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This article is about the acquisition of language by children. For the development of languages for official or educational purposes, see language planning.
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Language development is a process starting early in human life. Infants start without language, yet by 10 months, babies can distinguish speech sounds and engage in babbling. Some research has shown that the earliest learning begins in utero when the fetus starts to recognize the sounds and speech patterns of its mother's voice and differentiate them from other sounds after birth.[1]
Usually, productive language is considered to begin with a stage of preverbal communication in which infants use gestures and vocalizations to make their intents known to others. According to a general principle of development, new forms then take over old functions, so that children learn words to express the same communicative functions they had already expressed by preverbal means.[2]
Theoretical frameworks
Main article: Language acquisition
Language development is thought to proceed by ordinary processes of learning in which children acquire the forms, meanings and uses of words and utterances from the linguistic input. The method in which we develop language skills is universal; however, the major debate is how the rules of syntax are acquired. There are two major approaches to syntactic development, an empiricist account by which children learn all syntactic rules from the linguistic input, and a nativist approach by which some principles of syntax are innate and are transmitted through the human genome.
The nativist theory, proposed by Noam Chomsky, argues that language is a unique human accomplishment. Chomsky says that all children have what is called an innate language acquisition device (LAD). Theoretically, the LAD is an area of the brain that has a set of universal syntactic rules for all languages. This device provides children with the ability to construct novel sentences using learned vocabulary. Chomsky's claim is based upon the view that what children hear—their linguistic input—is insufficient to explain how they come to learn language. He argues that linguistic input from the environment is limited and full of errors. Therefore, nativists assume that it is impossible for children to learn linguistic information solely from their environment. However, because children possess this LAD, they are in fact, able to learn language despite incomplete information from their environment. This view has dominated linguistic theory for over fifty years and remains highly influential, as witnessed by the number of articles in journals and books.
The empiricist theory suggests, contra Chomsky, that there is enough information in the linguistic input children receive and therefore, there is no need to assume an innate language acquisition device exists (see above). Rather than a LAD evolved specifically for language, empiricists believe that general brain processes are sufficient enough for language acquisition. During this process, it is necessary for the child to actively engage with their environment. For a child to learn language, the parent or caregiver adopts a particular way of appropriately communicating with the child; this is known as child-directed speech (CDS). CDS is used so that children are given the necessary linguistic information needed for their language. Empiricism is a general approach and sometimes goes along with the interactionist approach. Statistical language acquisition, which falls under empiricist theory, suggests that infants acquire language by means of pattern perception.
Other researchers embrace an interactionist perspective, consisting of social-interactionist theories of language development. In such approaches, children learn language in the interactive and communicative context, learning language forms for meaningful moves of communication. These theories focus mainly on the caregiver's attitudes and attentiveness to their children in order to promote productive language habits.[3]
An older empiricist theory, the behaviorist theory proposed by B. F. Skinner suggested that language is learned through operant conditioning, namely, by imitation of stimuli and by reinforcement of correct responses. This perspective has not been widely accepted at any time, but by some accounts, is experiencing a resurgence. New studies use this theory now to treat individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders. Additionally, Relational Frame Theory is growing from the behaviorist theory, which is important for Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.[4] Some empiricist theory accounts today use behaviorist models.[5]
Other relevant theories about language development include Piaget's theory of cognitive development, which considers the development of language as a continuation of general cognitive development[6] and Vygotsky's social theories that attribute the development of language to an individual's social interactions and growth.[7]
Biological preconditions
Evolutionary biologists are skeptical of the claim that syntactic knowledge is transmitted in the human genome. However, many researchers claim that the ability to acquire such a complicated system is unique to the human species. Non-biologists also tend to believe that our ability to learn spoken language may have been developed through the evolutionary process and that the foundation for language may be passed down genetically. The ability to speak and understand human language requires speech production skills and abilities as well as multisensory integration of sensory processing abilities.
One hotly debated issue is whether the biological contribution includes capacities specific to language acquisition, often referred to as universal grammar. For fifty years, linguist Noam Chomsky has argued for the hypothesis that children have innate, language-specific abilities that facilitate and constrain language learning. In particular, he has proposed that humans are biologically prewired to learn language at a certain time and in a certain way, arguing that children are born with a language acquisition device (LAD).[8] However, since he developed the minimalist program, his latest version of theory of syntactic structure, Chomsky has reduced the elements of universal grammar, which he believes are prewired in humans to just the principle of recursion, thus voiding most of the nativist endeavor.[9]
Researchers who believe that grammar is learned rather than innate, have hypothesized that language learning results from general cognitive abilities and the interaction between learners and their human interactants. It has also recently been suggested that the relatively slow development of the prefrontal cortex in humans may be one reason that humans are able to learn language, whereas other species are not.[10][11] Further research has indicated the influence of the FOXP2 gene.[12]
Children versus adults
See also: Gestures in language acquisition
Language development and processing begins before birth. Evidence has shown that there is language development occurring antepartum. DeCasper and Spence[13] performed a study in 1986 by having mothers read aloud during the last few weeks of pregnancy. When the infants were born, they were then tested. They were read aloud a story while sucking on a pacifier; the story was either the story read by the mother when the infant was in utero or a new story. The pacifier used was able to determine the rate of sucking that the infant was performing. When the story that the mother had read before was heard, the sucking of the pacifier was modified. This did not occur during the story that the infant had not heard before. The results for this experiment had shown that the infants were able to recognize what they had heard in utero, providing insight that language development had been occurring in the last six weeks of pregnancy.
Throughout the first year of life, infants are unable to communicate with language. Instead, infants communicate with gestures. This phenomenon is known as prelinguistic gestures, which are nonverbal ways that infants communicate that also had a plan backed with the gesture. Examples of these could be pointing at an object, tugging on the shirt of a parent to get the parent's attention, etc. Harding,[14] 1983, devised the major criteria that come along with the behavior of prelinguistic gestures and their intent to communicate. There are three major criteria that go along with a prelinguistic gesture: waiting, persistence, and ultimately, development of alternative plans. This process usually occurs around 8 months of age, where an appropriate scenario may be of a child tugging on the shirt of a parent to wait for the attention of the parent who would then notice the infant, which causes the infant to point to something they desire. This would describe the first two criteria. The development of alternative plans may arise if the parent does not acknowledge what the infant wants, the infant may entertain itself to satisfy the previous desire.
When children reach about 15–18 months of age, language acquisition flourishes. There is a surge in word production resulting from the growth of the cortex. Infants begin to learn the words that form a sentence and within the sentence, the word endings can be interpreted. Elissa Newport and colleagues (1999)[15] found that humans learn first about the sounds of a language, and then move on to how to speak the language. This shows how infants learn the end of a word and know that a new word is being spoken. From this step, infants are then able to determine the structure of a language and word.
It appears that during the early years of language development females exhibit an advantage over males of the same age. When infants between the age of 16 to 22 months were observed interacting with their mothers, a female advantage was obvious. The females in this age range showed more spontaneous speech production than the males and this finding was not due to mothers speaking more with daughters than sons.[16] In addition, boys between 2 and 6 years as a group did not show higher performance in language development over their girl counterparts on experimental assessments. In studies using adult populations, 18 and over, it seems that the female advantage may be task dependent. Depending on the task provided, a female advantage may or may not be present.[17]
Lateralization effect on language
It is currently believed that in regards to brain lateralization males are left lateralized, while females are bilateralized. Studies on patients with unilateral lesions have provided evidence that females are in fact more bilateralized with their verbal abilities. It seems that when a female has experienced a lesion to the left hemisphere, she is better able to compensate for this damage than a male can. If a male has a lesion in the left hemisphere, his verbal abilities are greatly impaired in comparison to a control male of the same age without that damage.[18] However, these results may also be task-dependent as well as time-dependent.[19]
Writing development
Research in writing development has been limited in psychology.[20] In the research that has been conducted, focus has generally centred on the development of written and spoken language and their connection. Spoken and written skills could be considered linked. Researchers believe that children's spoken language influences their written language.[21] When a child learns to write they need to master letter formation, spelling, punctuation and they also have to gain an understanding of the structure and the organisational patterns involved in written language.[22]
Kroll's theory is one of the most significant on children's writing development. He proposed that children's writing development is split into 4 phases. Kroll explicitly states that these phases are 'artificial' in the sense that the boundaries between the phases are imprecise and he recognises that each child is different, thus their development is unique.[21] The phases of writing development have been highlighted to give the reader a broad outline of what phases a child goes through during writing development; however, when studying an individual's development in depth, the phases may be disregarded to an extent.
The first of Kroll's phases is the preparation for writing phase. In this phase the child is believed to grasp the technical skills needed for writing, allowing them to create the letters needed to write the words the children say. In this initial phase children experience many opportunities to extend their spoken language skills. Speaking and writing are considered fairly separate processes here, as children's writing is less well developed at this stage, whereas their spoken language is becoming more skilled.[21]
Kroll considers the second phase in writing development to be consolidation. Here, children begin to consolidate spoken and written language. In this phase children's writing skills rely heavily on their spoken language skills, and their written and spoken language becoming integrated.[21] Children's written language skills become stronger as they use their spoken language skills to improve their writing. Then in turn, when a development in children's written language skills is seen, their spoken language skills have also improved. A child's written language in this phase mirrors their spoken language.[21]
In the third phase, differentiation, children begin to learn that written language regularly differs in structure and style from spoken language. The growth from consolidation to differentiation can be challenging for some children to grasp.[21] Children can 'struggle with the transformation from the basically overt language of speech to the essentially covert activity of writing'.[23] In this phase the child learns that writing is generally considered more formal that spoken language, which is thought to be casual and conversational. Here, it is believed that children begin to understand that writing serves a purpose.[24]
Kroll considers the last phase to be the systematic integration phase. A differentiation and integration between the child's speaking and writing can be seen in this phase. This means that speaking and writing have 'well-articulated forms and functions';[24] however, they are also integrated in the sense that they use the same system. As a result of the individual being aware of the audience, context and reason they are communicating, both written and spoken language are able to overlap and take several forms at this stage.[24]
Kroll used the four phases to give an explanation and generalise about the development of these two aspects of language. The highest significance is placed on the second and third phase, consolidation and differentiation respectively.[24] It could be concluded that children's written and spoken language, in certain respects, become more similar with age, maturation and experience; however, they are also increasingly different in other respects. The content of the skills are more similar, but the approach used for both writing and speaking are different.[24] When writing and speaking development are looked at more closely it can be seen that certain elements of written and spoken language are differentiating and other elements are integrating, all in the same phase.
Perera conducted a survey and her view mirrors that of Kroll to the extent that she used Kroll's four phases.[22] When a child undergoes initial learning of the written language, they have not yet fully mastered the oral language.[22] It is clear that their written language development is aided by their spoken language; it can also be said that their spoken language development is aided by the development of their written language skills. Kantor and Rubin believe that not all individuals successfully move into the final stage of integration.[25] Perera is also aware that it is hard to assign chronological ages to each phase of writing development, because each child is an individual, and also the phases are 'artificial'.
More recent research has also explored writing development. Myhill concentrated on the development of written language skills in adolescents aged 13 to 15.[26] Myhill discovered that the more mature writer was aware of the shaping of text, and used non-finite clauses, which mirrored Perera's results (1984).[26] Other researchers focused on writing development up until late adolescence, as there has been a limited research in this area.[20] Chrisite and Derewianke recognise that the survey conducted by Perera (1984) is still one of the most significant research studies in the writing development field and believe Perera's study is similar to theirs. Chrisite and Derewianke (2010) again propose four phases of writing development. The researchers believe that the process of writing development does not stop when an individual leaves formal education, and again, the researchers highlight that these phases are flexible in their onset. The first phase focuses on spoken language as the main aid for writing development, and the development then takes its course reaching the fourth phase, which continues beyond formal education.[20]
Environmental influences
The environment a child develops in has influences on language development. The environment provides language input for the child to process. Speech by adults to children help provide the child with correct language usage repetitively. Environmental influences on language development are explored in the tradition of social interactionist theory by such researchers as Jerome Bruner, Alison Gopnik, Andrew Meltzoff, Anat Ninio, Roy Pea, Catherine Snow, Ernest Moerk and Michael Tomasello. Jerome Bruner who laid the foundations of this approach in the 1970s, emphasized that adult "scaffolding" of the child's attempts to master linguistic communication is an important factor in the developmental process.
One component of the young child's linguistic environment is child-directed speech (also known as baby talk or motherese), which is language spoken in a higher pitch than normal with simple words and sentences. Although the importance of its role in developing language has been debated, many linguists think that it may aid in capturing the infant's attention and maintaining communication.[27] When children begin to communicate with adults, this motherese speech allows the child the ability to discern the patterns in language and to experiment with language.
Throughout research done, it is concluded that children exposed to extensive vocabulary and complex grammatical structures more quickly develop language and also have a more accurate syntax than children raised in environments without complex grammar exposed to them. With motherese, the mother talks to the child and responds back to the child, whether it be a babble the child made or a short sentence. While doing this, the adult prompts the child to continue communicating, which may help a child develop language sooner than children raised in environments where communication is not fostered.
Child-directed speech concentrates on small core vocabulary, here and now topics, exaggerated facial expressions and gestures, frequent questioning, paralinguistic changes, and verbal rituals.[28] An infant is least likely to produce vocalizations when changed, fed, or rocked. The infant is more likely to produce vocalizations in response to a nonverbal behavior such as touching or smiling.
