MIT Scientist Captures 90,000 Hours of Video of His Son's First Words

kodorakun Member

From: Seattle Registered: 2008-10-15 Posts: 276 Website

http://www.fastcompany.com/1733627/mit- … s-on-video

Has anyone else caught this article? It's totally awesome and all about language acquisition. Tons to talk about!

As a random discussion topic: This article seems to support the claim that your language acquisition is dependent on how much the people in your environment want you to learn the language, which is a thought I've held for a while. Adults speak to you in like an adult, not a kid -- they hardly repeat words, slow down, harp on topics or whatever just for the sake of your language learning. Parents, however, want to expedite their child's language acquisition as rapidly as possible so they do just this. Any thoughts?

Blahah Member

From: Cambridge, UK Registered: 2008-07-15 Posts: 715 Website

I think this has been posted here before, but it is very cool. It was really interesting to see the videos where the kid repeats particular sounds in a specific context, and that sound later develops into a word. It suggests the child has a concept that he's trying to communicate from a very young age (even if that concept is just 'water), but lacks the physical control of his vocal muscles to make the requisite sounds. It puts the babbling of my 6-month-old niece, who is just learning to exercise her vocal chords, into context. Perhaps she's actually trying to tell me something important?

kodorakun Member

From: Seattle Registered: 2008-10-15 Posts: 276 Website

Yeah, precisely! It's pretty neat to think that perhaps children's conceptual development is pretty rapid and identifying objects is learned quickly but the physical limits make expression difficult.

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