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Ψ Vocabulary - Language explosion
• A child's mind develops categories to chart the meaning of various words.
• Five year olds can learn any word as long as it explained & used in context.
• Fast mapping is used. The child needs to hear a word only once or twice before defining it through categorization with other words.
Ψ Language difficulties:
• comparisons
• names of colors
• metaphors & analogies
• abstract nouns — "government"
• relationships of place & time- "tomorrow"
Ψ Grammar difficulties:
Overregularization - It seems logical to children to apply the rules of grammar when speaking, but of course this can produce incorrect speech, e.g. "foots" rather than "feet".
Ψ Learning Two Languages
• In today's world, bilingualism is an asset, perhaps a necessity.
• Bilingual children by age 5 are less egocentric in their
understanding of language & are more advanced in their theory of mind.
• Immigrant bilingual children tend to make a language shift, becoming more fluent in their new language than in their home language.
• Which Language? The best solution: "balanced bilinguals"
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