Author Question: What are the major components of language? What will be an ideal ... (Read 51 times)

bobypop · **on:** Jun 20, 2018

What are the major components of language?

What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

How does the development of an infant's brain affect language acquisition?

What will be an ideal response?

Tonyam972 · **Reply #1 on:** Jun 20, 2018

Answer to Question 1

Phonology: the sounds that make up a language
Morphology: the meaning-bearing units of language
Syntax: the rules for ordering words into sentences
Semantics: the shades of meaning that words convey
Pragmatics: the social rules that enable accomplishment of real-life purposes

Answer to Question 2

At birth, the human brain is remarkably unfinished. Most of the 100 billion neurons or brain cells are not yet connected. As a child matures, the number of synapse connections increases, and the message-receiving dendrite branches grow larger and heavier. This neural wiring (and the simultaneous maturation of the hippocampus and other areas of the brain responsible for memory storage and retrieval) allows children to begin to consistently link sounds to objects. Neural readiness, in combination with countless hours of sound play and verbal exchanges with loving caregivers, allows most children to begin speaking their first words.