Child-directed speech also catches the child's attention, and in situations where words for new objects are being expressed to the child, this form of speech may help the child recognize the speech cues and the new information provided. Data shows that children raised in highly verbal families had higher language scores than those children raised in low verbal families. Continuously hearing complicated sentences throughout language development increases the child's ability to understand these sentences and then to use complicated sentences as they develop. Studies have shown that students enrolled in high language classrooms have two times the growth in complex sentences usage than students in classrooms where teachers do not frequently use complex sentences.
Adults use strategies other than child-directed speech like recasting, expanding, and labeling:
Recasting is rephrasing something the child has said, perhaps turning it into a question or restating the child's immature utterance in the form of a fully grammatical sentence. For example, a child saying "cookie now" a parent may respond with "Would you like a cookie now?"
Expanding is restating, in a linguistically sophisticated form, what a child has said. For example, a child may say "car move road" and the parent may respond "A car drives on the road."
Labeling is identifying the names of objects.[8] If a child points to an object such as a couch the mother may say "couch" in response. Labeling can also be characterized as referencing.[28]
Some language development experts have characterized child directed speech in stages. Primarily, the parents use repetition and also variation to maintain the infant's attention. Secondly, the parent simplifies speech to help in language learning. Third, any speech modifications maintain the responsiveness of the child. These modifications develop into a conversation that provides context for the development.[28]
Cultural and socioeconomic effects
While most children throughout the world develop language at similar rates and without difficulty, cultural and socioeconomic differences have been shown to influence development. An example of cultural differences in language development can be seen when comparing the interactions of mothers in the United States with their infants with mothers in Japan. Mothers in the United States use more questions, are more information-oriented, and use more grammatically correct utterances with their 3-month-olds. Mothers in Japan, on the other hand, use more physical contact with their infants, and more emotion-oriented, nonsense, and environmental sounds, as well as baby talk, with their infants. These differences in interaction techniques reflect differences in "each society's assumptions about infants and adult-to-adult cultural styles of talking."[28]
Specifically in North American culture, maternal race, education, and socioeconomic class influence parent-child interactions in the early linguistic environment. When speaking to their infants, mothers from middle class "incorporate language goals more frequently in their play with their infants," and in turn, their infants produce twice as many vocalizations as lower class infants.[28] Mothers from higher social classes who are better educated also tend to be more verbal, and have more time to spend engaging with their infants in language. Additionally, lower class infants may receive more language input from their siblings and peers than from their mothers.
Social preconditions
It is crucial that children are allowed to socially interact with other people who can vocalize and respond to questions. For language acquisition to develop successfully, children must be in an environment that allows them to communicate socially in that language. Children who have learnt sound, meaning and grammatical system of language that can produce clear sentence may still not have the ability to use language effectively in various social circumstance. Social interaction is the footing stone of language.[29]
There are a few different theories as to why and how children develop language. The most popular—and yet heavily debated—explanation is that language is acquired through imitation. The two most accepted theories in language development are psychological and functional. Psychological explanations focus on the mental processes involved in childhood language learning. Functional explanations look at the social processes involved in learning the first language.
Different aspects
Phonology involves the rules about the structure and sequence of speech sounds.
Semantics consists of vocabulary and how concepts are expressed through words.
Grammar involves two parts.
The first, syntax, is the rules in which words are arranged into sentences.
The second, morphology, is the use of grammatical markers (indicating tense, active or passive voice etc.).
Pragmatics involves the rules for appropriate and effective communication. Pragmatics involves three skills:
using language for greeting, demanding etc.,
changing language for talking differently depending on who it is you are talking to;
following rules such as turn taking, staying on topic.
Each component has its own appropriate developmental periods.
Phonological development
Babies can recognize their mother's voice from as early as few weeks old. It seems like they have a unique system that is designed to recognize speech sound. Furthermore, they can differentiate between certain speech sounds. A significant first milestone in phonetic development is the babbling stage (around the age of six months). This is the baby's way of practicing his control over that apparatus. Babbling is independent from the language. Deaf children for instance, babble the same way as hearing ones. As the baby grows older, the babbling increases in frequency and starts to sound more like words (around the age of twelve months). Although every child is an individual with different pace of mastering speech, there is a tendency to an order of which speech sounds are mastered:
Vowels before consonants
Stop sounds before any other consonant sounds (for example: 'p','t','b')
Place of articulation – labials, alveolar, velars, alovepalatals, and interdentals in that order by the age of 4. That means that there is some order to the development of the physical system in young children.
Early phonetic processes
As the children's ability to produce sound develops, their ability to perceive the phonetic contrast of their language develops. The better they get in mastering the sound, the more sensitive they become to the changes in those sounds in their language once they get exposed to it. Some processes that occur in early age:
Syllable deletion – stressed syllables are emphasis that may be given to certain syllables in a word. They are more likely to be retained in children's pronunciation than unstressed syllables (less emphasis on the sound) because they are more salient to children in an early language acquisition process. So children may say helikat instead of helicopter or fowe instead of telephone. That way, they don't pronounce the more emphasized sound in the word.
Syllable simplification – another process that happens in order to simplify syllable structure, children delete certain sounds systematically. For example, children might say 'tap' instead of "stop" and completely drop the 's' sound in that word. That is a common process in children's speech development.
Substitution – systematic replacement of one sound by an alternative, easier one to articulate (substitution process – stopping, fronting, gliding). It means that the young toddler may use sounds that are easier to produce instead of the proper sound in a word. We may see that the child replace the 'r' sound with 'l' or 'w', the 'n' with 'd' and so on.
Assimilation – modification of segments of the word influenced by neighboring sounds, due to ease of articulation. In order for the young speaker to produce sounds easier, he or she may replace the sound in a specific word to a different one, which is somewhat similar. For example, the word "pig" may sound as "big" – 'p' and 'b' are close in their sound. (Lightbown, Spada, Ranta & Rand, 2006).
From shortly after birth to around one year, the baby starts to make speech sounds. At around two months, the baby engages in cooing, which mostly consists of vowel sounds. At around four months, cooing turns into babbling, which is the repetitive consonant-vowel combinations. Babies understand more than they are able to say. In this 0–8 months range, the child is engaged in vocal play of vegetative sounds, laughing, and cooing.
Once the child hits the 8–12 month, range the child engages in canonical babbling, i.e. dada as well as variegated babbling. This jargon babbling with intonational contours the language being learned.
From 12–24 months, babies can recognize the correct pronunciation of familiar words. Babies also use phonological strategies to simplify word pronunciation. Some strategies include repeating the first consonant-vowel in a multisyllable word ('TV' → 'didi') or deleting unstressed syllables in a multisyllable word ('banana'-->'nana'). Within this first year, two word utterances and two syllable words emerge. This period is often called the holophrastic stage of development, because one word conveys as much meaning as an entire phrase. For instance, the simple word "milk" can imply that the child is requesting milk, noting spilled milk, sees a cat drinking milk, etc.[30]
By 24–30 months awareness of rhyme emerges as well as rising intonation.
By 36–60 months, phonological awareness continues to improve as well as pronunciation.
By 6–10 years, children can master syllable stress patterns, which helps distinguish slight differences between similar words.
Semantic development
The average child masters about fifty words by the age of eighteen months. These might include words such as, milk, water, juice and apple (noun-like words). Afterwards they acquire 12 to 16 words a day. By the age of six, they master about 13 to 14 thousand words.
The most frequent words include adjective-like expressions for displeasure and rejection such as 'no'. They also include social interaction words, such as "please" and "bye".
There are three stages for learning the meaning of new words:
Whole object assumption:
A new word refers to a whole object. For example, when an eighteen-months old child sees a sheep and his mother points at it and says the word 'sheep', the child infers that the word 'sheep' describes the whole animal and not parts of it (such as color, shape, etc.).
Type assumption:
A new word refers to a type of thing, not just to a particular thing. For example, when the child hears the word 'sheep' he infers that it is used for the animal type and not only for that particular sheep that he saw.
Basic level assumption:
A new word refers to objects that are alike in basic ways (appearance, behavior, etc.).
In other words, when the child hears the word "sheep" he overgeneralizes it to other animals that look like sheep by the external appearance, such as white, wooly and four-legged animal.
Contextual clues are a major factor in the child's vocabulary development.
The child uses contextual clues to draw inferences about the category and meaning of new words. By doing so, the child distinguishes between names and ordinary nouns.
For example, when an object is presented to the child with the determiner "a" (a cat, a dog, a bottle) he perceives it as an ordinary noun.
However, when the child hears a noun without the determiner, he perceives it as a name, for instance "this is Mary".
Children usually make correct meaning associations with the words that the adults say. However, sometimes they make semantic errors.
There are a few types of semantic errors:
Overextension: When a child says or hears a word, they might associate what they see or hear as more generalized concept than the real meaning of the word. For example, if they say "cat", they might overextend it to other animals with same features.
Underextension: It involves the use of lexical items in an overly restrictive fashion. In other words, the child focuses on core members of a certain category. For example: 'cat' may only refer to the family cat and no other cat, or 'dog' may refer to certain kinds of dogs that the child is exposed to.
Verb meaning: when a pre-school child hears the verb 'fill', he understands it as the action 'pour' rather than the result, which is 'make full'.
Dimensional terms: the first dimensional adjectives acquired are big and small because they belong to the size category. The size category is the most general one. Later children acquire the single dimension adjectives, such as, tall-short, long-short, high-low. Eventually they acquire the adjectives that describe the secondary dimension, such as thick-thin, wide-narrow and deep-shallow.
From birth to one year, comprehension (the language we understand) develops before production (the language we use). There is about a 5-month lag in between the two. Babies have an innate preference to listen to their mother's voice. Babies can recognize familiar words and use preverbal gestures.
Within the first 12–18 months semantic roles are expressed in one word speech including agent, object, location, possession, nonexistence and denial. Words are understood outside of routine games but the child still needs contextual support for lexical comprehension.[31]
18–24 months Prevalent relations are expressed such as agent-action, agent-object, action-location.[31] Also, there is a vocabulary spurt between 18–24 months, which includes fast mapping. Fast mapping is the babies' ability to learn a lot of new things quickly. The majority of the babies' new vocabulary consists of object words (nouns) and action words (verbs).
30–36 months The child is able to use and understand why question and basic spatial terms such as in, on or under.
36–42 months There is an understanding of basic color words and kinship terms. Also, the child has an understanding of the semantic relationship between adjacent and conjoined sentences, including casual and contrastive.
42–48 months When and how questions are comprehended as well as basic shape words such as circle, square and triangle.
48–60 months Knowledge of letter names and sounds emerges, as well as numbers.
By 3–5 years, children usually have difficulty using words correctly. Children experience many problems such as underextensions, taking a general word and applying it specifically (for example, 'cartoons' specifically for 'Mickey Mouse') and overextensions, taking a specific word and applying it too generally (example, 'ant' for any insect). However, children coin words to fill in for words not yet learned (for example, someone is a cooker rather than a chef because a child may not know what a chef is). Children can also understand metaphors.
From 6–10 years, children can understand meanings of words based on their definitions. They also are able to appreciate the multiple meanings of words and use words precisely through metaphors and puns. Fast mapping continues. Within these years, children are now able to acquire new information from written texts and can explain relationships between multiple meaning words. Common idioms are also understood.
Syntactic development
The development of syntactic structures follows a particular pattern and reveals much on the nature of language acquisition, which has several stages. According to O'Grady and Cho (2011), the first stage, occurring between the ages of 12–18 months, is called "one-word stage." In this stage, children cannot form syntactic sentences and therefore use one-word utterances called "holophrases" that express an entire sentence. In addition, children's comprehension is more advanced than their production abilities. For example, a child who wants candy may say "candy" instead of expressing a full sentence.
The following stage is the "two-word stage" in which children begin to produce "mini-sentences" that are comprised of two words, such as "doggy bark" and "Ken water" (O'Grady & Cho, 2011, p. 346). At this stage, it is unclear whether children have an understanding of underlying rules of the language such as syntactic categories, since their "mini-sentences" often lack distinction between the categories. However, children do exhibit sensitivity to sentence structures and they frequently use appropriate word order.
After several months of speech that is restricted to short utterances, children enter the "telegraphic stage" and begin to produce longer and more complex grammatical structures (O'Grady & Cho, 2011, p. 347). This stage is characterized by production of complex structures as children begin to form phrases consisting of a subject and a complement in addition to use of modifiers and composition of full sentences. Children use mostly content words and their sentences lack function words. For example, a child may say "fill cup water," instead of saying, "Fill my cup with water." Subsequently, language acquisition continues to develop rapidly and children begin to acquire complex grammar that shows understanding of intricate linguistic features, such as the ability to switch the position of words in sentences.
Throughout the process of syntactic development, children acquire and develop question structures. According to O'Grady and Cho (2011), at the early stages of language acquisition, children ask yes-no questions by rising intonation alone as they develop awareness to auxiliary verbs only at a later stage. When auxiliary verbs make their appearance, it takes children a few months before they are able to use inversion in yes-no questions. The development of WH- questions occurs between the ages of two and four, when children acquire auxiliary verbs that then leads to the ability to use inversion in questions. However, some children find inversion easier in yes-no questions than in WH- questions, since the position of the WH- word and the auxiliary verb both must changed (e.g., "You are going where?" instead of "Where are you going?").
Morphological development
Morphological structures development occurs over a period of several years. Before language is acquired, children lack any use of morphological structures.
The morphological structures that children acquire during their childhood, and even up to the early school years, are: determiners (a, the), -ing inflection, plural –s, auxiliary be, possessive –s, third person singular –s, past tense –ed).
When children start using them they tend to overgeneralize the rules and project them upon all the words in the language, including irregulars. For example: if a child knows the –ed (past tense) there is a possibility that they'll say "I eated"( Man-mans cat-cats). These errors result from overgeneralization of rules.
This overgeneralization is very noticeable, in fact, children do that in less than 25 percent of the time at any point before reducing that percentage. Then they improve their mastery, which can be tested in various ways, such as the "wug test" (Berko, 1958).
Children often figure out quickly frequent irregular verbs, such as go and buy rather than less common ones, such as win. This evident suggests that children must hear the word several hundred times before they are able to use it correctly.
This development of bound morphemes is similar in order among children, for example: -ing is acquired before the article the. The interesting part though is that parents tend to use a different order while speaking to their kids, for example, parents use the article 'the' more frequently than -ing. Meaning, other factors determine the order of acquisition, such as:
Morphemes that come at the end of an utterance are remembered better.
Children seem to remember morphemes such as –ing better because they contain their own syllables rather than single consonant morpheme, such as plural –s.
