Module+4+Unit+2+June+20-27

For Module 4, you will be annotating a total of 10 concepts on the wiki study guide; you can choose your 10 from Units 1, 2 and/or 3 (chapters 7, 8 and 9 in Rowe and Levine).

Module 4 Unit 2: Language Acquisition (Chapter 8)

Limbic system is the part of the human brain that is similar to the mammalian brain. The limbic system has to do with our emotions and the formation of memories. [] By Lauren Peters

Telegraphic speech occurs as children begin adding more words to their two-word sentences. They call this telegraphic speech because it kind of sounds like a telegram. [] An article about telegraphic speech. By Lauren Peters

Underextension occurs when a child acquires the definition of a word and applies it too narrowly. An example would be were a child uses the word daddy for all male figures. By Lauren Peters

According to our book, "R-Complex is the part of the human brain that is similar to the reptilian brain." Here is a youtube video that explains this part of the brain a little better and in more depth. [|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYk3GvMi8-Q] By: Angeles Dragunaitis 6/21
 * R-complex**

According to our book "The limbic system is the part of the human brain that is similar to the mammalian brain. It the part of the brain that makes us want to scream, yell, cry, feel pretty much. By; Angeles Dragunaitis 6/21
 * limbic system**

Limbic system is the part of the human brain that is similar to the mammalian brain. The limbic system has to do with our emotions and the formation of memories. [] By Lauren Peters 6/27

According to Rowe and Levine the neocortex is the largest part of the human brain; it is where the language skills reside. I remember having to learn about the different parts that make up the neocortex in my biolgy class. I also know that how the brain develops is really important in language development in another class I took on language development the teacher had us go to different websites and learn about the different parts of the brain.
 * neocortex**
 * Edy 6/27

corpus callosum** According to Rowe and Levine the corpus callosum is the main connection between the two hemispheres of the brain; it facillitates communication between them. The way I remember corpus callosum is I think of it as the middle part of the brain that connects the two halves of the brain together. I was at a conference once and the woman giving the lecture kept going on and on about keeping our students hydrated so that information could pass through the corpus callosm easily. After that conference I started allowing my students to bring water bottles to school. I do not know how to get the picture to show up but if you hit the square it will take you to the picture of the corpus callosum.

innateness hypothesis** Innateness hypothesis “proposes that children have the innate capacity to differentiate phonemes, extract words from the stream of language, and process grammar” (Rowe & Levine, p. 233). According to Rowe and Levine (2009) other behaviors are considered innate and they all have common characteristics, some of which are that the behavior appears before it is necessary for survival, it is not the result of a conscious decision, it is not the result of formal education or training, and the behavior appears at a critical period, after that period it will be difficult or impossible to learn the behavior.
 * Edy 6/27

This graph shows how children’s innate ability to differentiate between the Hindi //t// changes with age: [] Kim O’Byrne 6.27

according to our book is "the system involving phonemic differences, word order, and phrase recognition that is the basis for the theory of the innateness of language acquisition." [] talks more about what universal grammar is. Here is a little picture I found about Universal Grammar that was funny. By: Angeles Dragunaitis
 * Universal grammar**

Language acquisition device is “the hardwiring in the brains of children that allows them to learn language” (Rowe & Levine, p.233). It is my understanding through my education that the language acquisition device is the reason that young children are better able to acquire multiple languages than adults. [] Kim O'Byrne 6.27
 * language acquisition device**

Critical period hypothesis “after the age of puberty (12-15 years) the LAD ceases to function and the ability to learn language with native fluency essentially disappears” (Rowe & Levine, p. 233). According to Rowe and Levine (2009) children of immigrant parents who immigrated to the country before the age of 7 will speak with native fluency and their performance on grammar and semantics test will be equivalent to that of a native born child of the same age. I attached a short clip I obtained from YouTube where John Abbott discusses the windows of opportunity for children to acquire language and different key opportunities offered at different stages of adolescence: [] Kim O’Byrne 6.27
 * critical period hypothesis**

