One baby, two languages: Infants and bilingual environments Infants growing up in bilingual environments must build a language system that accommodates two languages. An important task for these infants is to discriminate and differentiate their languages. Krista Byers-Heinlein will present evidence that bilingual infants typically hear their two languages in bilingual contexts: spoken by the […]
Bigger data about smaller people: Studying children’s language learning How do children acquire a language? Michael C. Frank discusses the initial steps toward answering this question, which requires data collecting that addresses the systematicity and ubiquity of language learning, and variability of learning trajectories across children. This talk is part of a series organized by […]
Statistical learning and early language development Long before infants produce their first words, they have learned a tremendous amount about their native language(s). What do infants know, and how did they learn it? Jenny Saffran will discuss the importance of tracking statistical properties of an infant’s native language(s). This talk is part of a series […]
What’s it all about: How (and how early) do infants link language and cognition? To acquire a language, infants must identify which signals are part of their language and discover how these are linked to the objects and events they encounter. Sandra Waxman will focus on the powerful contributions of both ‘nature’ and ‘nurture’ as […]
A molecular genetic perspective on speech and language The rise of molecular technologies has yielded exciting new routes for studying the biological foundations of language. In particular, researchers have begun to identify genes implicated in neurodevelopmental disorders that disrupt speech and language skills. Simon E. Fisher will illustrate how such work can provide powerful entry […]