Affixes with more than one meaning are more difficult to acquire, e.g., –s functions both as plural noun and singular third.
As it comes to word formation processes such as derivation and compounding, the earliest derivational suffixes to show up in children's speech are those they hear adults use most frequently. (-er as the *'doer' of the action such as walker.) When it comes to compounds, children first make up names for agents and instruments that they don't know by a pattern (N-N), though some of them do not follow the pattern (*cutter grass for grass cutter). Then, they might have the right structure but the words are inappropriate since English already has words with the intended meaning such as car-smoke = exhaust. This process points to a preference for building words from other words, thus place less demand on memory than learning an entirely new word for each concept.
Grammatical development
Grammar describes the way sentences of a language are constructed, which includes both syntax and morphology.[32]
Syntactic development and morphological development
Syntactic development involves the ways that various morphemes are ordered or combined in sentences.[33]Morphemes, which are basic units of meaning in language, get added as children learn to produce simple sentences and become more precise speakers. Morphemes can be whole words (like "happy") or parts of words that change meaning of words ("un"happy). Brown[34] proposed a stage model that describes the various types of morphological structures that are developed in English and the age range within which they are normally acquired.[35]
Stage I: From 15–30 months, children start using telegraphic speech, which are two word combinations, for example 'wet diaper'. Brown (1973)[34] observed that 75% of children's two-word utterances could be summarized in the existence of 11 semantic relations:[34][35]
Attributive: 'Big house'
Agent-action: 'Daddy hit'
Action-object: 'Hit ball'
Agent-object: 'Daddy ball'
Nominative: 'That ball'
Demonstrative: 'There ball'
Recurrence: 'More ball'
Non-existence: 'All-gone ball'
Possessive: 'Daddy chair'
Entity + Locative: 'book table'
Action + Locative: 'go store'
Stage II: At around 28–36 months, children begin to engage in the production of simple sentences, usually 3 word sentences. These simple sentences follow syntactic rules and are refined gradually as development [35] continues. The morphological developments seen in this age range include use of present progressive (-ing endings), the prepositions "in" and "on", and regular plurals (-s endings).[35]
Stage III: Around 36–42 months, children continue to add morphemes and gradually produce complex grammatical structures.[35] The morphemes that are added at this age include irregular past tense, possessive ('s), and use of the verb 'to be' (It is, I am, etc.).[35]
Stage IV:Around 40–46 months children continue to add to their morphological knowledge. This range is associated with use of articles (a or the), regular past tense (-ed endings), and regular third person speech (He likes it).[35]
Stage V: Around 42-52+ months children refine the complex grammatical structures and increase their use of morphemes to convey more complex ideas. Children in this stage use irregular third-person speech, the verb 'to be' as an auxiliary verb (She was not laughing), and in its contraction forms (It's, She's, etc.).[35]
Pragmatics development
From birth to one year, babies can engage in joint attention (sharing the attention of something with someone else). Babies also can engage in turn taking activities.
By 1–2 years, they can engage in conversational turn taking and topic maintenance.
By age 3–5, children can master illocutionary intent, knowing what you meant to say even though you might not have said it and turnabout, which is turning the conversation over to another person.
By age 6–10, shading occurs, which is changing the conversation topic gradually. Children are able to communicate effectively in demanding settings, such as on the telephone.
Effect of bilingualism
There is a large debate regarding whether or not bilingualism is truly beneficial to children. Parents of children often view learning a second language throughout elementary and high school education beneficial to the child.[36] Another perspective dictates that the second language just confuses the child and prevents them from mastering their primary language.[37] Studies have shown that American bilingual children have greater cognitive flexibility, better perceptual skills and tend to be divergent thinkers than monolingual children between the ages of five to ten.[36][37] Better executive functioning skills are likely because bilingual children have to choose one language to speak while actively suppressing the other. This builds stronger selective attention and cognitive flexibility because these skills are being exercised more.[38] In addition, bilingual children have a better understanding of universal language concepts, such as grammar, because these concepts are applied in multiple languages.[39] However, studies comparing Swedish-Finnish bilingual children and Swedish monolingual children between the ages of five to seven have also shown that the bilingual children have a smaller vocabulary than monolingual children.[40] In another study throughout America, elementary school English-monolingual children performed better in mathematics and reading activities than their non-English-dominant bilingual and non-English monolingual peers from kindergarten to grade five.[41] Learning two languages simultaneously can be beneficial or a hindrance to a child's language and intellectual development. Further research is necessary to continue to shed light on this debate.
In addition to the study of bilingualism in children, similar research is being conducted in adults. Research findings show that although bilingual benefits are muted in middle adulthood,[36] they are more profound in older age when those who develop dementia experience onset about 4.5 years later in bilingual subjects.[42] The increased attentional control, inhibition, and conflict resolution developed from bilingualism may be accountable for the later onset of dementia.[36]
A language disorder is the impaired comprehension and or use of a spoken, written, and/or other symbol system. A disorder may involve problems in the following areas:
The form of language i.e. phonology, morphology, or syntax
The content i.e. semantics
The function of language in communication i.e. pragmatics
Olswang and colleagues have identified a series of behaviors in children in the 18–36 month range that are predictors for the need of language intervention.[43]
These predictors include:
A smaller than average vocabulary
A language comprehension delay of 6 months or a comprehension deficit with a large comprehension production gap
Phonological problems such as restricted babbling or limited vocalizations
Few spontaneous vocal imitations and reliance on direct modeling in imitation tasks
Little combinatorial or symbolic play
Few communicative or symbolic gestures
Behavior problems[43]
Some of the many conditions that cause language development problems include:
Auditory processing disorder
Developmental verbal dyspraxia
Language delay
Pragmatic language impairment
Specific language impairment
Speech delay
Speech sound disorder
Speech repetition
Artificial neural network
Errors in early word use
Essay on the Origin of Languages
Evolutionary linguistics
Genie (feral child)
Infantile speech
KE family
Language acquisition device
List of children's speech corpora
Mean length of utterance
Metalinguistic awareness
Origin of language
Pragmatic mapping
Proto-Human language
Victor of Aveyron
↑ Graven, Stanley N.; MD; Browne, Joy V. (December 2008). "Auditory development in the fetus and infant". Newborn and Infant Nursing Reviews. 8 (4) – via Brain Development of the Neonate.
↑ Kennison, S. M. (2013). Introduction to language development. Los Angeles, CA: Sage. ISBN 9781412996068.
↑ Poll, G. H. (2011). "Increasing the Odds: Applying Emergentist Theory in Language Intervention". Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools. 42 (4): 580–591. doi:10.1044/0161-1461(2011/10-0041). PMC 3164388 . PMID 21616988.
↑ Roediger, R. (2004) "What happened to Behaviorism." American Psychological Society.
↑ Ramscar M, Yarlett D (November 2007). "Linguistic self-correction in the absence of feedback: a new approach to the logical problem of language acquisition" (PDF). Cogn Sci. 31 (6): 927–60. doi:10.1080/03640210701703576. PMID 21635323.
↑ Clibbens, John (October 1993). "From theory to practice in child language development" (PDF). Down Syndrome Research and Practice. 1 (3): 101–106. doi:10.3104/reviews.20. Retrieved 2012-11-20.
↑ Schneider, Phyllis; Watkins, Ruth (April 1996). "Applying Vygotskian Developmental Theory to Language Intervention". Language, Speech & Hearing Services in Schools. 27 (2): 157–170.
1 2 Santrock, John W. (2007). A Topical Approach to Lifespan Development. McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages. ISBN 0-07-338264-7. OCLC 171151508.
↑ Hauser MD, Chomsky N, Fitch WT (November 2002). "The faculty of language: what is it, who has it, and how did it evolve?" (PDF). Science. 298 (5598): 1569–79. doi:10.1126/science.298.5598.1569. PMID 12446899.
↑ Thompson-Schill SL, Ramscar M, Chrysikou EG (2009). "Cognition without control: When a little frontal lobe goes a long way" (PDF). Curr Dir Psychol Sci. 18 (5): 259–263. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8721.2009.01648.x. PMC 2855545 . PMID 20401341.
↑ Ramscar M, Gitcho N (July 2007). "Developmental change and the nature of learning in childhood" (PDF). Trends Cogn. Sci. (Regul. Ed.). 11 (7): 274–9. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2007.05.007. PMID 17560161.
↑ Scharff C, Petri J (July 2011). "Evo-devo, deep homology and FoxP2: implications for the evolution of speech and language". Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond., B, Biol. Sci. 366 (1574): 2124–40. doi:10.1098/rstb.2011.0001. PMC 3130369 . PMID 21690130.
↑ DeCasper A.; Lecanuet J.; Bunsel M.; Granier-Deferre C.; Maugeais R. (1994). "Fetal Reactions to Recurrent Maternal Speech" (PDF). Infant Behavior and Development. 17: 159–164. doi:10.1016/0163-6383(94)90051-5.
↑ Harding C. (1983). "An Investigation Of Developmental Mechanisms In The Development Of Intentional Communication" (PDF). Foundation for Child Development: 1–27.
↑ Saffran J.; Aslin R.; Newport E. (1994). "Statistical learning by 8-month-old infants" (PDF). Science. 274 (5294): 1926–1928. doi:10.1126/science.274.5294.1926. PMID 8943209.
↑ Huttenlocher J.; Haight W.; Bryk A.; Seltzer M.; Lyons T. (1991). "Early vocabulary growth: Relation to language input and gender". Developmental Psychology. 27 (2): 236–248. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.27.2.236.
↑ Bornstein, M. H. (2004). "Specific and general language performance across early childhood: Stability and gender considerations". First Language. 24 (3): 267–304. doi:10.1177/0142723704045681.
↑ Frith, Uta; Vargha-Khadem, Faraneh (2001). "Are there sex differences in the brain basis of literacy related skills? Evidence from reading and spelling impairments after early unilateral brain damage". Neuropsychologia. 39 (13): 1485–1488. doi:10.1016/S0028-3932(01)00063-X.
↑ Kansaku, Kenji; Kitazawa, Shigeru (2001). "Imaging studies on sex differences in the lateralization of language". Neuroscience Research. 41 (4): 333–337. doi:10.1016/S0168-0102(01)00292-9.
1 2 3 Christie, F., & Derewianka, B. (2010). School discourse: Learning to write across the years of schooling. Bloomsbury Publishing.
1 2 3 4 5 6 Kroll, B. M. (1981) Developmental relationships between speaking and writing. In Kroll & Vaan (eds) (1981), 32-54
1 2 3 Perera, K. (1984). Children's writing and reading: Analysing classroom language. Oxford: Blackwell.
↑ Petty 1978 Petty, W. T. The writing of young children. In C. R. Cooper & L. Odell (Eds.), Research on composing: Points of departure. Urbana, Il.: NCTE, 1978.
1 2 3 4 5 Kroll, B. M. (1981) Developmental relationships between speaking and writing. In Kroll & Vaan (eds) (1981), 32-54.
↑ Kantor, K. J. & Rubin, D. L. (1981) Between speaking and writing: processes of differentiation. In Kroll & Vaan (eds) (1981), 55-81.
1 2 Myhill, D. (2008). Towards a linguistic model of sentence development in writing. Language and Education, 22(5), 271-288.
↑ Mani, Nivedita; Plunkett, Kim (2010). "Twelve-Month-Olds Know Their Cups From Their Keps and Tups". Infancy. 15 (5): 445–470. doi:10.1111/j.1532-7078.2009.00027.x. ISSN 1525-0008.
1 2 3 4 5 Owens, Robert E. (2012). Language development : an introduction. Boston: Pearson. pp. 130–135. ISBN 978-0-13-258252-0. OCLC 682896734.
↑ Michnik Golinkoff&Hirsh-Pasek, Roberta&Kathy (2000). How Babies Talk. New York: Penguin Group. p. 231.
↑ Fernandez, Eva (2011). Fundamentals of Psycholinguistics. West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell. p. 110.
1 2 Brandone, Amanda C; Salkind, Sara J.; Golinkoff, Roberta Michnick; Hirsh-Pasek, Kathy (2006). George G Bear; Kathleen M Minke, eds. Language Development (PDF). Children's needs III : development, prevention, and intervention. Bethesda, Md: National Association of School Psychologists. ISBN 9780932955791. OCLC 70691810. Retrieved 2013-12-09. CS1 maint: Uses editors parameter (link)
↑ "Grammar". Dictionary.com.
↑ "the definition of syntactic". Dictionary.com. Retrieved 2016-01-29.
1 2 3 Brown, R. (1973). A first language: The early stages. Harvard University Press.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Bowen, C. (1998). "Brown's Stages of Syntactic Development". speech language therapy dot com.
1 2 3 4 Bialystok, E.; Craik, FI.; Luk, G. (Apr 2012). "Bilingualism: consequences for mind and brain.". Trends Cogn Sci. 16 (4): 240–50. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2012.03.001. PMC 3322418 . PMID 22464592.
1 2 Blumenfeld, H; Faroqi-Shah, Y (2009). "Bilingualism: Consequences for language, cognition, development, and the brain". American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. 14 (13): 10.
↑ Poulin-Dubois, D.; Blayne, A.; Coutya, J.; Bialystok, E. (Mar 2011). "The effects of bilingualism on todders' executive functioning.". Journal of Experimental Psychology. 108 (3): 567–579. doi:10.1016/j.jcep2010.10.009.
↑ Katsos, N.; Ezeisabarrena, MJ.; Gavarró, A.; Kraljević, JK.; Hrzica, G.; Noveck, I. "The acquisition of quantification across languages: some predictions.". Cascadilla Press.
↑ Korkman, M.; Stenroos, M.; Mickos, A.; Westman, M.; Ekholm, P.; Byring, R. (Sep 2012). "Does simultaneous bilingualism aggravate children's specific language problems?". Acta Paediatr. 101 (9): 946–52. doi:10.1111/j.1651-2227.2012.02733.x. PMID 22591054.
↑ Han, WJ. (2012). "Bilingualism and academic achievement.". Child Dev. 83 (1): 300–21. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2011.01686.x. PMID 22098584.
↑ Alladi, S.; Bak, TH.; Duggirala, V.; Surampudi, B.; Shailaja, M.; Shukla, AK.; Kaul, S. (Nov 2013). "Bilingualism delays age at onset of dementia, independent of education and immigration status.". Neurology. 18 (20): 1938–1944. doi:10.1212/01.wnl.0000436620.33155a4.
1 2 Olswang, Lesley B; Rodriguez, Barbara; Timler, Geralyn (1998). "Recommending Intervention for Toddlers With Specific Language Learning Difficulties" (PDF). American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. pp. 23–32. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
[1] O'Grady, W., & Cho, S. W. (2011). First Language Acquisition. 345-350.
Abbot-Smith, Kirsten; Tomasello, Michael (2006). "Exemplar-learning and schematization in a usage-based account of syntactic acquisition" (PDF). The Linguistic Review. 23 (3): 275–290. doi:10.1515/TLR.2006.011.
Balari S, Benítez-Burraco A, Camps M, Longa VM, Lorenzo G, Uriagereka J (2011). "The archaeological record speaks: bridging anthropology and linguistics". Int J Evol Biol. 2011: 382679. doi:10.4061/2011/382679. PMC 3123707 . PMID 21716806.
Berk, Laura E. (2009). "9, Language Development". Child development. Boston: Pearson Education/Allyn & Bacon. ISBN 0-205-61559-7. OCLC 637146042.
Bornstein, MH.; Putnick, DL. (Mar 2012). "Stability of language in childhood: a multiage, multidomain, multimeasure, and multisource study.". Dev Psychol. 48 (2): 477–91. doi:10.1037/a0025889. PMC 3412562 . PMID 22004343.
Campbell R (March 2008). "The processing of audio-visual speech: empirical and neural bases". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. 363 (1493): 1001–10. doi:10.1098/rstb.2007.2155. PMC 2606792 . PMID 17827105.
Chomsky, Noam (1963–65). Robert Duncan Luce,, eds. Three models for the description of language. Readings in mathematical psychology. New York: Wiley. OCLC 190574. CS1 maint: Uses editors parameter (link)
Chomsky, Noam (1965). Aspects of the theory of syntax. Cambridge: M.I.T. Press. ISBN 9780262530071. OCLC 309976.
Hickok G, Poeppel D (2004). "Dorsal and ventral streams: a framework for understanding aspects of the functional anatomy of language" (PDF). Cognition. 92 (1-2): 67–99. doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2003.10.011. PMID 15037127.
Kennison, Shelia (2013). Introduction to language development. Los Angeles, CA: Sage. ISBN 9781412996068.
Kuhl PK, Conboy BT, Coffey-Corina S, Padden D, Rivera-Gaxiola M, Nelson T (March 2008). "Phonetic learning as a pathway to language: new data and native language magnet theory expanded (NLM-e)". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. 363 (1493): 979–1000. doi:10.1098/rstb.2007.2154. PMC 2606791 . PMID 17846016.
Perani D, Saccuman MC, Scifo P, et al. (September 2011). "Neural language networks at birth". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 108 (38): 16056–61. doi:10.1073/pnas.1102991108. PMC 3179044 . PMID 21896765.
Richardson FM, Price CJ (October 2009). "Structural MRI studies of language function in the undamaged brain". Brain Struct Funct. 213 (6): 511–23. doi:10.1007/s00429-009-0211-y. PMC 2749930 . PMID 19618210.
Rowe, ML.; Ozçalişkan, S.; Goldin-Meadow, S. (Jan 2008). "Learning words by hand: Gesture's role in predicting vocabulary development.". First Lang. 28 (2): 182–199. doi:10.1177/0142723707088310. PMC 2745165 . PMID 19763249.
Wandell BA, Rauschecker AM, Yeatman JD (January 2012). "Learning to see words". Annu Rev Psychol. 63: 31–53. doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-120710-100434. PMC 3228885 . PMID 21801018.
Language Development in Children Checklist (3YRS)
Library resources about
Resources in your library
Social Language Use (Pragmatics) - American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA)
Speech and Language Developmental Milestones, Your baby's hearing and communicative development checklist
Dyslexia and related specific developmental disorders (F80–F83, 315)
Speech and
impairments /
Expressive language disorder
Landau–Kleffner syndrome
Mixed receptive-expressive language disorder
Speech and language impairment
Speech error
Stammering
Tip of the tongue
Scholastic skills/
learning disorder
Developmental dyslexia
Dysgraphia (Disorder of written expression)
Motor function
Developmental coordination disorder
Developmental verbal dyspraxia also known as Childhood apraxia of speech
Dyslexia research
Irlen filters
Learning problems in childhood cancer
Management of dyslexia/Dyslexia interventions
Multisensory integration
Reading acquisition
Writing system
Dyslexia in fiction
Languages by Writing System
People with dyslexia
↑ Lightbown, P. M., Spada, N., Ranta, L., & Rand, J. (2006). How languages are learned. Oxford: Oxford University Press.


