Spoken language acquisition

before birth - kuhl

This refers to the critical period during which infants are able to recognize and respond to phonetic sounds from their native language in the womb, as researched by Patricia Kuhl, highlighting the importance of early auditory exposure.

pre-verbal

stage of language development before infants begin to speak, where they communicate through sounds and gestures.

crying

different cries for different needs, first few weeks of life.

cooing

the early stage of vocalization in infants, typically starting around 6 to 8 weeks, characterized by soft vowel sounds and playful vocal play.

babbling

the stage of language development typically occurring between 4 to 6 months, where infants produce repetitive consonant-vowel combinations, such as "ba-ba" or "da-da."

morpheme

the smallest unit of meaning in a language, which can be a word or a part of a word, such as a prefix or suffix.

phoneme

the smallest unit of sound in a language that can distinguish meaning, such as the difference between 'bat' and 'pat'.

grapheme

the smallest unit of written language, representing a phoneme or a combination of sounds, such as letters or characters.

phonemic expansion

start to produce more phonemes (exploring all different sounds)

phonemic contraction

reduce number of phonemes they use (deciphering what is needed for mother tongue)

proto-words

early forms of speech that resemble real words but are not yet fully developed, used by infants to communicate.

phonological development

depends on the individual. children learn vowels and consonants at different speeds. most children will be able to use all vowels by 2 1/2, but not confident in consonants until 6 or 7.

consonants

the earliest consonants children master tend to be plosives or nasals. last ones are normally fricatives.

Fis Phenomenon

a concept in language acquisition where children understand a word but mispronounce it, demonstrating their awareness of language rules. studied by Berkeley and brown in 1960

simplification

children making it easier to make less mistakes. A good sign as they are trying to go from babbling to making words, they are exploring language and adapting it

Kuhl 2011

at birth babies are citizens of the world, but by the age of 12 months they have become culture bound listeners. This suggests the critical importance of language in the first 12 months when children are less vocal but are receptors to the language being used around them as it will influence their phonological development.

the vocabulary spurt

Goldfield and reznick - 1992

children start out slowly but then, suddenly go into orbit with a step change in their rate of learning (word learning) Following production of the first word at about 12 months, further words added slowly. !8 months roughly child has about 50 words, but from this point here is a sudden acceleration.

the critical period

a crucial time frame for language acquisition that suggests there is an optimal window during which children are most receptive to learning languages, typically occurring before puberty. Lenneberg 1967

Genie and Isabel

two case studies that illustrate the effects of extreme social isolation on language development. Genie, who was isolated until age 13, struggled to acquire language, while Isabel, isolated until age 6, showed more ability to learn language despite her early deprivation.

first word categories

nelson - 1973

classes of objects, specific objects, actions and events, modifying things, personal and social

child directed speech

a style of speech used by adults when talking to children, characterized by exaggerated intonation, slower tempo, and simpler vocabulary, which aids language acquisition. Ferguson - 1977

three developmental processes

Aitchison - 1987

1. Labelling is when a child links a sound to an object - they are able to call something by its correct name.

2. Packaging is when a child begins to understand the range of meaning a word might have. They recognise that the word bottle can cover different shapes and sizes, but they all have a similar function.

3. Network building is when a child starts to make connections between words. E.g. hey know that big and small are opposites.

under extension

common semantic error made by children. Occurs when a word is given a narrower meaning than it has in adult language.

over extension

word is given a broader, more general meaning than it should have. Overextension occurs more frequently as it is the main semantic error made by young children.

two word stage

a developmental phase in language acquisition where children begin to combine two words to form simple sentences often conveying basic meanings and relationships.

telegraphic stage

the brief messages, use only the necessary words. Chose to omit functional words such as prepositions, auxiliary verbs and determiners.

order of inflections

Brown (1971) - between 20 and 36 months, suggested the order is as follows

1. Present participle - ing - already learning content verb

2. Plural - s - visual

3. Possessive - s - egocentricity

4. Articles - a, the

5. Past tense - ed - focus in the moment until older

6. Third person singular verb ending - s - egocentricity

7. Auxiliary verbs

virtuous errors

an error that you can still understand when made

wug test

berko - 1958

Children were shown a picture of a strange creature and told it was a wug. They were then shown a drawing of two of the creatures and told now there is another one. There are two of them, there are two… encouraging them to complete the sentence. Three to four year old children said that there were two wugs.

innateness

Chomsky’s theory of innateness - LAD, he believed it contained rules of grammar but was later developed to mean a pre disposition to acquiring language. He never investigated using actual children.

behaviourism

positive and negative reinforcement from parents allows children to learn what is right and what is wrong when it comes to language

interrogatives

Bellugi, use rising intonation around 18 months, then between ages of two and three they include wh-words in the utterances as well as sing interrogative pronouns, then from 3 and upwards hey use interrogative pronouns plus auxiliary verbs

negations

Children develop negatives - Bellugi, use no or not to make things negative around 18 months normally a t the beginning of a phrase, then between two are three years children start using no and not in front of verbs as well and develop the use of contracted negatives. From three years upwards children standardise their use of can’t and don’t and start using other negative contractions. E.g. didn’t wouldn’t.

cognitive approach

Piaget says that we learn concepts and then we learn the words to describe these concepts. Piaget believed that acquiring language comes as understanding of the world develops. So a child will not understand something by learning the word for it, but by experiencing it then learning the word. Children are active learners who want to discover their environment, their language acquisition reflects this.

pragmatics

1. Using language for different purposes

   1. Halliday - 1975

      1. Identifies seven functions that language has for children in their early years.

2. Being aware of the needs of the listener

   1. A child gradually learns this area of pragmatics which includes

      1. Talking differently to a child rather than an adult

      2. Giving background information to an unfamiliar listener

      3. Speaking differently in a class room than a playground

      4. Grice’s maxims

      5. Lakoff’s politeness principle

      6. Goffman’s face work

3. Following rules for conversations and storytelling

   1. Conversational turn taking

   2. Introducing new topics of conversation

   3. Staying on topic

   4. Re-phrasing when misunderstood

   5. Using and responding to verbal and non-verbal signals

   6. Standing at an appropriate distance from others

   7. Using facial expression and eye contact

social interactionism

Vygotsky - More knowledgable other is crucial for language development (social interactionism)

Bruner - parents provide a scaffolding and LASS (social interactionism)