Imitation hypothesis “of language acquisition proposes that children acquire language by imitating the people around them” (Rowe & Levine, p. 234). One of the immediate thoughts that came to my mind were of my boyfriend’s 10-month old niece, who has helped me realize that babies are in essence puppies, who has certain actions for different verbally phrases. For example when singing the itsy bitsy spider who will do the spider motions (to the best of her ability), “earmuffs” and she will cover her ears, “oh god” and she will put her head to her forehead, and when asked “what does a lion do? She will roar. These are all imitated behaviors that were taught to hear at different stages of development. I attached a video clip from YouTube that shows a toddler girl talking to her dad on the phone; this is a behavior that is learned by imitating people around them. A child in another country where phones are not prevalent would not understand what to do: [] Kim O’Byrne 6.27
 * imitation hypothesis**

Poverty of stimulus “exists when children are not spoken to, and where incomplete sentences are the norm in everyday conversations” (Rowe & Levine, p. 235). Although this is common in some cultures and in the U.S. we do not always use complete sentences and children still acquire language. Through one of the texts I read I learned that children who are spoken to regularly and with a vast amount of words, by the age of 2 they will use around 250 more words on average than children who are not spoken to on a regular basis. (I do not remember the exact text that I learned this “statistic” I take NO credit!) I attached a short YouTube clip that shows a 5 month old baby “speaking in her own language” most of which would not be spoken to her on daily basis: [] Kim O’Byrne 6.27
 * poverty of stimulus**

According to Rowe and Levine, the //reinforcement hypothesis// postulates that children acquire language by positive reinforcement when they produce a grammatical utterance and by being corrected when they don't. Also according to the text, parent and caretakers usually respond to the facts of a child's statement (even if it is said incorrectly). It is sometimes found that when grammar is often corrected, that the child will become frustrated (pg. 235).
 * reinforcement hypothesis**

My daughter is three-years-old and she often still makes many mistakes when speaking. I find myself sometimes correcting her grammar, however there are other times that I do not. A few times when I have corrected her grammar, I actually just end up confusing her. So I find that modeling the "correct" way of stating things sometimes is more effective than making corrections. Eventually they will correct themselves.

In the article, //How do people learn language?// [|//http://homepage.mac.com/dcarroll2/2002/TESL2/lecture2.htm//] (Retrieved 7-14-10), the language learning process is describes as well as both positive and negative reinforcers for language acquisition.

By: Melissa Guzman 7/14/10

The //interactionist hypothesis// postulates that children acquire language by their innate language abilities to extract the rules of the language from their environment and construct the phonology, semantics, and syntax of their native language. This innate language ability is the ability to identify patterns in language, formulate rules about those patterns, and then apply them to new utterances (Rowe & Levine, pg. 235).
 * interactionist hypothesis**

As a parent of two children, and therefore being able to witness first-hand their language development I can definitely agree that children do learn many language patterns and rules on their own and without being formally taught. For example, children learn how to pluralize things on their own just by listening to the way that the adults decribe objects when there is more than one of them.

I found this blog/article called //The Interactionist Theory in Second Language Acquisition Part 1// by Fred Shannon that I found rather interesting especially since our main focus in theses courses is with ELL and ESL students. [] (Retrieved 7-14-10)

By: Melissa Guzman 7/14/10

According to Rowe and Levine, //constructivism// is just another name for the interactionist hypothesis (above) (pg. 235).
 * constructivism**

According to []//, constructivism// is a theory that argues that humans generate knowledge and meaning from their experiences.

I found this wiki on constructivism that provided a large amount of information on the term. [] (Retrieved 7-14-10)

By: Melissa Guzman 7/14/10


 * cooing**

Cooing, "the first verbal sounds that babies make, consist of sounds that are all vowels, such as ahh, ooh, aehh, iiiih." This is the stage my baby is in right now when shes laughing she is saying a sound like "eeeh, or hi" thats what it sound like. It is such a cute and beautiful stage and I love hearing her cooing. Here is a link on an article about the cooing and developmental stage of a baby [] By: Angeles Draguanitis 6/21

Cooing is “the first verbal sounds that babies make, consists of sounds that are all vowels, such as // ahh, ooh, aehh, iiih. // ” When babies being cooing it is very exciting for the parents and comical for everyone. I think that babies love to hear their own voice and if they are in a good mood will coo all day long. When the cooing begins babbling is typically not too far behind it. Just last week when some of us met up at school to work on homework I held Angie’s baby and she was cooing away! It was really cute and we all found humor in it! Here is a website with some information on speech and language development from birth to 12 months. [] By: Kristen Kuzanek 6/21

Cooing babies are also very cute! I am checking youtube videos for good examples of cooing babies. I don’t have any specifics for cooing but I remember my cousin’s baby was cute when she smiled and tried to talk to us making single noises. Cillamonsta007,. (2008, October 02). //Baby cooing//. Retrieved from [] by: Magdalena Krol 6/21
 * Cooing** according to our book is: “the fist verbal sounds that babies make, consists of sounds that are all vowels, such as ahh, ohh, aehh, iiih.”


