Xhosa has sounds in the language that English doesn't have.

How Children Acquire and Prodcue Language, so interesting! Have a look when you have some time to spare.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=2i1z37nYMrM&NR=1

How do humans learn language?

How do humans learn language?

-When do we start learning language?

There are numerous theories on how humans can learn a language, there is a theory that it just comes natural to us and that we are able to produce speech without even hearing it, however, it may not be fluent. Scientists wish to test this theory called: “The Forbidden Experiment”, however, cannot be proven because of the harms it has to a child because it is a breach of Human Rights, it’s unethical. Another theory is that while a woman is pregnant with her child, that the language that is used around the woman is also heard by the baby, this is one of the most common theories that linguistics share around the world.
Children respond better to their parents; this is why this theory is strongly shared, children slowly mimic what words their parents say, even the words that a child shouldn’t know. A theory that Christian’s strongly believe in is that a baby is born with a special gift from God and they are able to develop a language quickly before they mature to the age of a teenager or adult. It has been proven that a child can learn a language quicker than what the rest of the human race can; this is why many parents decide to get their child to speak other languages when they are young. But this theory cannot be proven as we don’t know where or who God is.
The age of when a child learns language varies between child to child but the average age of when a child begins to start making sounds that slightly indicate words such as “ball” a bit before the twelve month age mark.  Some children are slow learners when it comes to language, while others are extremely fast. Which can be linked back to that child do learn languages naturally.
However, speaking to the child and trying to teach words to them can increase the child’s chance to construct a proper sentence shortly after this time. Most children are able to understand simple instructions set by their parents when they are 12-15 months of age. For example: “Hold my hand.” Obviously a child can understand the simple rules of language at a very young age.
If a child is having difficulties in speaking and haven’t spoken much by the average ages of their peers, then most parents are urged to see if it’s something else, the child could be deaf or have a speech difficulty. If this is so, then the child will need the assistance of a speech pathologist. In America, by the 1^st grade 5 per cent of children have a recognised speech disorder which can be simply treated with speech therapy.  This is made up when a child reaches the age of 5; they will know a minimum of 5000 words.
The reason why children cannot produce sounds until they are about twelve months old is because their voice box is far too high, they can babble but it is impossible to be able to create the sounds need to produce words. As a child ages, their voice box slowly drops further down their oesophagus.

Weblinks to sources:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/speechandcommunicationdisorders.html
http://kidshealth.org/parent/emotions/behavior/not_talk.html
http://iteslj.org/Articles/McGlothlin-ChildLearn.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=2i1z37nYMrM&NR=1
http://childdevelopmentinfo.com/child-development/language_development.shtml

Learning Aid

A fun and exciting way to help learn Morphology 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZL7KBlDapA

Accents

This is just a short video of 21 accents from around the world. It demonstrates that even English can differ vastly in the way it is pronounced.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UgpfSp2t6k

Phonology Youtube Clip

Below is a link to a clip from the TV show NCIS. In posting it on the blog I was hoping to show how one of the characters in the show who speaks English as a second language finds some of the sounds in some of the words in our commonly used idioms/sayings confusing.

http://youtu.be/dyd9-8ZYsIA

Although you will find that not all of the idioms she is getting wrong are because of the sounds of words, sometimes it is just the word itself she is getting wrong.

An example that I took away from this clip where she did get the sound wrong was when she tried to use the idiom 'Drop it' instead she says 'Drip it.'

The relation to culture from language.

Although many people believe that you have to speak a language to understand the way that it develops and grows over time with the ways that the community develops. You don’t have to speak a language to pick up on the basics. Over time the culture grows effecting how modest people are and how they act towards different situations, the way that the culture changes also will change the language with the way that we would speak, for example how formal or informal our speaking will become.

The culture of different countries will affect the way we act, so for example, in Italy the Italian culture is very warm and inviting and the country very much reflects the culture in how it is very inviting. If you live in Italy, it does not mean your Italian or speak Italian, but over time you would pick up on some of the language to get by and communicate with the people who has grown up there. Gradually over time you would pick up ion the basic elements of the culture, from little things like how much eye contact, how loud to talk and what things to highlight when talking.

Different languages use different parts of their language to express something, depending on their beliefs, values, expectations, and rituals, so this would affect what the culture of a language would be focused on. Some languages would focus on what you are doing, yet other languages would focus on the way you are doing something.

Composed By Alysha

Bibliography

Wiki answers

http://faculty-gsb.stanford.edu/lazear/personal/PDFs/culture%20and%20language.pdf