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The importance of the environment in supporting speech, language and communication development
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Through the years, linguists have produced many models of grammar, however, two models have proven to be most controversial. They are Chomsky's generative grammar of formal syntax and functional, usage-based approaches. These two fields, formalists and functionalist, are divided into two divisions of linguistic theories without cooperation. While one field focuses on cognitive abilities, the other directs their attention to syntax and universal grammar (henceforth UG). This essay investigates the main characteristics and basic differences of generative grammar and usage-based approaches. In short, Chomsky's generative grammar involves the human innate ability to learn a language, termed UG, and the fundamental role of syntax. This genetically encoded ability (UG) as well as exposure to language (environment) answers Chomsky's question "how is language generated in the speaker?". His earlier theory of parameters, competence, and performance was later replaced with principles, I-language (mental grammar), and E-language (external), with the intention of clarifying and emphasizing fur...
To start, Mithun and Chafe give an important insight of the Mohawk language. In 1994 Jackendoff, a well known philosophy teacher, gave three fundamental arguments involving language, but I will only focus on mental grammar. Mental grammar, in brief, is the belief that our minds naturally and automatically carry knowledge
For example, “ To say ‘John said Pip hit the fence’ you could say the equivalent of ‘Pip say John hit fence’, ‘Fence say John hit Pep’ … or any other of the 120 possible word orders” (Bauer, 78). This show that if there is no grammar, there would be no rule for the word placement and when we say it, the listener wouldn’t know what is our intended. The author proves that this myth is wrong because if there is no grammar, there wouldn’t be rules for word placement, no difference between nouns and verbs, wouldn’t be possible to mark the different of the tune of the sentence and so on. Every language has their own grammar, the only difference is that some might have more grammar than other while some have don’t much as the other such as the ending and word order that is different in each language: Latin makes extensive use of ending, Chinese use word order and English use fixed word order. The main idea of this myth is when we say there is no grammar, we mean there is no grammar book that written all the rules for that particular language. So if we start writing down all the rules, Every language has their own grammar because it exists in the head of the speaker. Even the grammar is different but the language still capable to express the same range of structure
Language, according to Owens (2012, p. 6), “can be defined as a socially shared code or conventional system for representing concepts through the use of arbitrary symbols and rule-governed combinations of those symbols”. Language is thought to be a complex system; however, it can be broken down into three different components. These three components consist of content, form, and use. Within these three components, language has five main components which includes semantics, morphology, phonology, syntax, and pragmatics (Owens, 2012, p. 18).
This essay is about a child’s development and learning, focusing primarily on language development. It will describe the main stages of developmental "milestones" and the key concepts involved for children to develop their language skills, discussing language acquisition and social learning theory. The essay will also look into the key theorists involved in language development, primarily Vygotsky and Chomsky, and how these theories have had an impact on the way society views language and their implementation within schools. The essay will describe the factors affecting language development, both biological and environmental. While also discussing key arguments among theorists, one being the nature vs nurture debate, and how these play a part in the teaching in schools.
Social scientists once believed that children learned language simply by picking it up from those around them. Studies in linguistics took a turn when the idea that humans are equipped with an inherent ability to learn language was first proposed by Chomsky. He realized that children did not simply imitate what they were hearing; rather they attempted to apply certain rules. The idea of universal grammar was born and offers explanations concerning language as a human instinct.
He hypothesized that human brains contain a "genetically determined language faculty" (Knowledge of Language 3). referred to as a "language acquisition device (LAD)" in order to account for this disparity. The LAD is proposed to be responsible for language organization which implies that knowledge of specific sentence structure and syntax is hardwired into the brain during development within the womb. As a result, Chomsky suggests that Universal Grammar (UG), or sets of grammatical rules common in most languages, is a priori knowledge integral for
Next, we shall evaluate the key features of language which are; communicative, arbitrary, structured, generative, and dynamic. Communicative, language can allow one to interact with another. According to Willingham (2007), the bond found with the elements in language and what they mean is arbitrary. The way language is set up shows how the symbols are not arbitrary. The set up language shows precisely how intricate it can be. Generative, one is able to build countless number of meanings from words. Dynamic, language never stays the same, therefore it can be known as sporadic. According to Willingham (2007), changes are being made all the time as new words get added and as the ways of grammar change. These elements can be quite critical when it comes to language.
