This document provides an overview of language development and theories of language. It discusses typical stages of language acquisition from birth to age 3. Definitions of key terms like language, communication, speech are presented. The biological, cognitive, and environmental/operant theories of language development are summarized. Skinner's analysis of verbal behavior as operant behavior is outlined, distinguishing it from nonverbal behavior. Examples of verbal versus nonverbal responses are given.

1. Introduction to
Language

2. Overview
 Typical Language Development
 Definitions
 Communication Disorders
 Biological Theory of Language
 Cognitive (& Current) Theory of
Language
Definitions
 Environmental Theory of Language
 Skinner’s Analysis of Verbal Behavior

3. Typical Development of Speech
and Language (Heward 2006)
 Most children follow a relatively predictable sequence in their
acquisition of speech and language
 Birth to 6 months: Communication by smiling, crying, and
babbling
 7 months to 1 year: Babbling becomes differentiated
 1 to 1.6 years: Learns to say several words
 1.6 to 2 years: Word “spurt” begins
 2 to 3 years: Talks in sentences, vocabulary grows
 3 years on: Vocabulary grows
 Knowledge of normal language development can help determine
whether a child is developing language at a slower-than-normal
rate or whether the child shows an abnormal pattern of language
development 9-3

4. Definitions (Heward 2006)
 Communication involves encoding,
transmitting, and decoding messages
Communication involves
• A message
• A sender who expresses the message
• A receiver who responds to the message
Functions of communication
• Narrating
• Explaining/informing
• Requesting
• Expressing

5. Definitions (cont.) (Heward 2006)
 Language is a formalized code that a group of people use to
communicate
 The five dimensions of language:
•Phonology-Rules determining how sounds can be
sequenced
•Morphology-Rules for the meaning of sounds (e.g., un,
pro, con)
•Syntax-Rules for a language’s grammar
•Semantics- Rules for the meaning of words
•Pragmatics-Rules for communication (prosody,
gestures, intonation)
Classification system of words: nouns, verbs,
prepositions, adjectives, adverbs, etc.

6. Definitions (cont.) (Heward 2006)
 Speech is the oral production of language
Speech sounds are the product of four
related processes:
•Respiration-Breathing that provides
power
•Phonation-Production of sound by muscle
contraction
•Resonation-Sound quality shaped by
throat
•Articulation-Formation of recognizable
speech by the mouth

7. Speech Impairments and
Language Disorders (Heward 2006)
 Types of speech impairments
 Articulation disorders
 Fluency disorders
 Voice disorders
 Language disorders
 Children who have difficulty understanding language
have a receptive language disorder
 Children who have difficulty producing language have
an expressive language disorder
 Communication differences are not disorders
 The way each of us speaks is the result of a complex

8. Characteristics
 Speech sound errors
 Distortions
 Substitutions
 Omissions
 Additions
 Fluency disorders
 Stuttering and cluttering are examples of fluency disorders
 Voice disorders
 A phonation disorder causes the voice to sound breathy,
hoarse, husky, or strained
 Resonance disorders are hypernasality or hyponasality
 Language impairments
 An expressive language impairment interferes with production
of language
 A receptive language impairment interferes with
understanding of language

9. 3 Theories of Language
(Sundberg, 2007)
• Linguistic theory can be classified into
three general, and often overlapping views:
Biological
Cognitive & Traditional
Environmental

10. Biological Theory of
Language (Sundberg, 2007)
 Language is a function of physiological processes
and functions
 Language is innate to humans and has little to do
with environmental variables, such as
reinforcement and stimulus control
• Proponents: Noam Chomsky, Steven Pinker
• No current applications of Chomsky or Pinker to
autism treatment

11. Cognitive & Traditional
Theory of Language (Sundberg,
2007)
 Language is controlled by internal processing systems that
accept, classify, encode, and store verbal information
• Language has less to do with environmental variables, such as
reinforcement and stimulus control
• Language is viewed as receptive and expressive, and the two are
referred to as communicative behavior that is controlled by
cognitive processors
• Proponents: Piaget, traditional speech-language pathology
• Cognitive theory, and its receptive-expressive framework
dominates the current language assessment and intervention
programs for children with autism

12.  Alfred North Whitehead (1861 - 1947), prominent British
mathematician, logician and philosopher
 Over dinner at Harvard in 1934…
 “....Whitehead... agreed that science might be successful in
accounting for human behavior provided one made an
exception of verbal behavior. Here, he insisted something
else must be at work. He brought the discussion to a close
with a friendly challenge: “Let me see you,” he said, “account
for my behavior as I sit here saying ‘No black scorpion is
falling upon this table.’” The next morning I drew up the
outline of the present study.” (Skinner, 1957, p. 457).

