babbling is stage of infants' production of language following cooing, in which infants produce vowe' and consonant sounds characteristic of the language they later will speak
categorical perception is the phenomenon in speech perception in which continuously varying sounds are heard as distinct categories, and acoustically different members within a category are not distinguished as well as similarly different sounds in different categories
categorical perception is the phenomenon of perceiving stimuli in distinct categories without graded boundaries. 
child-directed speech is a characteristic form of speech that adults tend to use when speaking with infants and young children, which usually in-valves a higher pitch, exaggerated raising and lowering of pitch and volume, and relatively simple sentence constructions; generally more effective than normal speech in gaining and keeping the attention of infants and young children
coarticulation is the overlapping in speech production of neighboring phonemes
communication is the exchange of thoughts and feelings, which may include language, as well as nonverbal forms of expression, such as gestures, glances, and so on
connotation is an emotional overtone, presupposition, or other nonexplicit meaning of a word
content morpheme is a morpheme that carries the bull~ of the meaning of a word
cooing is early stage of infants' production of language, in which infants produce vowel sounds
deep structure is a level of syntactic analysis, which indicates the relationships among various surface structures by means of transformational rules
denotation is a strict dictionary definition of a word
discourse is the most comprehensive level of linguistic analysis, which encompasses language use at the level beyond the sentence, such as in conversation, in paragraphs, and so on
function morpheme is a morpheme that adds detail and nuance to the meaning of a content morpheme or that helps a content morpheme to fit a particular syntactical context
grammar is a set of rules that prescribe all the acceptable utterances of a language. a grammar consists of syntax, semantics, and phonology. 
grammar is the study of language in terms of regular patterns that relate to the functions and relationships of words in a sentence is extending as broadly as the level of discourse and as narrowly as the pronunciation and meaning of individual words
hypothesis testing is a view of language acquisition, which asserts that children acquire language by mentally forming tentative assumptions regarding language and then testing these assumptions in the environment, using several operating principles for generating and testing their assumptions
language is the use of an organized means of combining words in order to communicate
language universals are properties that all natural languages satisfy. 
language-acquisition device (LAD) is the hypothetical construct of an innate human predisposition to acquire language; not yet identified as a specific physiological structure or function
lexicon is the entire set of morphemes in a given language or in a given person's linguistic repertoire
morpheme is the smallest unit of single or combined sounds that denotes meaning within a given language
noun phrase is the part of a sentence that contains at least one noun (often the subject of the sentence) and includes all relevant descriptors of the noun
noun phrase is a syntactic structure that often serves as a subject of a sentence but that may also act as an object of a verb phrase or of a prepositional phrase
overextension error is overapplication of the meaning of a given word to more things, ideas, and situations than is appropriate for the denotation and the defining features of the word; usually made by children or other persons who have not yet acquired a broad vocabulary; generally no longer typifies language production once the vocabulary of the language user has expanded to comprise enough words to describe the meanings that the individual intends to convey
overregularization is an error that commonly occurs during language acquisition, in which the novice language user has gained an understanding of how a language usually works and then overapplies the general rules of the language to the exceptional cases for which the rule does not apply
phoneme is smallest unit of speech sound that can be used to distinguish one meaningful utterance from another in a given language
phoneme restoration effect is the tendency to hear phonemes that make sense in the speech context even if no phoneme occurred. 
phonemes are the basic units of speech that make up words. 
phrase structure is the hierarchical organization of a sentence into a set of units called phrases, sometimes represented as a tree structure. 
phrase-structure grammar is a form of syntactical analysis, which decomposes sentences in terms of the superficial sequence of words in sentences
psycholinguistics is study of language as it interacts with the human mind
semantics are the grammatical rules for assigning meaning to a sentence. 
semantics is the study of meanings in language, which involves both denotation and connotation
surface structure is a level of syntactic analysis, which indicates just the specific syntactical sequence of words in a sentence
syntax is a level of linguistic analysis, which centers on the patterns by which users of a particular language put words together at the level of the sentence
syntax is the grammatical rules for specifying correct word order and inflectional structure in a sentence. 
telegraphic speech is rudimentary syntactical communications of two words or more, which are characteristic of very early language acquisition, and which seem more like telegrams than like conversation because function morphemes are usually omitted
thematic roles are the semantic relationships among words in a sentence, particularly in regard to how the words relate to the verb; roles may include agents, patients, beneficiaries, locations, sources, goals, instruments, and so on
transformation is a linguistic rule that moves a term from one part of a sentence to another part. 
transformational grammar is a form of syntactical analysis that centers on transformational rules that guide the relationships among various surface structures of phrases
verb phrase is one of the two key parts of a statement (also termed a predicate); the part of a sentence that tells something about the subject of the sentence, usually including a verb and whatever the verb acts on, but sometimes including a linking verb (e.g., is, are) and a descriptor
verbal comprehension is the ability to understand written and spoken linguistic input, such as words, sentences, and paragraphs
verbal fluency is the ability to produce written and spoken linguistic output, such as words, sentences, and paragraphs
vocabulary is a repertoire of words, formed by combining morphemes