John L. Locke

Key takeaways

John L. Locke belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect John L. Locke to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of John L. Locke from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

John L. Locke is an American biolinguist who has contributed to the understanding of language development and the evolution of language. His work has focused on how language emerges in the social context of interaction between infants, children and caregivers, how speech and language disorders can shed light on the normal developmental process and vice versa, how brain and cognitive science can help illuminate language capability and learning, and on how the special life history of humans offers perspectives on why humans are so much more intensely social and vocally communicative than their primate relatives. In recent time he has authored widely accessible volumes designed for the general public on the nature of human communication and its origins.

Academic history and awards Locke has studied and worked in the United States and the United Kingdom. He received a B.A. in speech communication from Ripon College in 1963, and both an M.A. and a Ph.D. in speech pathology, audiology and speech science from Ohio University in 1965 and 1968 respectively. He went on to postdoctoral fellowships in psychology at Yale University and Oxford University in the United Kingdom (UK) from 1972 to 1974. He is currently a Professor of Language Science at Lehman College of the City University of New York. He has previously been on the faculty at the University of Illinois, the University of Maryland, Harvard University, and at the University of Sheffield, and Cambridge University in the UK. Locke's research has been funded by a wide variety of sources including the National Institutes of Health, the Axe-Houghton Foundation, the James S. McDonnell Foundation, the March of Dimes, the Cape Branch Foundation, and the Commonwealth Fund. He has held significant roles in the American Speech. Language, and Hearing Association, the Linguistic Society of America, and the Society for Research in Child Development. He has been honored as a recipient of the Science Award from Ohio University (2002) and the Faculty Recognition Award for Research and Scholarship from Lehman College (2009). He was a founding editor of the journal Applied Psycholinguistics, and has served on numerous other editorial boards. His administrative roles have included: director of the Interdepartmental Program in Linguistics, Lehman College (2003–2007), head of the department of human communication science, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, England (1995—1998), founding director and senior research scientist, Neurolinguistics Laboratory, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts (1984–1995), director and professor, Graduate Program in Communication Sciences and Disorders, MGH Institute of Health Professions (1983–1995), director and professor, Linguistic Institute, University of Maryland, College Park (1982), and director, Speech and Hearing Laboratory, Institute for Child Behavior and Development, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1969–1980).

Brief summary of works Locke is the author of two volumes that have played central roles in the understanding of child language development in a biological context, the first focused on the development of phonological capabilities, which Locke views as greatly under-emphasized in the study of the emergence of human language, and the second a far-ranging synthesis of evidence related to the acquisition of language. These works have been cited hundreds of times in the scientific literature, and have influenced works related specifically to phonological development, to language development in general, to language evolution, and to broad topics on developmental theory. He has recently authored two additional volumes directing attention to the significance of speech communication in the modern world, (reviewed by, among others, The New York Times and the Washington Times) and to eavesdropping and gender differences in understanding of human communication and the human condition. Key articles among the more than 100 that he has published include fundamental contributions to: a) the understanding of infant babbling and how it lays foundations for speech, b) various aspects of communication disorders and how they illuminate the language faculty and neurolinguistics, c) a groundbreaking contribution to the understanding of how language evolved in humanity based on a theory of parental selection, and d) the role of human life history (with Barry Bogin) in language evolution, based on the argument that the prolonged developmental period of humanity includes a childhood and an adolescence, phases that are absent in non-human primates, and both of which provide extensive and long-term opportunities for learning that lay groundwork for human language and culture. Locke's collaborator, Barry Bogin, has written widely on the origins of human childhood as a special stage of development and to related topics that led to the collaboration. Locke is a widely sought-after lecturer, and has been invited to speak on his work to audiences around the world.

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Bibliography

External links Official website

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with John L. Locke

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what John L. Locke claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to John L. Locke before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about John L. Locke ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of John L. Locke

In research: John L. Locke appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses John L. Locke in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: John L. Locke is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Lehman College faculty, Living people, Ohio University alumni, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for John L. Locke outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study John L. Locke in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what John L. Locke means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain John L. Locke out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is John L. Locke in simple terms?

John L. Locke is an American biolinguist who has contributed to the understanding of language development and the evolution of language.

Why does John L. Locke matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study John L. Locke?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on John L. Locke.