Introduction to Language

1
Introduction to Language
2
Overview

• Typical Language Development
• Definitions
• Communication Disorders
• Biological Theory of Language
• Cognitive ( Current) Theory of Language
• Definitions
• Environmental Theory of Language
• Skinners Analysis of Verbal Behavior

3
Typical Development of Speech and Language
(Heward 2006)

• Most children follow a relatively predictable
  sequence in their acquisition of speech and
  language
• Birth to 6 months Communication by smiling,
  crying, and babbling
• 7 months to 1 year Babbling becomes
  differentiated
• 1 to 1.6 years Learns to say several words
• 1.6 to 2 years Word spurt begins
• 2 to 3 years Talks in sentences, vocabulary
  grows
• 3 years on Vocabulary grows
• Knowledge of normal language development can help
  determine whether a child is developing language
  at a slower-than-normal rate or whether the child
  shows an abnormal pattern of language development

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Definitions (Heward 2006)

• Communication involves encoding, transmitting,
  and decoding messages
• Communication involves
• A message
• A sender who expresses the message
• A receiver who responds to the message
• Functions of communication
• Narrating
• Explaining/informing
• Requesting
• Expressing

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Definitions (cont.) (Heward 2006)

• Language is a formalized code that a group of
  people use to communicate
• The five dimensions of language
• Phonology-Rules determining how sounds can be
  sequenced
• Morphology-Rules for the meaning of sounds (e.g.,
  un, pro, con)
• Syntax-Rules for a languages grammar
• Semantics- Rules for the meaning of words
• Pragmatics-Rules for communication (prosody,
  gestures, intonation)
• Classification system of words nouns, verbs,
  prepositions, adjectives, adverbs, etc.
• Speech is the oral production of language
• Speech sounds are the product of four related
  processes
• Respiration-Breathing that provides power
• Phonation-Production of sound by muscle
  contraction
• Resonation-Sound quality shaped by throat
• Articulation-Formation of recognizable speech by
  the mouth
• Mean length of utterances (MLU) - Average length
  of a sample 100 child utterances computed by
  dividing the total number of morphemes in the
  sample by the number of utterances

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Communication Disorders Defined (Heward 2006)

• ASHA definition
• http//www.asha.org/public/speech/development/lang
  uage_speech.htm
• An impairment in the ability to receive, send,
  process, and comprehend concepts of verbal,
  nonverbal and graphic symbols systems
• IDEA definition
• A communication disorder, such as stuttering,
  impaired articulation, a language impairment, or
  a voice impairment that adversely affects a
  childs educational performance

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Speech Impairments and Language Disorders (Heward
2006)

• Types of speech impairments
• Articulation disorders
• Fluency disorders
• Voice disorders
• Language disorders
• Children who have difficulty understanding
  language have a receptive language disorder
• Children who have difficulty producing language
  have an expressive language disorder
• Communication differences are not disorders
• The way each of us speaks is the result of a
  complex mix of influences

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Characteristics

• Speech sound errors
• Distortions
• Substitutions
• Omissions
• Additions
• Fluency disorders
• Stuttering and cluttering are examples of fluency
  disorders
• Voice disorders
• A phonation disorder causes the voice to sound
  breathy, hoarse, husky, or strained
• Resonance disorders are hypernasality or
  hyponasality
• Language impairments
• An expressive language impairment interferes with
  production of language
• A receptive language impairment interferes with
  understanding of language

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3 Theories of Language (Sundberg, 2007)

• Linguistic theory can be classified into three
  general, and often overlapping views
• Biological
• Cognitive Traditional
• Environmental

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Biological Theory of Language (Sundberg, 2007)

• Language is a function of physiological processes
  and functions
• Language is innate to humans and has little to do
  with environmental variables, such as
  reinforcement and stimulus control
• Proponents Noam Chomsky, Steven Pinker
• No current applications of Chomsky or Pinker to
  autism treatment

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Cognitive Traditional Theory of Language
(Sundberg, 2007)

• Language is controlled by internal processing
  systems that accept, classify, encode, and store
  verbal information
• Language has less to do with environmental
  variables, such as reinforcement and stimulus
  control
• Language is viewed as receptive and expressive,
  and the two are referred to as communicative
  behavior that is controlled by cognitive
  processors
• Proponents Piaget, traditional speech-language
  pathology
• Cognitive theory, and its receptive-expressive
  framework dominates the current language
  assessment and intervention programs for children
  with autism

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• Alfred North Whitehead (1861 - 1947), prominent
  British mathematician, logician and philosopher
• Over dinner at Harvard in 1934
• ....Whitehead... agreed that science might be
  successful in accounting for human behavior
  provided one made an exception of verbal
  behavior. Here, he insisted something else must
  be at work. He brought the discussion to a close
  with a friendly challenge Let me see you, he
  said, account for my behavior as I sit here
  saying No black scorpion is falling upon this
  table. The next morning I drew up the outline
  of the present study. (Skinner, 1957, p. 457).