text:
Шевченківська округа — колишня округа в Українській СРР:
 Шевченківська округа — утворена в 1923 як Корсунська і перейменована на Шевченківську, приєднана в 1925 до Білоцерківської, Черкаської та Уманської округ.
 Шевченківська округа — утворена в 1923 як Черкаська, перейменована в 1927 на Шевченківську, ліквідована в 1930.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Home Open Access Tracking Project (OATP) abernard102@gmail.com Obama Administration Unveils "Big Data" Initiative: Announces $200 Million in New R&D Investments
Obama Administration Unveils "Big Data" Initiative: Announces $200 Million in New R&D Investments
abernard102@gmail.com 2012-08-20
[Use the link above to access the full text of the announcement from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP)] "Aiming to make the most of the fast-growing volume of digital data, the Obama Administration today announced a "Big Data Research and Development Initiative." By improving our ability to extract knowledge and insights from large and complex collections of digital data, the initiative promises to help solve some the Nation's most pressing challenges. To launch the initiative, six Federal departments and agencies today announced more than $200 million in new commitments that, together, promise to greatly improve the tools and techniques needed to access, organize, and glean discoveries from huge volumes of digital data. 'In the same way that past Federal investments in information-technology R&D led to dramatic advances in supercomputing and the creation of the Internet, the initiative we are launching today promises to transform our ability to use Big Data for scientific discovery, environmental and biomedical research, education, and national security,' said Dr. John P. Holdren, Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. To make the most of this opportunity, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP)—in concert with several Federal departments and agencies—created the Big Data Research and Development Initiative to: [1] Advance state-of-the-art core technologies needed to collect, store, preserve, manage, analyze, and share huge quantities of data. [2] Harness these technologies to accelerate the pace of discovery in science and engineering, strengthen our national security, and transform teaching and learning; and [3] Expand the workforce needed to develop and use Big Data technologies. National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health - Core Techniques and Technologies for Advancing Big Data Science & Engineering 'Big Data' is a new joint solicitation supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that will advance the core scientific and technological means of managing, analyzing, visualizing, and extracting useful information from large and diverse data sets. This will accelerate scientific discovery and lead to new fields of inquiry that would otherwise not be possible. NIH is particularly interested in imaging, molecular, cellular, electrophysiological, chemical, behavioral, epidemiological, clinical, and other data sets related to health and disease. In addition to its funding of the Big Data solicitation, NSF is also: [1] Encouraging research universities to develop interdisciplinary graduate programs to prepare the next generation of data scientists and engineers; [2] Funding a $10 million project based at the University of California, Berkeley, that will integrate three powerful approaches for turning data into information - machine learning, cloud computing, and crowd sourcing; [3] Providing the first round of grants to support 'EarthCube' – a system that will allow geoscientists to access, analyze and share information about our planet; [4] Issuing a $2 million award for a research training group to support training for undergraduates to use graphical and visualization techniques for complex data. [5] Providing $1.4 million in support for a focused research group of statisticians and biologists to tell us about protein structures and biological pathways. [6] Convening researchers across disciplines to determine how Big Data can transform teaching and learning..." [Use the link above to read additional Information from the announcement on projects and funding from the Department of Defense, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, National Institutes of Health, Department of Energy, and the US Geological Survey.]
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/big_data_press_release.pdf
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
\section{Introduction}
Language is a unique symbol of human civilization. Writing system is the development of the language.
Writing system usually has many different fonts.  Unlike the English font library
that has only 26 alphabets,
Chinese font library contains tens of thousands of characters. There are also thousands of commonly
used characters.

