full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Patricia Kuhl: The linguistic genius of babies

Unscramble the Blue Letters


(lgethaur)

And you'll see on the vertical your skill at acquiring a second language. The babies and children are guesneis until they turn seven, and then there's a systematic decline. After puberty, we fall off the map. No scientists dispute this cuvre, but laboratories all over the world are trying to figure out why it works this way.

Work in my lab is focused on the first critical period in development, and that is the period in which babies try to master which sounds are used in their lnagguae. We think, by studying how the sounds are learned, we'll have a model for the rest of language, and perhaps for critical periods that may eixst in cdihlohod for social, emotional and cognitive development. So we've been studying the babies using a technique that we're using all over the wrold and the sdonus of all laugngeas. The baby sits on a parent's lap, and we train them to turn their heads when a sunod changes — like from "ah" to "ee." If they do so at the appropriate time, the black box lights up and a panda bear pounds a drum. A six-monther adores the task.

Open Cloze


(________)

And you'll see on the vertical your skill at acquiring a second language. The babies and children are ________ until they turn seven, and then there's a systematic decline. After puberty, we fall off the map. No scientists dispute this _____, but laboratories all over the world are trying to figure out why it works this way.

Work in my lab is focused on the first critical period in development, and that is the period in which babies try to master which sounds are used in their ________. We think, by studying how the sounds are learned, we'll have a model for the rest of language, and perhaps for critical periods that may _____ in _________ for social, emotional and cognitive development. So we've been studying the babies using a technique that we're using all over the _____ and the ______ of all _________. The baby sits on a parent's lap, and we train them to turn their heads when a _____ changes — like from "ah" to "ee." If they do so at the appropriate time, the black box lights up and a panda bear pounds a drum. A six-monther adores the task.

Solution


  1. sounds
  2. languages
  3. curve
  4. sound
  5. world
  6. laughter
  7. childhood
  8. language
  9. exist
  10. geniuses

Original Text


(Laughter)

And you'll see on the vertical your skill at acquiring a second language. The babies and children are geniuses until they turn seven, and then there's a systematic decline. After puberty, we fall off the map. No scientists dispute this curve, but laboratories all over the world are trying to figure out why it works this way.

Work in my lab is focused on the first critical period in development, and that is the period in which babies try to master which sounds are used in their language. We think, by studying how the sounds are learned, we'll have a model for the rest of language, and perhaps for critical periods that may exist in childhood for social, emotional and cognitive development. So we've been studying the babies using a technique that we're using all over the world and the sounds of all languages. The baby sits on a parent's lap, and we train them to turn their heads when a sound changes — like from "ah" to "ee." If they do so at the appropriate time, the black box lights up and a panda bear pounds a drum. A six-monther adores the task.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
critical period 5
totally equivalent 2
american babies 2
learning whatsoever 2


Important Words


  1. acquiring
  2. adores
  3. babies
  4. baby
  5. bear
  6. black
  7. box
  8. childhood
  9. children
  10. cognitive
  11. critical
  12. curve
  13. decline
  14. development
  15. dispute
  16. drum
  17. emotional
  18. exist
  19. fall
  20. figure
  21. focused
  22. geniuses
  23. heads
  24. lab
  25. laboratories
  26. language
  27. languages
  28. lap
  29. laughter
  30. learned
  31. lights
  32. map
  33. master
  34. model
  35. panda
  36. period
  37. periods
  38. pounds
  39. puberty
  40. rest
  41. scientists
  42. sits
  43. skill
  44. social
  45. sound
  46. sounds
  47. studying
  48. systematic
  49. task
  50. technique
  51. time
  52. train
  53. turn
  54. vertical
  55. work
  56. works
  57. world