C h

a p

ter7

"D o

P ig

s H a

v e W

ish b

o n

es? "

: U

n fo

ld in

g L

a n

g u

a g

e

O ne even

ing a n u

m b

er o f years ago, w

h en

o u

r y o

u n

g est so

n w

as

ab ou

t four, I w as p

rep arin

g d

in n

er an d

studying for an ex

am o

n

ch ild

ren 's language developm

ent w hile h

e p u

rsu ed

his favorite

h o

b by o

f rearranging th e kitchen cupboards. S

u d

d en

ly h

e gazed

u p

, reg ard

ed th

e p o

rk ch

o p

s in m

y h

an d

, an d

asked, "D o pigs have

w ish

b o

n es?" I rem

em b

er laughing at th is "cute" co

m m

en t an

d

jo ttin

g it dow

n o n

a scrap o f paper, b

u t I d

o n

't recall h

o w

I

resp o

n d

ed ; quick

explanations w ere th

e rule in th

o se d

ays o f

retu rn

to gradu ate stu

d y

an d

p art-tim

e w ork. N

o d o

u b

t D oug w

as

left to co n

tem p

late th e m

ysteries o f w

ishbones o n his o

w n

.

N o

t long ago , w

ith stu d

en t days an

d ex

am s fa r b

eh in

d m

e, I cam e

u p

o n

th at scrap o

f p ap

er stu ck

in a d

u sty

cookbo ok. A

fter years o f

stu dying o

th er children's lan

gu age d

ev elo

p m

en t, I w

as struck by

th e iro

n y

o f having overlooked th

e im p

o rtan

ce o f m

y ow n son's

w ords. W

ith those four sim ple w

ords, D o ~

, like m o

st children o f

his age, show ed th

at in a few

sh o

rt years h e b

ad m

astered th

e m ost

com plex rule system

o f th

e h u

m an

in telle

c t-w

ith no form

al

instruction . I d

id n

't pay m u

ch atten

tio n

at th e tim

e, b u

t th at funn

y

question, w ith all th

e learning th at lay behin

d it, p

resaged w ell for

his future w ith reading, w

riti ng, organizin g solution

s to problem s,

reasoning ab

o u

t abstract

ideas, an

d

even lead

ership ability.

M oreover, by using language, D

oug w as buildin

g his ow n brain.

I have learn ed

a g reat deal since th

at day in th e kitchen

, an d

I

w ould like to help you appreciate, b

etter th an I did, your ow

n

children 's language developm

ent. T o u

n d

erstan d how

yo u can take

th e m

o st constructive role in h

elping it unfold, w e should first

consider th e four things th

at a child m u

st learn: its purposes, its

m echanics , its m

eanings, an d

its rules.

T H

E P

U R

P O

SE S O

F L A

N G

U A

G E

N

a tu

re's M y

sterio u

s D ev

ice

W h

ere does language co m

e from ? E

xperts h av

e w aged in

tellectual

fisticuffs ab o

u t w

h eth

er it is p rep

ro g

ram m

ed o r d

eterm in

ed b

y

in p

u t in

to specialized areas o

f th e b

rain . A

s usual , th e an

sw er lies

so m

ew h

ere in b

etw een

. B oth '1anguage," a general term

for th e

u se o

f verbal sym bols, an

d "sp

eech," its m ean

s o f expression, are

an instinctive reflection o

f h u

m an

s' n eed to co

m m

u n

icate. D id y

o u

k n

o w

th at a tw

o-m o

n th

-old reaching o

u t w

ith o n

e finger p o

in ted

is p racticing a form

o flan

g uage? H

ave you noticed how , b

y th

e age

o f six to nin

e m o

n th

s, w ith

o u

t know ing a single w

ord, a child can

p articip

ate in a "conversation

" an d

even control it? (If you d o

u b

t

this, w atch baby an

d G

ran d

m a som

etim e.) N

atu re h

as built th e

basics o f language into m

o st infants' b

rains. A

d eaf child starts to babble at th

e sam e age as do b

earing

children, so w e k

n ow

th at auditory stim

ulation is n o

t n ecessary for

p relanguage developm

ent. O n

e o f th

e m ost intriguing theories

proposed a "language acquisition device" som

ew here in

th e b

rain

th at m

akes it inevitable. N o one has yet located this m

ysterious

m ach

in e (w

hich I w him

sically picture as a sm all sq

u are b

ox w ith

lots o f w

ires sticking out), b u

t it is true th at infants aro

u n

d th

e

w orld

, exposed to differen t languages and dialects,

all babble

rem ark

ably sim

ilar sou

nds. T

hey produce

vow els

before

co nso

n an

ts an d

are instin ctively sensitive to so

u n

d differences.

