UBC psychology prof receives prestigious Canada Council for the Arts’ Killam Prize
Posted May 12, 2018 7:14 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – A psychology professor at UBC is one of five academics across the country being awarded with the prestigious Killam Prize by the Canada Council for the Arts.
Doctor Janet Werker is being recognized for her work in understanding the relationship between children and language–a relationship she says begins in utero.
“It’s not when they speak their first words, you know, ‘Ma-ma’ and ‘Da-da’ or whatever that language acquisition begins. There’s been a long process of listening to others around them speak, particularly caregivers,” she says.
“Enjoy your kids, talk to them, start talking to them as soon as they’re born, they really like it, and they really learn from it.”
Werker also looks at how that process unfolds in homes where more than one language is spoken.
“Before they can speak their first words, they have to become familiar with the rhythm and the melody and the cadence, really, of speech, with the individual sounds and all that happens over a very long process.”
She doesn’t quite yet know how she will use her $100,000 Killam Prize, but figures it will benefit her research in one way or another.
