language

our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning

phoneme

in language, the smallest distinctive sound unit

morpheme

in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix)

grammar

in a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others

babbling stage

beginning at about 4 months, the stage of speech development in which the infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language

one-word stage

the stage in speech development, from about age 1 to 2, during which a child speaks mostly in single words

two-word stage

beginning about age 2, the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly two-word statements

telegraphic speech

early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram- "go car"- using mostly nouns and verbs

aphasia

impairment to language, usually caused by left hemisphere damage either to Broca's area (impairing speaking) or to Wernicke's area (impairing understanding)

Broca's area

controls language expression- an area of the frontal lobe, usually in the left hemisphere, that directs the muscle movements involved in speech

Wernicke's area

controls language reception- a brain area involved in language comprehension and expression; usually in the left temporal lobe

linguistic determinism

Whorf's hypothesis that language determines the way we think