In fan

ts' left h em

isph eres can already sort o

u t h

u m

an speech from

n oises

in the environm

en t. Y

ou m

ight say th at children

are

biologically p ro

g ram

m ed to talk

. B y eight m

o n

th s, h

ow ever, th

e

brain is

already pruning

aw ay

so u

n ds

n ot

in the

child 's

environm en

t, so th at babies fro

m Jap

an o

r the U nited S

tates are

n ow

babbling in J apanese o r E

nglish . B

y adolescence, an d p

erh ap

s

even earlier, it is alm ost im

possible for m ost people to cap

tu re a

perfect native accen t in a foreig

n language, even w hen th

ey becom e

oth erw

ise fluent. M

ost o f o

u r lang

uage abili ties are h oused in w

idely sep arated

parts o f the left h

em isph

ere, although th is pattern

m ay differ in a

sm all

percentage of

peo ple.

F or

exam ple,

W ernecke's

area ,

respo nsible

fo r

und ers tanding

w ords

and co

n stru

cting

163 o f 330

g ram

m atical sentences, is a lo

n g

w ay from

B roca.'s area, w

h ere

th ey

g et

read y

to

be p

ro n

o u

n ced

. E

ffortless co

m m

u n

icatio n

d ep

en d

s o n

d ev

elo p

m en

t o f each

area as w ell as th

e th ick

fiber

connections b

etw een

th

em .

S o

m e

teach ers

have difficulty

u n

d erstan

d in

g h

o w

a child can do o

n e language task

very w ell, such

as getting th e m

ean in

g o

f a story, b u

t an o

th er quite poorly, su

ch

as retelling it clearly. U n

d erstan

d in

g th

e com plexity o

f th e sy

stem

h elp

s us targ et each

skill m o

re effectively.

S o

m e p

arts o f th

e right h em

isp h

ere co n

trib u

te as w ell, especially

w h

en

it com

es to

u

n d

erstan d

in g

an

d

in terp

retin g

lan

g u

age

m essages. C

learly, n o

t everything m atu

res at once. L

anguage

d ev

elo p

m en

t proceeds th ro

u g

h o

u t childhood; w

hile th e process

b eco

m es

less d ram

atic as plasticity declines at p u

b erty, m

o st

language skills can still b

e refined even in college an

d ad

u lth

o o

d .

B ecause th

e rig h

t h em

isp h

ere is m o

re active d u

rin g

th e first

co uple o

f years, so m

e authorities have suggested teaching b ab

ies

sig n language, w

hich d o

esn 't req

u ire m

atu ratio

n o

f special left

h em

isph ere sy

stem s o

r articulation ability. S om

e p aren

ts seem to

th in

k this h

elp s th

em co

m m

u n

icate w ith th

e infant, an d

vice v ersa.

T h

e ju ry

is still o u

t o n

w h

eth er this system

h as an

y p

erm an

en t

effect-p o

sitiv e o

r n eg

ativ e-o

n th

e child's developm ent.

O n

e yo un

g m o

th er takes g

reat delight in reporting h er in

fan t

daugh ter's progress-

w ith

o u

t sign lan g

u ag

e-to m

e. "O nly tw

o

m o

n th

s old, an d

I sw ear sh

e's im itating m

e. I say 'H

i,' an d

sh e says

'I-i-i-i.' M y h

u sb

an d

says it isn 't possible."

H er h

u sb

an d

h as

u n

d erestim

ated th

e p o

w er o

f th e language acquisition device

– an

d

also th e verbal inclin

ations o f m

an y

fem ales o

f th e species, w

ho

usually o p

erate o n

a slightly faster speech tim etable th

an th

eir

m ale peers. Y

et despite th e b

rain 's predilection

, it takes coaching

from the en

v iro

n m

en t to build the staggering n

u m

b er o

f neural

connections required for fu rth

er developm ent.