13. Environmental Theory of Language
(Sundberg, 2007)
 Language is learned behavior that is acquired,
extended, and maintained like any other behavior…
 Under the control of environmental contingencies
 Term “verbal behavior” was first used by Skinner in
his 1957 book Verbal Behavior
 “Verbal Behavior…will, I believe, prove to be my
most important work” (Skinner, 1978, p. 122)
• The analysis of verbal behavior involves the same
behavioral principles and concepts that make up the
analysis of nonverbal behavior. No new principles of
behavior are required.
• Chapter 1 of Verbal Behavior is entitled “A Functional
Analysis of Verbal Behavior”

14. A Functional Analysis of Language
Focuses on the Causes of the
Response (Sundberg, 2007)
Discriminative Stimulus (SD
) Response Reinforcement
Motivating Operation (MO) Punishment
Extinction

15. Skinner’s Environmental Account of
Language
(Sundberg, 2007)
• A common misconception…
• that Skinner rejects the traditional classification of language
• But it’s not the traditional classification or description of the
response he found fault with…
• It’s the failure to account for the causes or functions of the verbs,
nouns, sentences, etc.
• The traditional linguistic classification of words, sentences, and
phrases as expressive and receptive language blends important
functional distinctions among types of operant behavior, and appeals
to cognitive explanations for the causes of language behavior
• The unit of analysis Skinner proposed is the verbal operant
MO/SD
Response Consequence

16. Verbal Behavior
(Skinner, 1957)
• Definition of verbal behavior: behavior reinforced through
the mediation of other persons (who are trained to do so)
• Reinforcement is indirect
• Doesn’t mean vocal. Can include: speaking, writing,
typing, signing, crying, pointing, clapping
• Contrast with nonverbal behavior: the behavior of an
individual that has been reinforced through the direct
manipulation of the environment
• Doesn’t mean nonvocal

17. Nonverbal
Verbal
Response:
Open the
freezer door
Reinforcer:
See yummy
Tin Roof
MO:
You want some
ice cream
Response:
“Open the
freezer door”
Reinforcer:
Friend opens
door and you
see yummy Tin
Roof
MO:
You want some
ice cream

18. What is unique about language?
(Michael, 2004)
unique feature? language nonlanguage
type of response?
No
muscle rsp any muscle or gland
rsp
type of stimulation
that evokes the
response? No
any sense mode any sense mode
type of
reinforcement?
No
any type of SR
or Sr
any type of SR
or Sr
how the
response
achieves its
indirectly, only
through someone
else's behavior
by direct contact
with the
environment

19. Why didn’t Skinner use terms
everyone else already knew?
(Skinner, 1957)
• “Speech”
• Emphasizes vocal behavior
• Awkward to apply it to other topographies of verbal behavior:
• Speaking, writing, signing, finger spelling, Braille, Morse code
• Not all vocal behavior is verbal
• “Vocal verbal behavior” – behavior of vocal organs that also meets the de
• Practice!
• “Language”
• Refers to the practices of a community rather than the behavior of an
individual
• “Verbal behavior”
• “Emphasizes the individual speaker”
• “Specifies behavior shaped and maintained by mediated consequences”
• “Has the advantage of being relatively unfamiliar in traditional modes of
explanation” (p. 2)

20. Examples
Verbal Nonverbal
Vocal Asking a
question
Elicited coughing
or yawning
Nonvocal Pointing,
signing
Walking, sitting,
reaching

21. References
 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (n.d.). What is language?
What is speech? Retrieved January 12, 2008, from
http://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/language_speech.htm
 Heward, W. L. (2006). Exceptional Children: An Introduction to Special
Education (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall (ISBN 0-13-056479-
6).
 Merriam-Webster (2007-2008). Online dictionary: language. Retrieved
January 12, 2008 from http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/language
 Michael, J. (2001). Objective 3, Unit 4: Verbal behavior. In Verbal Behavior.
Class conducted at Western Michigan University Behavior Analysis Program.
 Michael, J. (2004, August). B.F. Skinner’s elementary verbal relations. In
ABA IV. Class conducted at the Pennsylvania State University Behavior
Analysis Program.
 Skinner, B.F. (1957). Verbal behavior. Acton, MA: Copley Publishing Group.
 Skinner, B. F. (1978). Reflections on behaviorism and society. Englewood
Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
 Sundberg, M.L. (2007, August). B.F. Skinner’s analysis of verbal behavior. In
ABA IV. Class conducted at the Pennsylvania State University Behavior
Analysis Program.

22. Due Wed
 Article Outline (AO): Horner et al.
(2005)
Green (2001),
Ghezzi, Williams & Carr –Chap 3
 Luisellie –Chaps 1-3