 * babbling**

Babbling “is the verbalization made by babies beginning at four to six months of age, which alternates consonants and vowels, such as // bababa, gagaga, mamama. // ” This made me laugh with the examples because from what I have heard dada is said before mama so I thought it was funny that mama was put as exactly. Anyways the babbling stage is really fun to experience whether it is your own child, neighbor, or relative. It is when the babies start to put the consonants and vowels together to create words. It is the beginning of the actual speech process. Even though this is not the best source I thought it was a pretty neat article about baby talk and when they really begin to communicate. [] By: Kristen Kuzanek 6/21

According to our book **Babbling**: “is the verbalization made by babies beginning at four to six months of age, which alternates consonants and vowels, such as bababa, gagaga, mamama.” Youtube has tons of examples of babbling babies and some of them are just adorable. I remember my mom’s friend when she came over with her couple of month old daughter. The little baby girl would yell random vowel sounds. My mom’s friend would explain that her daughter is a singing girl. You tube has many examples of Babbling babies. Check it out! SO CUTE! HelloKittyQtMe,. (2007, April 11). //Baby babbling//. Retrieved from [] by: Magdalena Krol 6/21

According to Rowe and Levine babbling is the verbalization made by babies beginning at four to six months of age, which alternates consonants and vowels, such as bababa, gagaga, mamama. This is the stage I remember with my own daughter. She would sit in her swing and say ma ma ma over and over. 2007. Baby babbling. Retrieved from \ [] Edy 6/27


 * holophrase**

Holophrases “are one-word utterances with which the toddler expresses an entire sentence.” This is when kids use one simple word to tell you what they want. Although they know what they want as the adult or sibling we ask a series of question to figure out what with that one word they want. For example in the book the word // mama // is used and three questions follow; come here, mama, that purse belongs to mama, and there is mama. One word can have many meanings so we just have to put two and two together to get the outcome of what the child wants. Dictionary.com defines holophrase as “a word functioning as a phrase or sentence, as the imperative // Go! // One word can have different meanings. These two meanings are not far off but one is about the stage of development for children. [] By: Kristen Kuzanek 6/21

Holophrastic stage “is when the child uses holophrases” (Rowe & Levine, p. 237). According to Rowe and Levine (2009) typical holophrases are “ball” which could mean “I want ball. Throw me the ball. I see ball.” and “mama” which could mean “Come here, mama. That purse belongs to mama. There is mama.” I found a video clip on YouTube that is of a young toddler telling a story to her mom using 1-3 word utterances but if the mother wasn’t coaching her, didn’t know what she was talking about, or pick out the holophrases she wouldn’t of been able to know what she was talking about: [] Kim O’Byrne 6.27
 * holophrastic stage**


 * two-word stage**

Two-word stage “begins sometime after eighteen months of age, is when children begin combining words into two-word utterances.” I would have to disagree slightly with this and say that obviously all children are different therefore; some children begin to combine words into two-word utterances before eighteen months. Again, some children’s speech develops faster than others but whether it is before or after eighteen months it is really a neat thing to witness. Some of the two-word utterances are funny and are just two words they put together others like // mommy go // or // daddy home // have meaning behind them and that is how they express what is going on. I did not find much on two-word stage but I did find this small website that provides a definition, alternative definition, explanation and even a small video. [] By: Kristen Kuzanek 6/21

Two-word stage according to our book "begins sometime after eighteen months of age, is when children begin combining words into two-word utterances." My 31 month old daughter(2 1/2 years old) began combining words around 24 months old. One thing i remember her saying is "mommy you" when i would ask her to pick something up or to do something. She would reply by saying that which meant she wanted me to do it. Here is website about children language acquisition and development [] By: Angeles Dragunaitis


 * telegraphic speech**

Telegraphic speech occurs as children begin adding more words to their two-word sentences. They call this telegraphic speech because it kind of sounds like a telegram. [] An article about telegraphic speech.