The design of Chinese fonts is a very time-consuming and laborious task,
with the calligrapher manually writing a large number of Chinese characters as a benchmark.
It is necessary to find a automation method to help the font designing
for Chinese character. The best way is that
by manually designing several characters,
we can directly synthesize the remaining Chinese characters with the same style of character.

In the last few years, the development of deep learning make it possiable in automatic
image style transfer. Several researcher have intended to generate Chinese fonts by using
different deep learning method\cite{Sun2017,Lyu2018,Deng,guo_creating_2018,
chang_rewrite2_nodate,chang_generating_nodate,azadi_multi-content_nodate}.
 Jiang et.al. using a U-net model realize end-to-end
Chinese character mapping, that automatically generate the whole GB2312 font library
 that consists of 6763 Chinese characters from a small number of characters written by the user.
\cite{Jiang2017}. Jiang develop an efficient and generalized deep framework W-Net,
that is capable of learning and generating any arbitrary characters
sharing the style similar to the given single font character\cite{amari_w-net_2017}.
Sun et. al. also propose a variational auto-encoder framework
to generate Chinese characters\cite{Sun2017}.

This paper mainly discusses the generation of personalized fonts as
the problem of image style transfer.
The main purpose of this paper is to design a network framework
that can extract and re-combine the content and style of the characters.
The paper combines various depth networks such as Convolutional Neural Network,
Multi-layer Perceptron and Residual Network to find the optimal model
to extract the features of the fonts character.

