http://www.musiclanguage.net/2006/03/22/petitto-2000/ Dedicated to the integrated study of music and language. Wed, 04 Apr 2007 21:59:59 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 http://www.musiclanguage.net/2006/03/22/petitto-2000/comment-page-1/#comment-42 To what is a baby predisposed? | The Articulate Child Sat, 01 Apr 2006 04:29:45 +0000 http://www.musiclanguage.net/2006/03/20/petitto-2000/#comment-42 [...] Here’s a little tidbit for you to contemplate. Laura Ann Petitto and colleagues have studied language acquisition by children exposed to both spoken and signed language inputs (Petitto, Laura Ann, “On the biological foundations of human language,” in Emmorey et al, Eds., The Signs of Language Revisited, Lawrence Erlbaum, 2000). While some theories have posited that the human animal is predisposed toward spoken language by its neurological and physiological structure, it has never been clear what these theorists consider language to be. The first matter of defining our subject has too often simply been skirted. It has been tacitly assumed that language means speech. From this, many theories have been hatched explaining some of the changes to human physiology in terms of their selection for speech. [...] [...] Here’s a little tidbit for you to contemplate. Laura Ann Petitto and colleagues have studied language acquisition by children exposed to both spoken and signed language inputs (Petitto, Laura Ann, “On the biological foundations of human language,” in Emmorey et al, Eds., The Signs of Language Revisited, Lawrence Erlbaum, 2000). While some theories have posited that the human animal is predisposed toward spoken language by its neurological and physiological structure, it has never been clear what these theorists consider language to be. The first matter of defining our subject has too often simply been skirted. It has been tacitly assumed that language means speech. From this, many theories have been hatched explaining some of the changes to human physiology in terms of their selection for speech. [...]

]]> http://www.musiclanguage.net/2006/03/22/petitto-2000/comment-page-1/#comment-41 Cyberspace Rendezvous :: The Articulate Child :: March :: 2006 Fri, 31 Mar 2006 06:53:09 +0000 http://www.musiclanguage.net/2006/03/20/petitto-2000/#comment-41 [...] As Dr. Laura Ann Petitto asked: “Might the occurrence and developmental timing of this behavior in all infants suggest something about the “ready-state” nature of the human body to express language from multiple pathways?” [...] [...] As Dr. Laura Ann Petitto asked: “Might the occurrence and developmental timing of this behavior in all infants suggest something about the “ready-state” nature of the human body to express language from multiple pathways?” [...]

]]> http://www.musiclanguage.net/2006/03/22/petitto-2000/comment-page-1/#comment-39 Babbling | The Articulate Child Thu, 30 Mar 2006 00:04:22 +0000 http://www.musiclanguage.net/2006/03/20/petitto-2000/#comment-39 [...] Every normally-developing child (and for that matter the overwhelming majority of delayed-developing children) acquire the language to which they are exposed. Language cannot develop without exposure to it. It matters not whether this language is spoken or signed. (cf. Laura Ann Petitto, “On the Biological Foundations of Human Language,” in The signs of language revisited, 2000.) What matters really is the ability of the child to abstract repeatable symbols from a mass of input. In simplified terms, they have to identify the individual elements, such as letters or handshapes, that combine to make up words. [...] [...] Every normally-developing child (and for that matter the overwhelming majority of delayed-developing children) acquire the language to which they are exposed. Language cannot develop without exposure to it. It matters not whether this language is spoken or signed. (cf. Laura Ann Petitto, “On the Biological Foundations of Human Language,” in The signs of language revisited, 2000.) What matters really is the ability of the child to abstract repeatable symbols from a mass of input. In simplified terms, they have to identify the individual elements, such as letters or handshapes, that combine to make up words. [...]

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