Telegraphic speech “occurs as children begin adding more words to their two-word sentences.” This is when children start to attempt to form their two-word utterances into actual sentences adding words like // is, am, // and // are //. This happens right away for some children and later for other. I have four little cousins, two of them started the telegraphic speech at a very young age and the other two took a little longer to get the telegraphic speech. This link provides another definition of telegraphic speech. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;">[] By: Kristen Kuzanek 6/21

Telegraphic speech, "occurs as children begin adding more words to their two-word sentences." When I saw this term it made me think of my 2-year old "Nevaeh" she was talking with only two word but now she is expanding her talking skills. An example is she used to say "me eat" but now she is saying "me eat dinner,mommy" quite an improvement. [] By: Angeles Dragunaitis 6/21

<span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif';">Overgeneralization “occurs when children acquire a morphological rule and then apply it too broadly” (Rowe & Levine, p. 239). Some examples of overgeneralization from the book are “goed”, “runned”, “mouses”, and “breaked.” This article talks about the correlation of overgeneralization in L2 Spanish and L2 English: [] Kim O’Byrne 6.27
 * overgeneralization**

Productive vocabulary is the vocabulary that a person can use, in other words, the words they can produce. This is sometimes also referred to as expressive language. Productive vocabulary is smaller than receptive vocabulary. This is true for myself when it comes to Spanish, I can understand more than I can say. It is important to remember this when teaching, especially when teaching ELLs. Children will understand more than they can say and may need some additional scaffolding to assist when they have to speak or write, especially in their second language. I also have had students with language disorders, who have trouble with their productive language. These students need even more support to produce what they want to say. Using pictures or writing are sometimes good ways to help them. For more information about productive vocabulary check out the following article: Webb, S. (2005). //Receptive and productive vocabulary learning: The effects of reading and writing on word knowledge// [Abstract]. //Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 27// (1), 33-52. Retrieved from [|http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ777295&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ777295] by Kelley Morrissey 6/22
 * Productive vocabulary** (Rowe and Levine, Chapter 8)

Receptive vocabulary is the vocabulary that a person can understand, in other words, the words they can receive. Receptive vocabulary is larger than productive vocabulary. We can always understand more than we can say. I know this is true of myself and Spanish, I can usually understand much of what is said to me, at least I get the gist of it, but I am often unable to respond because I lack the productive vocabulary. It is important to remember this when teaching, children will need more scaffolding for producing language than for receiving it. I have a student who has a language disorder and has trouble understanding language, even though he only speaks English. He has a receptive language problem and so I have to make sure my language is as clear and concise as possible and also that I have many ways to rephrase things so that he has the maximum chance to understand me. Click here to see a video explaining more about receptive language disorders []. Craigcanavan. (2010). //Receptive language processing disorder.// Retrieved from [] by Kelley Morrissey 6/22
 * Receptive vocabulary** (Rowe and Levine, Chapter 8)

The Wug test is a test of morphological and phonological rules and rule application for children. It was developed by Jean Berko (Gleason) in the 1950s. Children were shown a simple line drawing of a creature and told it was a wug or a bik, then they were shown two of the same animal and they had to produce the word for the plural of wug or bik. The study showed that children would consistently apply the correct rule (adding the /z/ plural sound to wug and the /s/ plural sound to bik) for creating plurals, even though the vocabulary was completely new to them. This meant that children's language is productive. There are now many products available for sale with Wugs on them. See below for an example of a bumper sticker. You can view more items like this here []. Berko, J. (1958). The Child's Learning of English Morphology. Word, 14, 150 177. Retrieved from [] by Kelley Morrissey 6/22
 * Wug test** (Rowe and Levine, Chapter 8)

<span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif';">Overextension “occurs when a child acquires the definition of a word and applies it too broadly” (Rowe & Levine, p. 242). I know when I did my interview for our language portraits the parent said that her two twins overextended “dog” and assumed every animal with 4 legs was a dog. This short 2 page “outline” gives examples of overextension as well as common frequencies: [] Kim O’Byrne 6.27
 * overextension**


 * underextension**

Underextension occurs when a child acquires the definition of a word and applies it too narrowly. An example would be were a child uses the word daddy for all male figures. By: Lauren Peters 6/27

