A peek into language acquisition: Under the scientific microscope
When you listen to languages you do not know, you may notice different rhythms. The timing of the sounds in a sentence, or the rhythm, can vary from language to language. You can imagine that each language has its own percussion beat. In some languages,…
Children seem to learn language almost effortlessly. This can appear in stark contrast to the struggles we, adults, face when learning a second language. Even more impressively, children are learning their native language or languages without access to an answer sheet: there is no dictionary…
Imagine a robot reading a sentence word by word: The. Owl. Sleeps. On. The. Tree.Now try reading the sentence silently: The owl sleeps on the tree. You may have almost heard yourself saying it in your head. It may seem that we read word after word monotonously,…
There are many ways to ask a question. Imagine asking if a friend is coming to a party on the weekend. You may say: (1) Is Jane coming to the party? Or you could say: (2) Jane is coming to the party? In both cases,…
At first glance, it can seem that one of the biggest challenges for learning language is figuring out what each word means. For example, learning that ‘dog’ means any furry animal that barks. We often overlook the challenge of first figuring out that when someone…
Imagine you are flipping through TV channels and stop on one in a language you do not know. It can be very hard to pick out words or figure out the meaning. However, what you might notice is a distinct melody. You may notice that…
Children can use all their senses to help them learn language. Touch for example is a sense that children rely on from their very first days, while their other senses like sight and hearing are still developing. Touch can help children learn words. Some of…
When we meet a baby, we may make more exaggerated gestures than we may when talking to an adult. Can these modifications, be they small or big, actually make language learning easier? One way that our movements and gestures can help a baby learn language…
We adjust our speech from moment to moment, depending on the situation. Imagine introducing yourself at an interview versus presenting yourself to friends-of-friends at a party. The way we speak to babies, also, varies a lot from place to place, and even on the baby…
The way caregivers talk to babies can be quite peculiar. They may change the sounds of language, exaggerating intonations or raising the pitch of their voice (like after breathing in helium from a balloon). Or they may change the words they use, like saying ‘kitty’…