These attempts can be used to synthesize the entire set of fonts
with only a small amount of style characters.
The result shows that those characters we have generated is very close to  real characters,
using Structural Similarity
index and Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio evaluation criterions.

\section{Method Description}
Due to the complicated structures of Chinese characters, It is not easy transfer
deep learning methods widely used in image synthesis to this job.
The big problem is that the style and content features of Chinese characters are
complexly entangled. The present deep learning methods, such as cross-domain
disentanglement\cite{Gonzalez-Garcia2018}, Dientangled Representation\cite{Lee2018},
U-Net model\cite{esser_variational_nodate}, are not well work on Chinese characters synthesis.

In this paper, our propose a multiple mapping model to
generater new Chines character. Our method is
different from the current moethod in unpaired font dataset training.
Several researcher have intended to generate Chinese fonts by using
different deep learning method\cite{Sun2017,Lyu2018,Deng,guo_creating_2018,
chang_rewrite2_nodate,chang_generating_nodate,azadi_multi-content_nodate}.
These methods most require paired fonts to be trained.
The paired fonts  have same content and different style.

\subsection{Multimodal mapping model}

\begin{figure}
  \begin{center}
  \includegraphics[scale=0.8]{model}
  \caption{Multimodal mapping model}
  \label{fig1}
  \end{center}
\end{figure}

Our method is to learn a multimodal mapping between
two unpaired style fonts. Figure \ref{fig1} is a schematic of
our multi-mapping model.
Our model framework consists of a content encoder,
a style encoder, a generator G, and a content discriminator.
The content encoder encodes the font image X into the content space,
the style encoder encodes the font image Y
into the style space.
Then stitches the content encoding of font X with the style encoding of font Y,
and uses the generator G  to regenerate a new font image with the stiches vector.
The generator G obtains a latent feature representation
from the encoder and outputs an image similar to the input images, which
mixed the content and style feature of the two input font.
Then the generated font is encoded again by contend encoder to get
its content fetures.
The content discriminator distinguishes the extracted content
between the input fonts and the generated fonts.

