Language Acquisition\" (2004), the Authors

¶ … Language Acquisition" (2004), the authors have put together an array of information on the development and origination of language in infants. Two of the most over bearing theories in language development is whether language is in fact due to nature or due to nurture. The debate is whether language is preprogrammed in the brain and works like an on and off switch when certain parts are triggered, or whether it is learned through proper teaching and a literacy upbringing. In the first six months of life, infants are exposed to so many different sounds and they see so many different mouthed movements that they capture all that into their system.

When disorders are found in language, it makes it interesting to analyze because it's a way for psychologists to determine how much influence the brain or certain areas of the brain has on language development. In the article titled, "Language Disorder, Developmental" (2009), this is exactly what the authors tries to emphasize. Dysphasia and Aphasia are both language disorders which encompasses the loss of ability to understand or express speech, caused by brain damage. This gives analysts a unique opportunity to determine exactly where language is controlled in the brain.

Various methods are used to measure hearing and speech in the article, "Speech and Hearing Measures" (2004). Just as the amount of power given off by speakers in sound waves is measured, the same is done for speech and audio released from it by humans. Scientists offer a unique look into the dimensions of speech and give physiologists a unique opportunity to measure language by its parts, and break it down. Unlike a therapist who would teach someone how to speak and how to develop their language by teaching them syntax, phonics, and other kindred speech, these tools would teach them how to measure the sound that comes out from the speech. Clinical assessments are also used as tools to measure how each individual interprets language. Not everyone thinks, learns, nor speaks the same way, so these tools try to take all that into consideration to develop a well rounded way and incorporate everyones different style. But in the end, it should all measure how language is developing within that person.

The article, "Psycholinguistics" (2003) explains the correlation between "linguistic behavior and the psychological processes thought to underlie that behavior. For example, what the effects of language have on how things are perceived or how things are memorized. Psychologists in this area want to determine what the role in speech and how speech is perceived effects everything else that a person does or is involved in. The way an infant learns the language is something that is also of interest to these types of psychologists because it gives them an underlying understanding of how language development is acquired.

Overall, language is a very complex subject. How an infant learns how to speak is something that seems to be innate and learned by almost every individual. It seems unbelievable how infants go from not knowing anything at all, to knowing how to express themselves in every way they can. They first learn how to tell their parents what they want by either pointing or yelling until they get what it is that they want, to actually putting words together to tell them exactly in the language that parents will understand. The question still arises as to how they learn so quickly. The idea that babies come preprogrammed to learn how to speak has been debated among scholars for ages. It seems to be the most plausible hypothesis since language is learned so early on in life.

The fact that so much brain processes go into the language development stage gives a lot of evidence to how innate language really is. When certain areas of the brain are either damaged, or not fully evolved, language deficiencies present themselves, and this gives more meaning to the idea that nature has a bigger role in language development than anything else. It is because language ans speech are so ingrained on our brains, that it is compromised by any deviation it proper development. Given that infants brain develop at such a rapid pace, room for mistakes are bound to appear, and this could be where the environment that the infant is exposed to, could come into affect.

Learning is a process that could vary by culture, and this is something that the articles attempted to describe, but didn't quite do a good job at it. Culture influences a lot in the way one learns, and especially for a baby, who learns everything to do in life, by imitating their parents and those around them. In a lot of language development theories, culture is something that is put aside as a side factor and not as a factor that could actually affect the development of both hearing and speaking. If something were to be criticized from these articles is that not all factors are taken into account when trying to determine the exact plausibilities of the theories presented. Some things might affect language development that are not necessarily measurable no matter what test is done, whether it be electronic or by pencil and paper.