Language

Language: our spoken, written or gestured words and the way we combine them to communicate

Phonemes: in a spoken language, the smallest distinctive sound unit

Morphemes: in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning
-can be a word or part of a word (prefix or suffix)

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

Semantics: the set of rules by which we derive meaning in a language
-adding ed at the end of words means past tense

Syntax: the rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences
-in English, adjectives come before nouns but not in Spanish

Language development.

Babbling stage: starting at 3-4 months, the infant makes spontaneous sounds. Not limited to the phonemes of the infant's household language

One word stage: 1-2 years old, used one word to communicate big meanings

Two word stage: at age 2, uses two words to communicate meanings-called telegraphic speech

Skinner thought that we can explain language development through social learning theory

Chomsky
Inborn universal grammar
-we acquire language too quickly for it to be learned
-we have this "learning box" inside our heads that enable us to learn any human language

Whorf's linguistic relativity: the idea that language determined the way we think (not vice versa)