reality.
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The sensorimotor stage, the initial phase of Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development, spans the first two years of a child's life. During this period, infants actively engage with their surroundings, building cognitive awareness through direct interaction with the world. This interaction is primarily based on sensory perception and motor actions, allowing infants to gradually understand basic physical properties and predict how objects interact within their environment.
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Using the Hands to Represent Objects in Space: Gesture as a Substrate for Signed Language Acquisition.

Vikki Janke1, Chloë R Marshall2

  • 1English Language and Linguistics, University of Kent, Canterbury, United Kingdom.

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|December 19, 2017
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Adults learning British Sign Language (BSL) may struggle with handshapes because they have too many options from general gesture. The challenge is narrowing down their gestural repertoire to BSL

Keywords:
adult second language acquisitionclassifier predicatesgesturelocative expressionssign languagesign-naïve adults

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Area of Science:

  • Second language acquisition research
  • Linguistic gesture studies
  • Sign language linguistics

Background:

  • First language (L1) influences second language (L2) acquisition.
  • Gesture is a potential source of L1 transfer in sign language learning.
  • Spatial relationships are iconically represented in sign languages.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate gestural production in novice sign language learners.
  • To test hypotheses about handshape repertoire size in L1 transfer.
  • To understand challenges in acquiring iconic spatial representations in British Sign Language (BSL).

Main Methods:

  • Elicited silent gesture from 30 sign-naïve hearing adults in a controlled environment.
  • Utilized a task assessing the representation of object locations and orientations.
  • Compared handshape usage of novices with native BSL signers and learners.

Main Results:

  • Novice learners used handshapes not employed by native or experienced signers.
  • The overall set of handshapes used by novices was larger than that of native signers.
  • Learners demonstrated difficulty in selecting appropriate handshapes for object representation.

Conclusions:

  • The primary challenge in learning BSL's locative relations is reducing a broad gestural repertoire.
  • Learners need to converge on the conventionalized classifier system of BSL.
  • Acquiring sign language may involve narrowing, not expanding, gestural resources.