Our book states that **Overextension** “occurs when a child acquires the definition of a word and applies it too broadly” **Unerextension** “occurs when a child acquires the definition of a word and applies it too narrowly.” I see it as this when a child is overextending = Examile: this means that the word ‘dog’ applies (for this child) to any four-legged animal. If the child is underextending = Example: Child thinks that his/her ‘dog’ is the only dog in the neighborhood. The two websites below show more explanantions about the two words. Boeree, G.C. (2003). //Language development//. Retrieved from [] Wortman,. (2010). //Language acquisition//. Retrieved from [] by: Magdalena Krol 6/21

According to Rowe and Levine, as children grow older and more fluent, they acquire the elements of fluency in a predictable order and time range. The inflectional bound morpheme -//ing//, will usually have been the first grammatical morpheme to be acquired during the toddler years. As the child grows, it will be followed by such morphemes as //in, on, 's, the, a// among others (pg. 245).
 * Sequence of grammatical morpheme mastery**

Page 246 Table 8-1 of the textbook has a list of the more important morphemes and the age range at which they are used correctly (90% of the time).

The following websites also contain information on morphemes: (All Retrieved 7-14-10) [] [] []

By: Melissa Guzman 7/14/10

According to Rowe and Levine (2006) conversation repair is when there is an “attempt to revise or expand an utterance when the speaker senses that the listener has not understood.” I do this often when I am working with students and I can sense that they have not gotten what I stated or are confused, then I will attempt to reword the statement in a way that the student can understand. I think that this is something that we all do reflexively. Rowe, B. M., & Levine, D. P. (2006). A concise introduction to linguistics. Boston: Pearson. By Nicolina 6/27
 * conversation repair**

<span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif';">Simultaneous bilingualism “occurs when the child acquires two (or more) languages from birth” (Rowe & Levine, p.251). Simultaneous bilingualism is very common in Canada and also in households in the U.S where there is an immigrant family or where grandparents may only speak the native language while parents and siblings speak English. I found a very interesting YouTube clip where Dr. Stephen Nover “discusses” simultaneous bilingualism including ASL: [] Kim O’Byrne 6.27
 * Simultaneous bilingualism**

According to our book, simultaneous bilingualism occurs when teh child acquires two (or more) languages from birht. This occurs when more than language is spoken at home. In the US where the grandparents speak the ancestral language to the child, while parents and/siblings speak English. This is the type of household that I grew up in and has been passed on to my children. However, when we lived in Germany, my daughter's nanny spoke to her in German while we spoke English and Spanish. Unfortunately, we only stayed for a couple of years and couldn't retain the 3rd language. However it was an interesting approach and we still use a few phrases for fun! Here is a really nice website which is a valuable resource for me as a parent and teacher. [] By: Michelle A Carrillo According to our book, Simultaneous bilingualism occurs when the child acquires 2 or more languages from birth. I have a friend whose children learned Spanish & English from birth. However, the oldest prefers English. When asked question in Spanish, she’ll reply in English. Her mom is trying to encourage her to answer in Spanish as much as possible. // “Bilingualism through Schooling: Cross Cultural Education for Minority and Majority Students // ” By Arnulfo G. Ramirez. The previous book explains Simultaneous bilingualism acquisition. Patrisa Keys 7/6/10
 * Simultaneous bilingualism **

<span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif';">Sequential bilingualism “occurs when the child acquires a second language after having begun to acquire a first language” (Rowe & Levine, p. 252). My cousin who did volunteer work in Nepal for two years said that only children in the higher caste system are allowed to go to school, which is where English is spoken. Thus they speak Nepalese until they begin their formal education where they then acquire English.
 * Sequential bilingualism**

Kim O’Byrne 6.27

Sequential Bilingualism occurs when the child acquires a second language after having begun to acquire a first language. Chinese acquire Cantonese at home Mandarin after entering school. // “Encyclopedia of educational psychology, Volume 1” // By Neil J. Salkind. The previous book describes bilingualism and educational psychology. Patrisa Keys 7/6/10
 * Sequential Bilingualism **

