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Language Development definitions

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  • Phoneme
    Smallest unit of sound in speech, which infants can initially distinguish across all languages before specializing in their native tongue.
  • Neural Plasticity
    Brain's capacity to adapt and reorganize, enabling infants to specialize in native language sounds during early development.
  • Sensitive Period
    Optimal developmental window before puberty when language acquisition occurs most easily and fully.
  • Cooing
    Early vocalization stage in infants, marked by the production of simple vowel sounds without attached meaning.
  • Babbling
    Stage where infants combine consonants and vowels, producing repetitive syllables without specific meaning.
  • Telegraphic Speech
    Early speech phase using short, content-rich phrases that omit non-essential words but follow basic grammar.
  • Overregularization
    Application of standard grammar rules to irregular words, revealing an emerging grasp of language structure.
  • Universal Grammar
    Innate set of linguistic principles theorized to underlie all human languages, facilitating rapid language learning.
  • Operant Conditioning
    Learning process where behaviors are shaped by reinforcement, proposed as a mechanism for language acquisition.
  • Infant-Directed Speech
    Distinctive, melodic speech style used by adults to enhance clarity and aid language learning in young children.
  • Nicaraguan Sign Language
    Emergent language developed by deaf children, illustrating innate grammatical abilities and the role of social interaction.
  • Comprehension Skills
    Abilities related to understanding language, which typically develop faster than the ability to produce speech.
  • Production Skills
    Abilities involved in generating spoken language, requiring coordination of speech organs and developing after comprehension.
  • Syntax
    Rules governing the arrangement of words and phrases to create meaningful sentences, rapidly acquired in early childhood.
  • Vocabulary
    Collection of words known and used, which expands rapidly during the first years of life as language skills develop.