June 5, 2005
We Continue Our Exploration
Of How We Acquire Language.
Dear summer students,
CAN YOU BELIEVE we are about to enter the third week of summer classes? It's been a swiftly paced course of study, hasn't it? I regret that we don't have more time to "chew" on the material a bit more, but I hope that your individual projects will give you the "enduring understanding" for at least one area of interest.
The first week of class laid the foundation for our discussion and further study of how we acquire language. We looked at the difference between how animals and humans communicate, how Piaget's theory of cognitive development relates to language development, and how other theorists try to explain how we acquire the ability to put sounds into meaningful sentences.
Take a Deep Breath.
During the second week, we began to take a closer look at the biological aspect of communication. The organs necessary for breathing and digestion are also vital to producing sound.
What element is necessary for both life and speech?
 B R E A T H !
What a beautiful relationship.
The air we breathe also contributes to the most manifest difference between humanity and the other animals — speech.
Senses, the Environment Interact.
Another interesting aspect of language development is the importance of environment. We discussed the ecology of speaking — the actual interaction between the senses and the environment. Again, the biological aspect of speech, the interrelationship of the senses and the use of the respiratory system combined with the world around us create the communication system. It's an open system and unique to each individual.
We also discovered the universal linguistics every human experiences: acquisition of vowel and consonant sounds (phonology) and the concept of subject, verb, object (syntax).
Intimately involved in learning a language is the interaction between the child and the primary caretaker.  The child is learning to communicate from birth. Attention leads to perception and then to conception, or as Piaget puts it, reflexes beget habits that lead to intelligence. It's a wondrous system.
The Baby Says "Coo."
Preverbal communication begins with the infant's ability to recognize certain sounds even before they are born. Infants recognize faces around two months and are able to distinguish between their mothers' faces and others at three months. At this same time, they are beginning to make their own imitative sounds when they "coo."
By six to nine months, they are babbling or playing with sounds. At twelve-to-eighteen months, they are producing their first utterances. It's a rapid progression of a remarkable feat.
At the same time, infants are using intentional communication to get something they want by the use of protodeclaratives, using something in the environment to get an adult's attention, or protoimperatives, using an adult to get something in the environment.
Conversing with an "Other."
By this age children have learned that objects exist outside their action with the object. The idea of an "other"  leads to the development of self-identity. At this point, children become conversationalists. They know how to take turns in a conversation and how to repair errors that they make.
It is most important for all children to be exposed to an active verbal environment so that they can practice and have expert role models.
This week will continue our exploration of how we acquire language. We will discuss the sound system, how we develop meaning, and how we put the sounds and meanings into sentences.
Mid-Term? Not already!
All this information will be included on your mid-term exam in week four, so keep a sharp mind, read with concentration, and listen attentively during class.
 Freddie A. Bowles
*This is the next step toward THE One World Language.
Step Sixteen: *Your proper nouns imprisoned by the Sith.
Planet Gnosis is ruled by Freddie A. Bowles, a professional educator and fellow at the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. An independent entity in the CornDancer consortium of planets, Planet Gnosis is dedicated to the exploration of education and teaching. CornDancer is a developmental website for the mind and spirit maintained by webmistress Freddie A. Bowles of the Planet Earth. Submissions are invited.
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