language
our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning
phoneme
in language, the smallest distinctive sound unit
morpheme
in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix)
grammar
in a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others
babbling stage
beginning at about 4 months, the stage of speech development in which the infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language
one-word stage
the stage in speech development, from about age 1 to 2, during which a child speaks mostly in single words
two-word stage
beginning about age 2, the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly two-word statements
telegraphic speech
early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram- "go car"- using mostly nouns and verbs
aphasia
impairment to language, usually caused by left hemisphere damage either to Broca's area (impairing speaking) or to Wernicke's area (impairing understanding)
Broca's area
controls language expression- an area of the frontal lobe, usually in the left hemisphere, that directs the muscle movements involved in speech
Wernicke's area
controls language reception- a brain area involved in language comprehension and expression; usually in the left temporal lobe
linguistic determinism
Whorf's hypothesis that language determines the way we think