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Autism
A syndrome characterized by disordered social interactions and problems with language and communication
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Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
A cluster of five related syndromes that vary in terms of language skill deficits, children's IQ, and the appearance and course of symptoms
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Babbling
Patterned but meaningless sequences of reduplicated sounds, such as strings of syllables
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Constrained Statistical Learning Framework
The ability to extract recurring patterns from repeated experience with stimuli
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Grammar
Systems of rules for combining words or signs
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Holophrase
Infants' first one-word utterances that name objects but also communicate other meanings
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Infant-Directed Speech
Modifications that adults make when speaking (or signing) to infants, producing language that is shorter, more repetitive, higher-pitched, more variable in pitch, and less semantically and grammatically complex than language addressed to adults
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Joint Attention
Nonverbal adjustments in posture, gaze, and head orientation that enable infant-adult dyads to focus their attention together on objects or events
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Lexical Contrast
The ability to learn a new word's meaning by comparing it to words that are already known
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Mean Length of Utterance (MLU)
A measure of grammatical development that is based on the number of morphemes in speech
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Morphemes
Minimal meaningful units in speech, such as words, parts of words, or word endings
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Mutual Exclusivity Assumption
A constraint on learning that guides children to assume that objects will have only one name and to look for a nameless object when they hear a new word
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Overextension
A common error in which children apply grammatical morphemes to words for which a language makes an exception to the rule
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Perceptual Magnet Effect
A phenomenon in which acoustic space is altered as a result of increasing sensitivity to native language phonemes and delining sensitivity to nonnative language phonemes
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Phonemes
Linguistically meaningful phonetic categories that signal differences in words through combinations of vowels and consonants
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Phonetics
A sets of vowels and consonants that a particular language uses
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Phonology
Sound patterns of language
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Pragmatics
Using language for particular purposes in specific social contexts
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Referential Cues
Verbal and nonverbal behaviors, such as gaze, facial expression, and head orientation, that reflect an individual's attentional focus, intentions, or expectations
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Semantics
Meanings of words or signs
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Syllables
Combinations of consonants and vowels, such as baba and mama
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Taxonomic Assumption
A constraint on learning that guides children to assume that new words should be extended to objects within the same category rather than thematic associates
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Telegraphic Speech
Early two-word and multiword utterances that sound like telegrams because they lack grammatical markers and extra words, such as articles, plural endings, prepositions and auxiliary verbs
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Underextension
An error in which children apply a word only to a specific instance or fail to use it to refer to other referents for which the word would be correct
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Whole Object Assumption
A constraint on learning that guides children to assume that new words refer to whole object rather than actions, spatial location, or parts or features of objects
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