In order to obtain multiple types of fonts,
we normalize the style vector so that it can be sampled
from the Gaussian prior probability N (0,1) or extracted from the input style fonts.
this process is shown in Figure \ref{fig2}. Figure \ref{fig2} (a)
make randomly extracted style generate. and Figure \ref{fig2} (b)
using a specified font style to generate new style fonts.
Content discriminator forces the generator to produce a font with the same content.
the loss of the content discriminator is expressed as:

\begin{equation}
L_{adv}^{content}(E_X^c, E_{GX}^c, D^c) = \ \
E_x[\frac{1}{2} log D^c(E_X^c(x)) + \frac{1}{2}
log(1-D^c(E_X^c(x)))] +
E_x[\frac{1}{2}log D^c(E_{GX}^c(x)) + \frac{1}{2} log(1-D^c(E_{GX}^c(x)))]
\end{equation}

In addition, the adversarial loss and KL-Loss are added.
the adversarial loss discriminator D tries to distinguish
the real image and the generated image in each domain,
while the generator G tries to generate a realistic image.
The use of KL-Loss is to achieve random sampling during generate.
The KL-loss make the style representation as close
as possible to the prior Gaussian distribution.
The all loss is expressed as :

\begin{eqnarray}
L_{all} = \lambda_{adv}^{content} L_{adv}^c +
\lambda_{adv}^{domain} L_{adv}^{domain} + \lambda_{KL} L_{KL}
\end{eqnarray}

The different lambda represents the proportion of each loss function.
In the training,
we set the parameters as follows:$\lambda_{adv}^{content}=1$,
$\lambda_{adv}^{domain}=1$, and $\lambda_{KL}=0.01$
\begin{figure}
  \centering
  \includegraphics[scale=0.5]{model2}
  \caption{multiple types mapping model}
  \label{fig2}
\end{figure}

\subsection{The implemented model}
This model is implemented using the Tensorflow machine learning framework.
The overall architecture consists of a content encoder,
a style encoder, and a joint decoder.
It is difficult for a single encoder-decoder network to produce content and style features.
We use two encoders to extract content and style separately.
Finally, we train the two subnets together.
The overall model structure is shown in Figure \ref{fig3}.

The content encoder is composed of 3 convolutional layers
and 4 residual modules.
All of the convolutional layers are normalized.
 Weight sharing was introduced in the last layer of
 the residual network and the first layer of the generator.

 The generator G is a decoder,
 which reconstructs the input image according
 to its content encoding and style encoding.
 The decoder processes the content encoding
 through a set of residual modules and
 uses multiple up-sampled transposed convolutional layers
 to generate a reconstructed image.
 In addition, by using Affine Transformation
 in the normalization layer to express style features,
 We introduced the Adaptive Instance Normalization (AdaIN)\cite{Huang2017}.
The parameters in the AdaIN layer can be generated with
 the style coding by using multi-layer perceptron (MLP).

During the training phase, we use the Adam optimizer to randomly select batch-sized
characters from the training set during each training batch processing step.
The training period is set to 50, the number of iterations is 10,000,
and the learning rate is 0.0001. The average training time is one week in a NVIDIA 2080 Ti Graphics.

\begin{figure}
  \centering
  \includegraphics[scale=0.5]{model3}
  \caption{The detailed implemented model}
  \label{fig3}
\end{figure}

\subsection{Train dataset}
Since the distribution of training data will have a
great impact on the output of the convolutional neural network.
It is especially important to choose reasonable training data.
Imbalanced training sets will have a negative impact on the results fonts.
 In order to ensure the balance of the training set,
the train fonts dataset  is  compored of 3000 Chinese characters
commonly used in the Chinese character library.
The content font in the training data set is a regular Kai style fonts,
and the style font is 50 different styles.
The whole train dataset contains about 300,000 fonts images.

\section{Experiments results}
The following figure \ref{fig4} shows some training results.
The left column is the content font,
the middle column is the style font, and the right is the output result.
It can be seen that the style and structure of the generater font is similar with the
style fonts.

\begin{figure}
  \centering
  \includegraphics[scale=0.5]{result1}
  \caption{Unpaired training results}
  \label{fig4}
\end{figure}

In addition to randomly sampling the style information from the feature space,
we can also use an image with the desired fonts style features for transformation.
Figure \ref{fig5} shown the generate fonts from desired fonts style.
The left column is the content font,
the middle column is the desired style font, and the right is the generate fonts.

\begin{figure}
  \centering
  \includegraphics[scale=0.5]{result2}
  \caption{Converting images with desired fonts features}
  \label{fig5}
\end{figure}

\section{Conclusion}
In this paper,
we first propose a multi-mode mapping-based encoder-decoder
framework that combines an automatic variational encoder
and a generative adversarial network to learn unpaired font transform.
The model can extract a class of styles based on a given style fonts
 to generate an output image with one style. The model can
 also   randomly extract multiple styles based on the style encoder
  to generate  multiple styles fonts.
   The fonts generated by the model are consistent with the real fonts.

\section*{Acknowledgement}
This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (61307080)
\bibliographystyle{unsrt}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


text:
Q: How to Convert datetime.datetime.now() to Number Script:
datetime.datetime.now()

will give
datetime.datetime(2019, 4, 9, 19, 55, 45, 938208)

And I want to convert like:
201949195545938208

I need this to create unique folder.

A: Using strftime():
import datetime
print(datetime.datetime.now().strftime("%Y%m%d%H%M%S%z"))

OUTPUT:
20190409193226

EDIT:
Use %f, if you want to tag along the milliseconds as well.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Confessions of a Would-Be Theologian
Musings on theology, technology, family and whatever strikes my interest, from a onetime theologian and occasional CTO.
Atheists in the Holy Land
Over the last 9 months, my work has taken me fairly frequently to Israel. Zango -- the company I work for, and helped start back in 1999 -- has rented an apartment in downtown Tel Aviv, just off of Rabin Square, where I've stayed the last several visits. I walk a half-mile or so to the office every morning, and back in the evening, down Ibn Gvirol Avenue. Lots of folks have commented on how "Western" Tel Aviv feels, and they're onto something. My wife says that Tel Aviv reminds her of Sevilla, in Spain, and that sounds about right.
As secular as Tel Aviv can be, religion is never too far from the surface in the Holy Land. Only a few people in our office would describe themselves as "religious", but you scratch an Israeli, and he'll bleed religion, even if it's not the sort you'd expect. At a company lunch the other day, the topic of God came up. My curiosity got the better of my judgment, and I asked the general question, "OK, who here believes in God?" Of the eight folks around the table (all Jews except for me), six of them professed a belief in God of some sort, andtwo denied His existence outright. Israelis being Israelis -- which is to say, in favor of argument of every sort, and in that way much like me -- this prompted an extended argument that lasted well after we had left the restaurant.
If my limited experience is any guide, that ratio -- 25% atheists -- seems to be reasonably representative of the larger population. My good friend Rinat varies between disliking God intensely and merely disbelieving in His existence, but usually professes the latter. My friend Meir is as loud and vocal about his atheism as about his poker playing, which is to say, quite passionate.
On a side note, I had the wonderfully surreal experience the other day of a long car ride with Meir and his best friend Moris. Moris made the mistake of acknowledging a belief in God, which earned a great deal of scorn from the loud and passionate Meir. The highlight of their argument, which lasted for many miles, was Meir's loud insistence to Moris that Christians didn't believe in the 10 commandments, an opinion which the repeated denials of the one Christian in the car (with an M.A. in theology, no less) did little to shake.
The paradox of atheists in an avowedly Jewish and religious country was made perhaps a bit more understandable to me after a visit to Yad Vashem. It's admittedly hard to believe in the goodness of a God who has supposedly chosen your people, after you've watched this same God allow your people to be "led like lambs to the slaughter". Even the name "holocaust", with its evocation of the Torah's "whole burnt offering", is an unsettling reminder of the paradoxes inherent in modern Judaism.
One image from Yad Vashem sticks with me beyond all others, however. When you finish your journey through the exhibits, the exit from the museum opens up almost trumpet-like, with an unparalleled view of the green hills of Jerusalem. The impact of this not-so-subtle architectural effect was not lost on me: after the Holocaust, Israel; after childbirth, a child. I don't claim to know what God is doing with the Jews or with Israel. St. Paul was content to call it a mystery, and I am too. But St. Paul was also convinced that God wasn't through with His people; and having spent some time in the Holy Land recently, I'm pretty well convinced of it as well.
Labels: atheists, Israel, Judaism
Advertising Aging atheists backpacking books Caedmon Cameras career culture David Jang death Economics Family Hiking homosexuality hunting insurance Internet Israel Judaism Literature Management marriage Microsoft Olivet Outdoors Patents Peacemaking Personal Philosophy Photography Poetry politics resurrection Reviews Security sermons technology theology Vista WEA Zango
Coyote Scat
A Theology of Advertising?
Valid Reasons for Using Threads
Silverlight duplex client limitation
Thoughts on Ruby vs C#
Confessions – Book 6
And Three More Silverlight Complaints
What's Up With Olivet University?
I should make sure everyone knows that although I sometimes refer to the companies where I've worked, this is my own personal blog. This means that the opinions expressed in it are entirely mine, and should not be taken as representative of my company's official position on anything.