The unitary system hypothesis proposes that infants, exposed to two or more languages, begin by constructing one lexicon and one set of semantic rules to encompass both languages. Please see the attached slideshow for a more in-depth explanation to bilingualism and how the unitary and seperate systems hypothesis' tie in. [] By: Michelle A Carrillo
 * unitary system hypothesis**

The seperate systems hypothesis propses that infants, exposed to tow or more languages, differentiate the languages from the very beginning, constructing different phonological systems, lexicons, and semantic systems. Please see the attached slideshow for a more in-depth explanation to bilingualism and how the unitary and seperate systems hypothesis' tie in. [] By: Michelle A Carrillo
 * separate systems hypothesis**

As stated in our book, the foreign accent of second-language speakers is the result of the fossilization of the first language characteristics (phonological system, morphology, and syntax) in the second language to produce the pronunciation and grammatical errors. This occurs after the age of puberty. The following link leads to a presentation with more details in regards to fossilization. Very interesting. [] By: Michelle A Carrillo
 * fossilization**

Overgeneralization (Rowe & Levine, Chapter 8) happens when children acquire a morphological rule and then apply it to the word too broadly. I have little cousins who often over generalize words such as deer and deers as well as mouse and mouses. The following website offers many definitions for linguistic terms and the website gives a good definition for overgeneralization with other examples (http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_O.html) Colleen Chaps 6/24

Overextension (Rowe & Levine, Chapter 8) happens when a child acquires the definition of a word and applies it too broadly. The book offers an example that a child who has learned that a dog is this small animal, may apply it to all small animals, and that would be overextending the word dog. Brittanica encyclopedia online also gives a definition and uses the example that a child may overextend “daddy” and call all men who look around their fathers age “daddy” (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/435917/overextension) Colleen Chaps 6/24

Underextension (Rowe & Levine, Chapter 8) occurs when a child acquires the definition of a word and applies it too narrowly. This is the complete opposite of overextension. My example would be when a child has a blanket and only refers to that special blanket as a blanket and no other blankets. The following website offers some brief information on under extension and overextension :http://everything2.com/title/Overextension+and+under extension. Colleen Chaps 6/24

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;">Our book says that registers are styles of speech that are appropriate to the situation and the person being spoken to. <span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;">I believe all cultures code switch, speaking at home is usually different than speaking at home or speaking at an interview. “ //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;">Register, Genre, and Style” //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;"> (Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics) by Douglas Biber and Susan Conrad. The previous book describes three analytical approaches are introduced and compared, describing a wide range of texts from the perspectives of register, genre and style. The primary focus of the book is on the analysis of registers. Patrisa Keys 7/6/10
 * Registers**

According to the book, African American English is one of several names for the varieties of English used in the African American community. “AAE is a language or a dialect (terms that are more important socially and politically than linguistically.” It’s similar to a lingo spoken at home but different than lingo spoken at work of in an education setting. [] The previous link offers in depth information on AAE. The previous quote was taken from the website.  Patrisa Keys 7/6/10
 * African American English**

Our book says a nation is a group of people who share a history and culture, including a common language. A Hip Hop Nation has developed to share information amongst others interested in hip hop. [|www.AllHipHop.com] The previous link, AllHipHop.com, has become a valuable resource for hip-hop on the internet, featuring daily news, interviews, reviews, multimedia, a fast growing community and other interesting content. Patrisa Keys 7/6/10
 * Nation**

The book defines the poverty of stimulus as the result of children who have not been spoken to, and where incomplete sentences are the norm in daily conversation. Children and people in general are (Mostly) products of what’s going on around them. In essence, if a person does not hear grammatically correct English how can one begin to learn or speak it. // “Linguistic Nativism and the Poverty of the Stimulus” // by Alex Clark and Shalom Lappin. The previous book examines the Argument from the Poverty of the Stimulus - the theory that the linguistic input which children receive is insufficient to explain the rich and rapid development of their knowledge of their first language(s) through general learning mechanisms. Patrisa Keys 7/6/10 Overextension occurs when a child acquires the meaning of a word and applies it too broadly. A child could use the word moon to describe grapefruit halves, cakes, and the letter O. “Linguistics for Everyone: An Introduction” By Kristin Denham, Anne Lobeck. The previous book on Linguistics contains many elements relating the study of linguistics to the language of communication in the real world. Patrisa Keys 7/6/10
 * Poverty of Stimulus **
 * Overextension **