Suprasegmentals and Paralanguage: Why are they important?

I consider suprasegmentals and paralanguage to be important because:

1. They are vital parts of our communication in our native language.  Think about the last few misunderstandings you have had with a close friend or family member.  Maybe every once in a while you misunderstood one of the words he or she says but most likely you have more often mis-assumed the meaning of the suprasegmentals and paralanguage used by that person.  
2. They are the first aspects of language that we pick up as young children.  Suprasegmentals and paralanguage are sometimes even referred to as pre-language because they are the place we start in our first language learning process.  Have you ever noticed the impressive intonation skills of a young child's babble?  Or have you ever met a young child who can babble a story with a surprising ending, or a joke with a punch-line? 

This may not seem like good news for the language learner since suprasegmentals and paralanguage often receive very little attention in the second language classroom.  Yet, as second language learners master other aspects of speech such as pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary the risk of misunderstandings due to incorrect use of suprasegmentals will increase.

Tomorrow I will consider some ways to learn and improve your understanding and use of second language suprasegmentals and paralanguage.

Suprasegmentals and Paralanguage: What are they?

Supra is a prefix with Latin origin that means above, over, on top, greater than, or transcending.

Segmentals are the parts of speech that can be cleanly separated from one another, mainly the phones themselves.

Suprasegmentals could be simply defined as the aspects of language that transcend the segmental; the ingredients of communication that overlay our words such as: tone, intonation, and sometimes nasalization, vowel length and aspiration.

I think as the study of discourse is gaining attention in linguistic circles other aspects of communication are rising to the attention of language analysts, teachers and learners such as: facial expression, gestures, pauses, and expressive utterances.  These along with intonation are often referred to as paralanguage.

Tomorrow I will explore reasons why suprasegmentals and paralanguage deserve significant attention in language learning.

Does Your Language Shape How You Think?

This article, by Guy Deutscher, critique's Whorf's theory that our minds our "imprisoned" by our native language and yet it sheds light on how our native language may influence which aspects of life are most prominent in our thoughts.

Deutscher's take that language influences our thought processes (or worldview, you might say), is further support that language learning must be world learning.  And it is good motivation to learn more than one "world" so to speak.

Might the reverse of Deutscher's claim be just as true?  That our worldview influences the development of our language?  Maybe your comments will influence a future post of mine on this.  What are your thoughts?

Total Physical Response

Total Physical Response (TPR) is a second language learning method that was developed by James Asher, which corresponds to the natural manner in which we learn our first languages.

SIL's website outlines his approach very well.  Here are some of the highlights:

• Second language learning is parallel to first language learning and should reflect the same naturalistic processes
• Listening should develop before speaking
• Children respond physically to spoken language, and adult learners learn better if they do that too
• Once listening comprehension has been developed, speech devlops naturally and effortlessly out of it.
• Adults should use right-brain motor activities, while the left hemisphere watches and learns
• Delaying speech reduces stress.

Speech-Led vs. Comprehension-Led: Part 2

Comprehension-led approaches to language instruction are much harder to pull off in a classroom because they rely on direct interaction between the native-speaker and the teacher.  Therefore, the ideal ratio is one-to-one as in the language nurturing relationship between an infant and parent.

Infants learn language in a comprehension-led approach.  From infancy through to adulthood, a person can always understand more than he can say in his native language.  (Caroline Bowen posted a very helpful article on the stages of childhood language development called Ages and Stages).  Our receptive vocabularies should exceed our expressive vocabularies in order for proper and fluent language interaction to occur.

Why shouldn't it be similar when we learn languages as adults?  Why do we tend to treat adult language acquisition differently than native language acquisition?

Here is one possible answer that came to my mind:

We believe children are inherently better at learning languages than adults, so we don't expect the same results from adults.  Therefore, when adults don't speak a second language with ease we don't think to blame it on the approach.

Speech-Led vs. Comprehension-Led

In my informal observation and experience of foreign language learning in classrooms, it seems to me that speech-led approaches to language instruction are far more popular than comprehension-led.

Speech-led approaches - those approaches to language learning that involve dialogue memorization, vocabulary list memorization, repeating after a teacher, or approaches such as the LAMP method which takes a less formal and more interactive approach to language learning.  Many of these approaches have their roots in audio-lingualism which was birthed out of behaviorist psychology.

Tomorrow, I will post about comprehension-led approaches.

When is a Language "Learned"

At what point would you consider a person has learned his first language?

Zone of Proximal Development Part 4: Participants

An infant's Zone of Proximal Development would probably include such participants as his mother and father, extended family members, and any other caretakers.  Inclusion in an infant's ZPD would also depend on the adults' level and intention of direct communication with the infant.  At the earliest stages of language learning in an infant's life, he is only able to participate well in the realm of direct interaction.  He is not participating in the language that goes on around him, but rather only that language which includes him.

This does not mean he is not benefiting from the language that is going on around him.  For instance, he benefits phonetically and phonologically from the background noise of his mother tongue, meaning he is sub-consciously gaining an understanding for the sound system of the language.

Zone of Proximal Development Part 3: Vocabulary

An infant's ZPD might include comprehension of vocabulary like 'milk, juice, cracker, water, and night-night.'  When the parent says these words directly to the infant, the infant can participate in the communication by responding with physical gestures.

For example, we have all seen a pre-verbal child throw a fit about wanting something that he can't express and his mother says "do you want milk?" - the fit continues; "do you want water?" - the fit continues; "do you want juice?" - the child quiets down and nods his head.  The child has just participated in the communication process and shown obvious ability to understand his parent.

The opposite example also illustrates this well.  The example of a pre-verbal child playing contently after dinner until his father says, "okay, its time to go night-night," and the child begins to cry.  Again, he has proven that the word 'night-night' is within his ZPD even though he has yet to verbalize the words.

Zone of Proximal Development Part 2

The Language Zone of Proximal Development grows in two ways:

1. Vocabulary
2. Participants

I will go into more detail on each of these in the next few posts.

Zone of Proximal Development Part 1

The Zone of Proximal Development refers to the realm of an activity (in our case language and culture) in which a learner can function (or participate) well.

What would be an infant's Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) for language acquisition?  What about for music?  Literacy?  Eating?  Motor Skills?  Etc.

I will be giving more details concerning ZPD, as it relates to language development, in the next few posts. Stay Tuned.

Is Language Learning Natural or Academic?

Natural does not equal easy.  And academic does not always equal thorough.  What are your thoughts on which attitude we should use to approach language and culture learning?