Psychology Unit V: Language & Thought

LANGUAGE & THOUGHT 

Language

• our spoken, written, or gestured words
• the way we combine them to communicate meaning 

Phonemes

• in a spoken language, smallest distinctive sound unit

Morphemes

• in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning
• word or parts of a word 
• prefix or suffix

Grammar

• system of rules in a language that enables us to communicate and understand others

Semantics

• set of rules by which we derive meaning in a language

Syntax

• rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences

Language Development

• Babbling Stage: starting at 3 - 4 months, spontaneous sounds, not limited to phonemes of infant's household language
• One Word Stage: 1 - 2 years old, one word for big meanings 
• Two Word Stage: at 2 years old, two words to communicate meanings - called telegraphic speech

Skinner

• we can explain language development through social learning theory

Chomsky

• we acquire language too quickly for it to be learned 
• "learning box" inside our heads that enable us to learn any human language

Whorf's Linguistic Relativity

• idea that language determines the way we think (not vice versa)