Schachter, Jacquelyn. Some semantic prerequisites for a model of language. Brain & Language. Vol 3(2) 292-304, Apr 1976.
In this essay I intend to investigate how differently one of the closed word classes, determiners, are approached in a series of pre and post corpus-based English grammar reference books, course books and practice books. And the theme of my investigation is how corpus affects the development of English teaching materials. The grammar reference books I intend to analyze and compare are “A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language” (ACGEL) and “Cambridge Grammar of English” (CGE). The former is an indispensable grammar reference book first published in 1985, which has been widely consulted in researches in relation to English linguistic studies, while the later offers clear explanations of both spoken and written English grammar based on authentic everyday usage.
When grammar is put to use in a society, people will often have different beliefs at what is the "right" or "proper" usage. This had led to the formation of two widely accepted forms of grammar, Prescriptivism and Descriptivism. These forms will often separate those who believe their form of grammar is the only correct way from those who use many forms they find to be acceptable. Descriptive grammar is formed by analyzing how speakers use a language, and deducing the rules they follow. Linguists create descriptive grammars in order to understand language more deeply. They understand that a single language can have multiple dialects, and that each dialect will have its own grammatical rules--internally
Still today, it is the commonly held belief that children acquire their mother tongue through imitation of the parents, caregivers or the people in their environment. Linguists too had the same conviction until 1957, when a then relatively unknown man, A. Noam Chomsky, propounded his theory that the capacity to acquire language is in fact innate. This revolutionized the study of language acquisition, and after a brief period of controversy upon the publication of his book, Aspects of the Theory of Syntax, in 1964, his theories are now generally accepted as largely true. As a consequence, he was responsible for the emergence of a new field during the 1960s, Developmental Psycholinguistics, which deals with children’s first language acquisition. He was not the first to question our hitherto mute acceptance of a debatable concept – long before, Plato wondered how children could possibly acquire so complex a skill as language with so little experience of life. Experiments have clearly identified an ability to discern syntactical nuances in very young infants, although they are still at the pre-linguistic stage. Children of three, however, are able to manipulate very complicated syntactical sentences, although they are unable to tie their own shoelaces, for example. Indeed, language is not a skill such as many others, like learning to drive or perform mathematical operations – it cannot be taught as such in these early stages. Rather, it is the acquisition of language which fascinates linguists today, and how it is possible. Noam Chomsky turned the world’s eyes to this enigmatic question at a time when it was assumed to have a deceptively simple explanation.
Computational linguistics is a discipline between linguistics and computer science which is concerned with the computational aspects of the human language. This area of computer science overlaps with the field of Artificial Intelligence. Basically, computational linguistics is a series of programs that interprets human speech into words and actions. There are a couple of different areas of computational linguistics and those areas are theoretical computational linguistics and applied computational linguistics. Each one of those areas are divided up into more areas.
Syntax is the study of how words are combined to create phrases and causes in the sentences of a specific language (Freeman and Freeman, 2014). Syntax helps us to make clear sentences that “sound right,” where words, phrases, and clauses each serve their function and are correctly ordered to form and communicate a complete sentence with meaning. The rules of syntax combine words into phrases and phrases into sentences. Not only does it focus on the correct word order for a language, but it also helps show the relationship between the meaning of a group of words. Without proper syntax, a sentence can be meaningless. It is key to understand that while every language does have certain syntax, the syntax does vary from language to language. It
Chomsky and Skinner and Theories Of Language Development Many psychologists have studied and researched into how we acquire language. Some have concluded that the ability to learn language is a genetically inherited skill. Others believe that language is learned following birth and is due to environmental factors. This is part of the nature vs. nurture debate.
A linguist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology named Chomsky, declared that we have the ability to learn language not only because somebody taught us, but also because we are born with the principles of language in our genes. Chomsky also said “We have language because of nature, not just nurture” (Everywhere Psychology, 2012). Chomsky was one of the people that believed Genie still had a chance to learn language since everybody is born with the ability to learn. A neuropsychologist named Eric Lenneberg, agreed with Chomsky about humans being born with the ability to learn a language as nature, but believed there is a deadline for learning language. Lenneberg believed that if a first language isn 't learned by puberty it could be too late. What Lenneberg proposed is called the "critical period hypothesis," (Everywhere Psychology,