Human Development And Development Of Human Language

It is apparent that in our world, humans are the only species to have developed language to such a great length. However it is still unknown why, and of what cause, we created and learn language the way we do that language amongst humans is universal despite the 7,000 different languages spoken.

A foundational aspect of all children’s learning is oral language. Communication orally entails the ability to include four components of spoken language to incorporate, and build on, a child’s vocabulary and grammar. These four elements consist of the phonological, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic components. Development of a child’s language skills should form together resulting in literacy success later in life. In order to master the teaching of oral language, three strategies are used. These include, the use of open –ended questions, talking about sophisticated words and incorporating sociodramatic play in to lessons, which in the end, enhance expressive and receptive oral language skills. Fellowes & Oakley and numerous other literature sources explore the significance of oral language in the child’s development.

Nature and nurture both play a significant role in language development. Language development refers to how children understand, organise, speak and use words in order to communicate at an effective, age-appropriate level (Karen Kearns, 2013, P.105). For centuries, theorists have been debating the roles of nature versus nurture. Although, each child’s language will develop at their own pace and there will be many individual differences based on culture, ethnicity, health and ability. As well as physical, social, emotional and cognitive development in which will contribute to a child’s language development.

=> The recent discovery of ‘mirror neurons’ suggests that rather than vocal communication having evolved directly, the evolution of human speech may have been derived from a communication system of manual gestures.

How do both nature and nurture interact in the promotion of language development in young children?

With a very young child, they may not coo or babble during infancy, produce first words late and lack some sounds, only produce a few different consonant and vowel sounds, have difficulty combining sounds, avoid using difficult sounds by replacing or deleting them, and experience eating problems. In older children, common signs are that they can comprehend language much easier than they can produce it, struggle more with language production when anxious, are hard to understand, sound choppy and monotonous, seem to grope to produce certain sounds, and have difficulty imitating speech, though they are more fluid and clear with imitation than with spontaneous production. At any age, a child may portray delayed language development, issues with expressive language, fine motor impairments, hypersensitivity, hyposensitivity, and difficulty learning to write (“Childhood Apraxia,” 2011). Other reported possible symptoms of CAS include extended reliance on nonverbal communication and omission of consonant sounds in the initial and final positions of words (“Apraxia: Symptoms, Causes,” n.d.).

The first participant, Karl, was hospitalized for six months after birth due to prematurity. He used a nasal oxygen tube as well as a feeding tube; left vocal fold paralysis was the result causing him to sound raspy. He showed age-appropriate receptive vocabulary, but his expressive vocabulary was mildly delayed. Primary means of communication was manual sign.

Linguistic discourse arises from the multiple areas: from studies of primate social behavior, from the comparison of existing human languages, from research on the development of language in children, from studies of genetic and anatomical structures, from cross-cultural studies, from the observation of earning and forming lexicon, and from the studies of the communication of bees, birds, and mammals (cit). Initially, though, language, spoken or signed, was a gestural system that evolved from so-called “mirror system” in the primate brain. Mirror system is a mechanism that allows to equate self actions with actions of others; mirror system's neurons are part of dorsal visual system (citation). The dorsal pathway projects visual information

Neanderthals, known as Homo neanderthalensis and modern humans not only are known to share similar DNA, but they also share a similar language. The FOXP2 gene is the first gene to be involved in the formation of speech and language (Lai et al., 2001). The FOXP2 gene was initially recognized as the genetic factor of a speech disorder in the KE family, who had developmental verbal dyspraxia (Feuk et al., 2006). This sequence variant is a G to T substitution, not commonly associated with ancient DNA damage, therefore likely represents a genuine allele present in the Neanderthals. The mutations in the gene sequence lead to problems with speech, oral and facial muscle control in modern humans, the FOXP2 gene is on a haplotype that is subject to intense selective pressures. Neanderthals and modern

FOXP2 gene is required for proper development of speech and language (Spiteri et al., 2007) and it is located on chromosome 7 that expressed in foetal and adult brain in basal ganglia and inferior frontal cortex that affecting motor control and neural structures (Lai et al., 2003).

To prove the thought that stuttering was caused by being born with the condition was wrong, and that stuttering was caused ‘not in the child’s mouth, but in the parent’s ear’; the parent’s effort to help the child avoid what the parent had labelled as stuttering.

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH, 2013), Apert syndrome is a genetic disease that results in the premature fusion of the sutures between the bones of the skull (craniosynostosis), which causes an abnormally shaped head and face. Apert syndrome accounts for approximately 4.5% of all craniosynostosis syndromes, with an estimated birth prevalence of 1:64,500 (Giancotti et al., 2014, p. 1445). Because children with Apert syndrome exhibit a variety of craniofacial and central nervous system anomalies, many of them are likely to demonstrate severe speech and language difficulties. As a future speech-language pathologist, it is important to be aware of some of the major factors contributing to these children’s speech and language problems in order to better serve them and their families. Thus, in this paper, I will closely examine the causes, signs and symptoms, and possible treatment options for Apert syndrome, as well as explore some of the speech, language, hearing, and other related problems often associated with it.

Everyday we are developing no matter our age, but it is how we develop children that will tell a tremendous amount an individual. How a child developments is fundamentally important at a young age as it affects all aspect of their lives once the child matures. Throughout the class, we looked at many theorists during the course of the semester as well as looked at many articles pertaining to the concepts of the development of children. The theorists and articles opened up our minds to a world that we have never seen before and concepts about child development we have never been taught but have seen in the practical work we do every week. What makes humans unique is the ability that we have to interpret the language being used, as Lois Bloom

The claim, humans are the only animal that can acquire language has been the subject of much debate as scientists have investigated language use by non-human species. Researchers have taught apes, monkeys, parrots and wild children with various systems of human-like communication. Thus, one might ask, what is human language? According to Ulla Hedeager, A universally accepted definition of language or the criteria for its use does not exist. This is one of the reasons for the disagreement among scientists about whether non-human species can use a language. In nature, researchers find numerous types of communication systems, several of which appear to be unique to their possessors, and one of them is the language of the human species. Basically, the purpose of communication is the preservation, growth, and development of the species (Smith and Miller 1968:265). The ability to exchange information is shared by all communication systems, and a number of non-human systems share some features of human language. The fundamental difference between human and non-human communication is that animals are believed to react instinctively, in a stereotyped and predictable way. Generally, human behavior is under the voluntary control,

Perhaps the foundational complex trait behind our uniqueness, human language is a phenotype embedded in the human condition. The interplay between the genetic architecture that capacitates language and the environments that develop this capacity has endowed humanity with unprecedented cognitive ability. The FOXP2 gene, a hallmark of our language genotype, and its environmental mechanisms are illuminating this integral phenotype.