T h

e d eaf children w

ho start to babble do n o

t d evelop speech

w itho

ut special

intervention, although

th ey

sh

o w

th

eir

predisposition to com m

unicate in sign language. T he b

etter th e

language environm en

t, th e b

etter any child 's outcom

e. P aren

ts

have a bigger role in this critical area o f learning th

an in alm

ost

any other. F ortun

ately, n

ature has also p

ro g

ram m

ed p

aren ts

in stinctively to becom

e their child 's b

est teachers. T h

e first lesson

1ey p resen

t is ab o

u t loving co

m m

u n

icatio n

.

> ru

n itive P

u rp

o ses

ID

in fan

t's first co m

m u

n icatio

n usually takes th

e fo rm

of a

)iercing w ail, w

h ich

so u

n d

s as if it arises fro m

a prim itive p

art o f

:he b rain

. It does. A s th

e child b egins to

coo, b ab

b le, an

d receive

verbal m essages, n

ew netw

orks are form ing in

language cen ters o

f th

e cortex. B y six to

n in

e m o

n th

s th e h

ig h

er centers assert so m

e co

n trol.

L anguage

is closely lin

k ed

w ith

em otion,

an d

it is im

p o

rtan t to

rem em

b er th

at children w h

o get en

o u

g h

cuddling an

d u

n co

n d

itio n

al love h av

e a b etter ch

an ce at learn

in g

language – a

n d

everything else.

u n

d erstan

d in

g -n

o t of th

e w o

rd s them

selves, b u

t o f th

e g am

e o f

conversation. S

uch children

can't "read"

gestures o

r facial

expressions o f em

o tio

n , size u

p w

h ere th

e o th

er p erso

n is "com

ing fro

m ," o

r u n

d erstan

d h

o w

to in

co rp

o rate others' points o

f view in

to

th eir

behavior. T

hey m

ay

verbally b

arg e

in to

situations

o r

w ithdraw

, w o

n d

erin g

w hy n

o o

n e seem

s to like th

em .

S ensitive periods for pragm

atics o ccu

r early in life, so it is unw ise

to expect overtaxed caregivers o

r electronic appliances to teach

th

ese im p

o rtan

t lessons. T hey req

u ire a real p

erso n

, face-to-face, resp

o n

d in

g directly to

w hatever th

e child says o r does.

S pecialized b

rain centers n

eed to

b e stim

u lated

for listening, speaking,

an d

u

n d

erstan d

in g

. M

o st

children invite

y o

u r

assistance, an d

th e adu

lt's positive resp o

n se is in

stin ctiv

e-an d

im

p o

rtan t. If M

o th

er, for exam ple, acts "different," seem

ing aloof or

u p

set, th

e in

fan t

responds w

ith b o

d y

language signaling

distress. D uring th

e first six m o

n th

s, a stro n

g b

o n

d w

ith a p aren

t o

r caregiver is also im p

o rtan

t to m

~ del ap

p ro

p riate p

ro n

u n

ciatio n

an

d g

ram m

ar as w ell

as to

teach th

e rules

of th e

gam e of

conversation .

H elp

in g

C h

ild ren

U n

d ersta

n d

P u

rp o

ses fo r L

a n

g u

a g

e

L ook at this list o

f seven reasons for using language, an d

notice h

o w

m an

y are b

ased o

n interaction w

ith others.

P R

A G

M A

T IC

S : L

E A

R N

IN G

T H

E G

A M

E O

F C

O N

V E

R S

A T

IO N

D id y

o u

know th

at playing peekaboo is a language gam e? It teaches

turn-taking, th e first lesson. B

etw een four an

d nine m

o n

th s this

concept is practiced over an d

over as children im itate adult w

ords an

d learn

th at "talk" involves w

aiting your tu rn

. T here are o

th er

rules to b

e learned: G estures go

along w ith sou

n d

s an d

help everyone u

n d

erstan d

w h

at is m eant; you can get people to do

things for you by m aking noises of various kinds; people respond

w hen you "talk" to them

. S om

etim es th

ey even know w

hat you m

ean: "W

ell, how

did

th at

taste, Jan

eel?" Janeel

w iggles

eloquently an d

em its a lo

u d

burp. "O h

, you liked it, didn 't you!"

A ll of th

ese reasons and conventions for usin g language com

e u

n d

er one h eadin

g- p

rag m

atics. C hildren w

ho lack th em

are at a serious disadvantage because they have trouble usin

g language as a

tool. M

uch "social m

aladjustm e n

t" stem

s from

such

poor 1 . In

stru m

en ta

l: T o satisfy needs an

d w

ants.

"L ou, if yo

u w

ould like a cookie, please use w o

rd s to a

sk m

e instead o f w