I hope you all had a great weekend, I know I had a good one but it was crazy. Like 73 baseball/softball games and 2 birthday parties. Just one of those crazy weekends. I did however stick to my diet (sort of). With two birthday parties I was "forced" to eat cake, but I ate small pieces and only 1 piece at each party. And boy it was gooooooood.
I also worked out this weekend. I hardly ever workout on Saturday and this Saturday was no different, but I did get to workout on Sunday. It was one of the best workouts I have had in a while. I'm kinda scared to have a really good week exercising because the last time I did that we all know what happened, 3 pounds happened. I hoping this week I can get off the last pound of that 3 pound weight gain and then a few more for good measure.


January 3, 2013. FRENCH FOR FREE AT THE FRENCH CLASS. Free conversation group at The French Class. Free French conversation group the 1st Thursday of the month from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. at La Boulange, 222 Sutter Street. Please call before noon on the first Thursday of the month if you would like to attend. Minimum 4 people. www.frenchclass.com for details.
January 4, 2013. FRENCH FOR FREE AT THE FRENCH CLASS. 12:00 to 12:45 p.m. Please note: French for Free is NOT A CLASS. It is a free conversation group open to people who speak some French and would like to practice. Everyone is welcome. Being enrolled in one of our classes is NOT required. www.frenchclass.com for details.
January 7, 2013. DBF with JEAN-NOEL FOURMEAUX, Owner of Chateau Potelle Winery and VGS Investment Group. Come and hear the story of Jean-Noel Fourmeaux, the French Government "wine spy" who embodies one of the most remarkable success story in California wine. VGS Chateau Potelle Winery is located in Napa Valley and produces luxury wines mostly available via mailing list. VGS Investment Group controls real estate investments in the wine industry. Jean-Noel created Chateau Potelle (re-named VGS Chateau Potelle) from a few hundred acres of land on Mt. Veeder and worked relentlessly to build a premium brand, often going where nobody had gone before! With over 30 years in Napa Valley, Jean-Noel has built a solid reputation thanks to his avant-garde approach and his commitment to quality. His job as a winemaker is to respect and exploit the unique qualities of their "roots" to craft wines with a sense of style and personality. Jean-Noel established premium Zinfandel in California while gathering numerous awards for his other wines, ranging from "Presidential" Chardonnay, to prized Cabernets and famous blends like The Illegitimate. He also happens to be passionate about life and food and has been biting into both with the same taste for adventure that has driven his successes in the wine business. Sofitel San Francisco Bay, 223 Twin Dolphin Drive, Redwood City, CA 94065. 6.30pm-9pm Achat par Paypal et Membres de la FACCSF $25; Achat sur Place, $30 info@lesitedbf.com or www.faccsf.com for details.
HOLY MOTORS. (Leos Carax, France; starring Denis Lavant.) One of the most bizarrely wonderful films of the year, or any year. Oscar (Lavant) spends every day riding around Paris in a white limo driven by Céline. After making use of the car's full complement of wigs, theatrical make-up, and costumes, he emerges for "appointments" with unseen "clients," who apparently observe each vignette as it happens. And don't even try to predict what's coming next, or decipher what it all means, beyond an investigation of identity so original you won't believe your eyes. Disturbing and delightful. Movies don't get more original or memorable than this. Roxie, SF.
LES MISERABLES, with Anne Hathaway & Hugh Jackman. Check local theater listings for details!
RUST AND BONE. With Marion Cotillard, Matthias Schoenaerts, Armand Verdure and Céline Sallette. France/Belgium, 120min, 2012. Academy Award-winning actress Marion Cotillard gives a tour-de-force performance in Rust and Bone that rivals anything she has done before. She plays Stéphanie, a free-spirited whale trainer at a marineland on the French Riviera, who suffers a devastating injury. Check local listings for details.


Sample Essay for SSC CGL Tier III & 15+ Expert Tips You Shouldn't Miss!
Essay writing is a tedious task for many as it seems to be a large project. But writing an essay is made a crucial part of SSC CGL now as the interview/personality test has been replaced by the descriptive exam in order to test your proficiency in language. The offline, pen & paper based exam aims to test you on how you put forth your ideas. This is especially done by the essay writing which carries maximum weightage (around 40-60 marks). Therefore, make sure that you are in a habit of writing a well structured essay for SSC CGL Tier III 2018.
The descriptive paper is also a way to assess your communication skills. So without further delay, here are the Expert SSC CGL Essay Tips You Shouldn't Miss. Also, we are providing you with Sample Essays for SSC CGL to explain how to write an essay for SSC CGL Tier 3 Descriptive Paper.
Remember that the score for the Tier III Exam is counted towards the final merit list. To qualify Tier III you need to score at least 33 marks. Therefore, pay attention make sure you are well prepared to write an essay for SSC CGL.
This would help you gain command over vocabulary and also make you a person of concrete ideas. English medium students must read The Hindu, The Indian Express, Economic Times, etc.
Prepare for the essay topic by reading books like 151 Essays for Competitive Examinations & How to Write Essays: A Step-By-Step Guide for All Levels, with Sample Essays 2nd Edition.
Remember that someone is going to sit and read your paper. If they don't know what you've written, it will be difficult to give you marks. Therefore, do not cut or overwrite and make sure your handwriting is at least readable.
Since you will be involved in writing an essay for SSC CGL, you should be thorough with your grammar. Pick up any basic book and learn the basic grammar rules. Reading is beneficial when it comes to honing grammatical skills.
If you think that your vocabulary is not very good, to properly explain your ideas.
Put quotes stated by some author and also give relevant examples if you remember any.
As learning or developing any language is not a one day task in fact it is a process that you have get involved in religiously in order to succeed.
In order to practice, pick up topics of your choice and write them within a limited time frame.
As it would require some brainstorming and also because it carries maximum marks.
Before you start writing the essay keep certain things in mind. note down substantial points and elaborate them while writing the essay.
Remember, that you are allotted only 60 minutes to attempt 2-3 descriptive topics, so . Spend approximately 25-35 minutes on the essay. Take at least 5 minutes to jot down points and decide their sequencing.
You can start by writing a few keywords and then writing all various aspects related to it such as the Social, Political, Legal, Technological, Economic. Alternatively, you can pick a side in the topic and perform a SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats) analysis on it. An example of SWOT analysis is given below.
How the process will benefit the economy.
The unintended benefits of demonetization.
The loopholes involved in the process.
The inconvenience caused to the masses.
How even the demonetization process is not the ultimate solution to eradication of black money.
How the economy can be badly affected temporarily.
How the markets are vulnerable.
Introduction, Body & Conclusion. The Body can be further divided into 2-5 paragraphs, each comprising of a single point elaborated. But at the same time should be in flow with the previous and next paragraphs. Try and wrap the whole thing up in 300-350 words.
Even while you present facts from all sides, take a single stand whether in support or against the topic by giving relevant examples.
You can also go through the Sample Essay for SSC CGL given below. The sample essay will give you an idea of how to frame your own essay.
Demonetization is the process of withdrawal of certain form of currency from circulation in the economy. The process either involves complete withdrawal of a particular form of currency or its replacement with a new one.
Recently, the current Indian government decided to withdraw from circulation or demonetize the biggest denomination notes i.e. 500 and 1000 Rupees notes. This unexpected move came as a shock to the public. The step was seen as a landmark decision for the Indian economy by some experts. The demonetization move also witnessed a mixed response from the masses.
This is not the first time that India has withdrawn its currency from circulation. It was previously done in 1946 where Rs 1000 and Rs 10000 notes were withdrawn to deal with black money. The main objective of demonetization is to tackle the menace of black money, corruption, fake currency and terror financing. According to the Reserve Bank of India, 87% transactions are carried out through cash which provides ample opportunities to the corrupt for hoarding money and thereby harming the economy.
Before demonetization, high-value notes accounted for a total value of 86% of the notes (by value) in circulation in India. It is expected that this step will also help in promoting cashless transaction. This will be very useful in the long run, given the technological revolution being witnessed by the world.
There are some negative effects of demonetization as well. For instance, the sudden announcement created a panic among people. Long queues at banks and ATMs followed. The government and indeed, even RBI, seemed unprepared with sufficient stocks of newly minted cash to meet the needs of people. Vendors, local traders and shopkeepers found they could no longer get people to buy from them. The worst affected lived in rural areas, aloof from any kind of digital transactions. Tourism also took a hit.
It can be expected that the noble intentions of the government should bear desired results in time. The future of India may be bright if we are successful in wiping out unaccountable money from the economy. However, a deeper analysis before the implementation of the move could have made the process smoother.
For whichever examination you are sitting for, make sure that you don't fall short of practice. Practice as many questions as you can on Testbook Practice.
In case any query is bugging you, get rid of it by posting questions and getting immediate response from your fellow aspirants as well as our experts at Testbook!