The Importance of Form in Skinner’s Analysis of Verbal Behavior and a Further Step

Abstract

A series of quotes from B. F. Skinner illustrates the importance of form in his analysis of verbal behavior. In that analysis, form plays an important part in contingency control. Form and function complement each other. Function, the array of variables that control a verbal utterance, dictates the meaning of a specified form; form, as stipulated by a verbal community, indicates that meaning. The mediational actions that shape verbal utterances do not necessarily encounter their controlling variables. These are inferred from the form of the verbal utterance. Form carries the burden of implied meaning and underscores the importance of the verbal community in the expression of all the forms of language. Skinner's analysis of verbal behavior and the importance of form within that analysis provides the foundation by which to investigate language. But a further step needs to be undertaken to examine and to explain the abstractions of language as an outcome of action at an aggregate level.

Adquisición de la precisión del habla de oraciones en niños con implante coclear

“…Os participantes alcançaram precisão em todas as porções dessa sentença em comparação com as demais. Essa diferença pode estar relacionada ao fato de que alguns sons da fala são mais difíceis de pronunciar, por requererem maior controle da fala e experiência com as convenções e práticas linguísticas (Cristófaro--Silva, 2010); logo, a complexidade do responder vocal (topografia) pode interferir na precisão da fala (produto) e reduzir o alcance sobre a audiência (função) (Skinner, 1957;Vargas, 2013). Os participantes tiveram mais precisão nas palavras com função de sujeito (/Beto/, / Juca/ e /Dudu/), no verbo /rala/ e no objeto (/limão/), constituídas de sílabas regulares ou com pouca dificuldade fonética.…”

Sociocultural Perspective on Autism Intervention

“…The different forms include verbal and nonverbal behaviors of individuals and agencies or structures at the institutional level that control contingencies. For example, all verbal relations are considered operants with different verbal forms controlled by consequences, all of which are unique to different cultural communities [10,20,22]. A verbal community shapes speaker and listener behavior by teaching specific and shared verbal forms and their consequent behavior through group practices [10,20].…”

“…However, a child from a culture that emphasize social hierarchy and respect toward authority figures and elders may need to be further trained on how to properly hand the apple to an authority figure or elder with two hands and a posture for respect to be considered mastered the fluency. As Vargas [22] has noted, language does not exist in static symbolic forms but rather in dynamic action forms including utterances, writings, and bodily gestures which carry with them implicit meanings that are not directly communicated. Skinner [20] also emphasized that verbal behavior is not restricted to any particular mode of behavior but any behavior reinforced through mediation of other people (speaker) and can include any movement capable of affecting another organism.…”

O Ensino de Leitura em Bloomfield e na Análise do Comportamento

“…Os autoclíticos correspondem, em muitos aspectos, àquilo que os linguistas estudam no contexto da gramática e sintaxe (Skinner, 1957(Skinner, /1992. é reforçada (Skinner, 1957(Skinner, /1992Vargas, 2013). As contingências educacionais de reforço estão especialmente voltadas para estabelecer um adequado controle de estímulos e para refinar a forma dos operantes verbais (Skinner, 1957(Skinner, /1992.…”