Child language development

what are the stages of lang. development

pre-verbal, holophrastic, two word stage, telegraphic, post telegraphic

when is the pre-verbal stage// features

• 0 to 12 months

• 0-4 months- crying, grunting, reflex noises

• 3-6 months- babbling, open mouthed vowel sounds

• 9-12 months- proto word, babbling that can match words

when is the holophrastic stage/ features

• 12 to 18 months

• single words

when is the two word stage/ features

• 18 to 24 months

• two word combinations

• basic understanding of syntax

when is the telegraphic stage/ features

• 2 to 3 years

• three or more word combinations

• omit smaller words often like ‘the’

when is the post telegraphic stage/ features

• 3+ years

• more complex and grammatically complete sentences

what are inflections

modification of a word in order to change its tense or number

what are affixes

prefixes, suffixes

what is overgeneralisation

applying rules to irregular words

what is the WUG test

• proposed by Jean Berko Gleason in 1958

• children can apply affixes and grammar rules to unfamiliar words

• this is a wug, this is two wugs

• 3 or 4 years olds could internalise grammatical structures

what is a morpheme

smallest unit of meaning that makes up a word e.g. an in man

what is a bound morpheme

needs to be added to another morpheme to make sense

what is a free morpheme

can make sense alone

what does poverty of the stimulus mean

the linguistic input children receive is insufficient to explain their understanding of language so suggests an innateness

what is a virtuous error an example of

U-shaped cognitive development, a child learns the correct behaviour and then abandons it to then finally return to the correct form

what is derivational morphology

the process of forming new words or changing the meaning by adding affixes

what is a virtuous error

an error that shows a child is trying to apply the correct grammar

what did ursula bellugi propose about pronouns

• 3 stages of pronoun acquisition

• stage 1- Child uses their own name e.g. 'Tom play'

• Stage 2- Child recognises I/me pronouns and that they are used in different places e.g. 'I cook food' 'Me hate that'

• Stage 3- Child uses them according to subject/object position in the sentence e.g. 'I play with the toy'

what did ursula bellugi propose about negatives

• 3 types of negative formation

• 1- adding negatives such as ‘no’ or ‘not’ to the beginning of an utterance

• 2- uses the negative within the body of an utterance

• 3- able to attach negatives to the auxiliary verb or copula verb

what are pragmatics

the unwritten rules of conversation

examples of pragmatics

• grice’s maxims

• politeness

• turn taking

• implicature

what are grice’s maxims

maxims of quantity, quality, relation and manner

what is the place of articulation

refers to the place in the mouth where the sound originates​

what is the manner of articulation

refers to the way in which the sound is produced.​

what is a fricative

sounds we make with a continuous flow of air​

what are plosives

sounds we make by cutting off the air flow through the mouth​

what are nasals

sounds we make using the nose​

what are affricates

sounds we make using a plosive then a fricative​

what is a lateral/liquid

e.g. ‘I’

what are approximants

consonants that are formed in a similar way to vowels​

what are dipthongs

involve your tongue moving position as you say the vowel, whereas monophthongs do not​

what is deletion

• deletion of unstressed syllables

• omitting final consonants

• e.g banana to anana

what is substitution

• replacing one sounds with another

• e.g rabbit to wabbit

what is addition

• adding extra vowels

  • e.g. dog to doggie

what is assimilation

• changing one sound to match another in a word

• dog to gog

what is reduplication

• repeating whole syllables

• e.g. dada for daddy

what is a consonant cluster reduction

reducing clusters to simpler sounds

what is the ‘fis’ phenomenon

• berko and brown studies how children failed to pronounce certain sounds but could recognise when someone else got them wrong

• children couldn’t say fish and instead said ‘fis’ but noticed when an adult got it wrong

• theory- ‘perception of phonemes occurs earlier than the ability of the child to produce them’

what is CDS

• child directed speech

• shows the importance of what adults say

who supported the idea of CDS and why

• Bruner, a social interactionist believed social interaction and support from adults is key to development

what is the LASS and who came up with it

• language acquisition support system

• believes the LAD cannot function alone and every LAD needs a LASS

• LASS describes the range of interactive precursors which provide a scaffolding environment to structure a child’s utterances

features of CDS

• intonantion to draw attention to a particular morpheme

• use of hypernyms

• paralinguistic features such as clapping

• tag questions

• repetition to reinforce vocab

what is a hypernym

a broader category of words

what did sinclair and coulthard propose

initiation, response, feedback

what study did Ochs and Schiefellin propose

• in 1984 they compared Kaluli mothers of Papua New Guinea

• found that they ‘do not address their infants directly’

