tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4297242917419089261.post1890766702368746457..comments2024-03-09T01:05:10.754-08:00Comments on Babies Learning Language: Exploring first words across children Michael Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00681533046507717821noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4297242917419089261.post-2083233154848718192014-08-17T03:53:01.827-07:002014-08-17T03:53:01.827-07:00Counting Einstein :-), I know 3 cases of very late...Counting Einstein :-), I know 3 cases of very late language acquisition (really expression; one was a next-door neighbour when we were kids) & all were associated with complete sentences when language was finally expressed, and the one I know as an adult is still slow to speak sentences in foreign languages despite good vocabulary and great phonology / accent. I'm sure some "personality" trait is associated with inhibition of social performance, but I'm more familiar with the abstraction of action selection mechanisms than that of personality psychology. I guess I'm wondering if there is basic biological / neurological diversity in social risk taking strategies --- that is, the levels of confidence or conformity necessary to express social acts. Joanna Brysonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02968914847649268737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4297242917419089261.post-6835771666627503352014-08-16T12:41:50.774-07:002014-08-16T12:41:50.774-07:00I don't know anything about this offhand (asid...I don't know anything about this offhand (aside from the apocryphal Einstein story about him bursting out into fully-formed sentences at some late age).<br /><br />My impression is that most late-talkers catch up via the normal trajectory of vocabulary growth and then grammatical development, e.g.:<br /><br />http://repository.brynmawr.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1008&context=psych_pubs<br /><br />There are aspects of temperament and personality that stay constant from infancy to adulthood, however (e.g. see Kagan's work on this), so those variables - rather than anything happening in the children's language development - might explain your observation. Many kids are shy to talk around strangers, as well, especially when their language is slow relative to peers. Michael Frankhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00681533046507717821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4297242917419089261.post-66571936950063540932014-08-16T12:33:05.802-07:002014-08-16T12:33:05.802-07:00Definitely - wishful thinking can make random babb...Definitely - wishful thinking can make random babble into "mama." I expect parents would be more likely to make "ba" into "ball" for a boy and "bye" for a girl... <br /><br />Actually, we could test whether gender effects are more prevalent in words with larger phonological neighborhoods. That certainly seems to be the case with "ball" as it's close to "bye" and "baby." For "hi" I'm less certain. Anecdotally, M does the dipthong in "hI-e" really clearly. She also uses it in communicatively appropriate ways... Michael Frankhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00681533046507717821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4297242917419089261.post-29355545552793114412014-08-16T12:29:59.425-07:002014-08-16T12:29:59.425-07:00Hi Alex,
Thanks for the comment. I guess I'd...Hi Alex, <br /><br />Thanks for the comment. I guess I'd consider variability in vocabulary development an established fact. Many labs have replicated this variability (and shown that measures of vocabulary from eye-tracking to behavioral paradigms and parent report are reliable and valid). <br /><br />Grammatical development is more controversial, certainly, because some of the theoretical debates mean that measures are not as well worked out. But I'd go back to Bates's work suggesting that many grammatical developments appear to be contingent on the growth of the lexicon - you can't really figure out grammar until you know some words. So you variability in one feeds into variability in the other.Michael Frankhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00681533046507717821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4297242917419089261.post-17457391320159744152014-08-16T08:17:10.086-07:002014-08-16T08:17:10.086-07:00Also, do you know any longitudinal studies of kids...Also, do you know any longitudinal studies of kids who don't speak until they are quite old, and then speak in complete sentences? I have a low-N observation that they may stay inhibited / careful through adulthood, but the only other person I've asked about this is Spelke & she didn't know of any such studies.Joanna Brysonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02968914847649268737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4297242917419089261.post-67668820582068513802014-08-16T08:14:08.661-07:002014-08-16T08:14:08.661-07:00Given the difficulty of understanding small childr...Given the difficulty of understanding small children, parental expectations may be driving some of the gender differences?Joanna Brysonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02968914847649268737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4297242917419089261.post-19537700956111348912014-08-16T05:53:22.793-07:002014-08-16T05:53:22.793-07:00Interesting post -- how controversial though is va...Interesting post -- how controversial though is variability in child language development? I have had some conversations with eminent researchers who have insisted quite forcefully that development proceeds in a very regular and uniform way across individuals and across languages.<br />And I know there was some pushback on the Fenson et al study you linked to.<br /><br />It seems like there are different sorts of variability that you could look at.Alex Clarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04634767958690153584noreply@blogger.com