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Section 9
Thinking and Language
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| concept | mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, people, etc. |
| prototype | an ideal model used as a prime example of a particular concept |
| algorithm | set of steps that if followed correctly will eventually solve a problem by generating all possible solutions |
| heuristic | strategy or simple rule that does not guarantee a solution to a problem but offers a likely shortcut to the solution |
| syntax | system of grammatical rules in a language |
| semantics | what words are supposed to mean in a language (dictionary definitions) |
| pragmatics | common usage of words and phrases (slang, figures of speech) |
| language acquisition device | Noam Chomsky- innate mechanism that enables a child to analyze language and extract the basic rules of grammar |
| receptive language | understanding words |
| expressive language | speaking words |
| fast mapping | rapid informal vocabulary acquisition |
| syntactic bootstrapping | rapid informal grammar acquisition |
| expansions | adult responses that elaborate on child's simple speech to create full sentences |
| recasts | adult responses that restructure child's speech into grammatically correct form |