• However, the children’s language development was normal in later life

what study was completed based on socio-economic status

• Hart and Risley (2003)

• High SES- 11,000 utterances but low SES- 700 utterances

• there is a 30 million word gap with children from a professional family acquired 45 million words but a welfare family only 13 million

what are criticisms of Hart and Risley’s studies

• based on 42 families

• racially biased- poor were black and richer were white

• difference is more likely 4 million

• concept of a ‘gap’ can be seen as biased

what did Hoff conclude

• study completed in 1991

• Low SES mothers use speech to direct behaviour but high SES use speech to elicit conversations

example of a social interactionist and his conclusions

• vygotsky (1934)

• language development is linked to social interaction

• ZPD- zone of proximal development, highlights importance of guided learning for optimal development

• highlights need for a ‘more knowledgeable other’

who was a cognitive theorist/ his conclusions

• piaget (1926)

• a child cannot linguistically articulate concepts they do not understand

• example- comparing objects to size

• language is just one aspect of a child’s overall intellectual development

what are piaget’s stages of development

• sensorimotor

• preoperational

• concrete operational

• formal operational

what did Michael Halliday propose

• language develops according to our developing needs

• proposed language functions- imaginative, regulatory, interactional, informative

what is object permanence

• an object which moves out of sight ceases to exist

• at the age of 18 months- an object can exist independently

limitations of piaget’s theory

• during the first year to 18 months it becomes harder to find links between language and intellect

• syntax does not appear to rely on intellectual growth

limitations of interactionist theories

• useful in correcting chomsky’s early position

• children in all cultures pass through the same stages in acquiring language and there are cultures where adults do not adopt special ways of talking to children

behaviourist theorist and conclusions

• Skinner- children imitate adults and correct utterances are reinforced when they get what they want or are praised

• skinner suggests that a child imitates the language of their parents or carers

• he noticed successful attempts were rewarded through positive reinforcement

• undesirable behaviour was punished or not rewarded- negative reinforcement where the child would forget the unsuccessful words

limitations of Skinner’s theory

• language is based on a set structure of rules which could not be worked out by simply imitating individual utterances

• vast majority of children go through the same stages of developmental milestones

• evidence for a critical period- children who have not acquired language by age 7 will never entirely catch up

what was the genie c/s

• in 1970 at age 13 she had been severely neglected, brought up in isolation and deprived of normal human control

• her carers tried to speak to her to rehabilitate

• however, she never became a fluent speaker and failed to acquire the grammatical competence of a five year old

who proposed the theory of innateness/ conclusions made

• chomsky

• children must have an inborn faculty for language acquisition

• children’s brains contains a LAD which holds universal grammar

• means the ability to acquire language is genetic and controlled by the LAD

what conclusions were made in the universal grammar C/S

• singleton and newport (2004)

• study of simon who learned ASL as his first language despite his parents learning it as their second and had inconsistent input towards them

limitations of innateness theory

• chomsky’s work on language was theoretical, he did not study real children

• theory relies on children being exposed to language but does not take into account of the interaction between children and their carers

what were professor rescorla’s findings

• 1980

• identified 3 types of overextension- categorical, analogical and mismatch statements

what happens during early stages of lexical development

• first words between 12 and 18 months which are mainly nouns but also verb and adjectives

• Nelson’s categories (1973) identified naming, action, describing and social words

• 18 to 24 months- vocab grows to 200 words

what is overextension

using a word too broadly e.g dog = animals

what is underextension

using a word too narrowly e.g dog = only a family pet

stages of growth

• 2-5 years- vocab grows to 2000 words with abstract concepts

• age 5+ - learns idioms, metaphors

what are influences of lexical/ semantic development

• caregiver input

• environment- exposure to varied books

• culture- words reflect societal priorities

who coined the stages of lexical development

• Jean Aitchinson’s 3 stages of lexical development

  1. labelling- linking sounds to objects

  2. packaging- exploring what the label can apply to

  3. network building- making connections between words

what does Pinker argue

• humans learn language primarily through instinct, guided by human instruction that develops naturally

• human capacity for language is ‘mentalese’

what was the De Villiers study

• investigate how deaf children acquire language (grammar/syntax)

• Studied deaf children using American Sign Language (ASL).

• Compared those exposed to ASL from birth vs. those with delayed exposure.

• Compared to hearing children using spoken English.

what conclusions were made from the de Villiers study

• Supports interactionist theory – social interaction is crucial.

• Early exposure to a complete language (signed or spoken) is essential for proper language development.