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Environmental Theory of Language (Sundberg, 2007)

• Language is learned behavior that is acquired,
  extended, and maintained like any other behavior
• Under the control of environmental contingencies
• Term verbal behavior was first used by Skinner
  in his 1957 book Verbal Behavior
• Verbal Behaviorwill, I believe, prove to be my
  most important work (Skinner, 1978, p. 122)
• The analysis of verbal behavior involves the same
  behavioral principles and concepts that make up
  the analysis of nonverbal behavior. No new
  principles of behavior are required.
• Chapter 1 of Verbal Behavior is entitled A
  Functional Analysis of Verbal Behavior

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A Functional Analysis of Language Focuses on the
Causes of the Response (Sundberg, 2007)
Discriminative Stimulus (SD)
Response Reinforcement Motivating
Operation (MO) Punishment
Extinction
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Skinners Environmental Account of
Language(Sundberg, 2007)

• A common misconception
• that Skinner rejects the traditional
  classification of language
• But its not the traditional classification or
  description of the response he found fault with
• Its the failure to account for the causes or
  functions of the verbs, nouns, sentences, etc.
• The traditional linguistic classification of
  words, sentences, and phrases as expressive and
  receptive language blends important functional
  distinctions among types of operant behavior, and
  appeals to cognitive explanations for the causes
  of language behavior
• The unit of analysis Skinner proposed is the
  verbal operant
• MO/SD Response Consequence

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Verbal Behavior(Skinner, 1957)

• Definition of verbal behavior behavior
  reinforced through the mediation of other persons
  (who are trained to do so)
• Reinforcement is indirect
• Doesnt mean vocal. Can include speaking,
  writing, typing, signing, crying, pointing,
  clapping
• Contrast with nonverbal behavior the behavior of
  an individual that has been reinforced through
  the direct manipulation of the environment
• Doesnt mean nonvocal

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• Nonverbal
• Verbal

MO You want some ice cream
Response Open the freezer door
Reinforcer See yummy Tin Roof
Reinforcer Friend opens door and you see yummy
Tin Roof
MO You want some ice cream
Response Open the freezer door
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What is unique about language?(Michael, 2004)
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Why didnt Skinner use terms everyone else
already knew? (Skinner, 1957)

• Speech
• Emphasizes vocal behavior
• Awkward to apply it to other topographies of
  verbal behavior
• Speaking, writing, signing, finger spelling,
  Braille, Morse code
• Not all vocal behavior is verbal
• Vocal verbal behavior behavior of vocal
  organs that also meets the definition of vb
• Practice!
• Language
• Refers to the practices of a community rather
  than the behavior of an individual
• Verbal behavior
• Emphasizes the individual speaker
• Specifies behavior shaped and maintained by
  mediated consequences
• Has the advantage of being relatively unfamiliar
  in traditional modes of explanation (p. 2)

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Examples
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References

• American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
  (n.d.). What is language? What is speech?
  Retrieved January 12, 2008, from
  http//www.asha.org/public/speech/development/lang
  uage_speech.htm
• Heward, W. L. (2006). Exceptional Children An
  Introduction to Special Education (8th ed.).
  Upper Saddle River, NJ Prentice Hall (ISBN
  0-13-056479-6).
• Merriam-Webster (2007-2008). Online dictionary
  language. Retrieved January 12, 2008 from
  http//www.m-w.com/dictionary/language
• Michael, J. (2001). Objective 3, Unit 4
  Verbal behavior. In Verbal Behavior. Class
  conducted at Western Michigan University Behavior
  Analysis Program.
• Michael, J. (2004, August). B.F. Skinners
  elementary verbal relations. In ABA IV. Class
  conducted at the Pennsylvania State University
  Behavior Analysis Program.
• Skinner, B.F. (1957). Verbal behavior. Acton,
  MA Copley Publishing Group.
• Skinner, B. F. (1978). Reflections on behaviorism
  and society. Englewood Cliffs, NJ Prentice-Hall.
• Sundberg, M.L. (2007, August). B.F. Skinners
  analysis of verbal behavior. In ABA IV. Class
  conducted at the Pennsylvania State University
  Behavior Analysis Program.

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Due Wed

• Article Outline (AO) Horner et al. (2005)
• Green (2001),
• Ghezzi, Williams Carr Chap 3
• Luisellie Chaps 1-3