First Language Acquisition pt 2

First-language acquisition: General patterns

What develops first: language comprehension or production?

Comprehension develops before production

Production lags behind comprehension by ~ 3 months

First-language acquisition: General patterns

Do children acquiring different languages go through the same major stages?

Yes. Regardless of language, children go through the same major stages

First-language acquisition: One-Word Stage

One-Word Stage also known as?

Holophrastic Stage

First-language acquisition: One-Word Stage (Holophrastic Stage)

What is the One-Word Stage?

A stage in which children use ONE word to communicate a complete idea or sentence

First-language acquisition: One-Word Stage (Holophrastic Stage)

What is a holophrase?

A one-word sentence

First-language acquisition: One-Word Stage (Holophrastic Stage)

What do children typically begin with during the One-Word Stage?

Naming people, objects, pets, and other familiar things

First-language acquisition: One-Word Stage (Holophrastic Stage)

What types of words develop after naming words?

Verbs and other useful words (go, no, gimme, mine, etc.)

First-language acquisition: Two-Word Stage

When does the Two-Word Stage begin?

Between 18 and 24 months of age

First-language acquisition: Two-Word Stage

What characterizes the Two-Word Stage

Children begin using consistent word orders determined by semantic relationships

First-language acquisition: Two-Word Stage

What is telegraphic speech?

Speech in which children omit function words.

Example: Baby sleep instead of The baby is sleeping.

First-language acquisition: Later stages of development

Is there a clearly defined Three-Word Stage?

No. There is no clear-cut three-word stage. Once children produce two-word utterances, longer utterances follow.

First-language acquisition: Later stages of development

How are longer utterances organized?

They become syntactically and semantically organized

First-language acquisition: Later stages of development

How do children initially form three-word utterances?

By combining or expanding two-word utterances.

First-language acquisition: Later stages of development

What is an example of combining two-word utterances?

Daddy cookie→Eat cookie→Daddy eat cookie

Throw ball→Throw red ball

Three-word utterances are initially formed by combining or expanding two-word utterances

First-language acquisition: Function morphemes

When does the development of function morphemes begin?

During the Two-Word Stage.

First-language acquisition: Function morphemes

Which function morphemes are developed in a consistent order?

1. -ing (present progressive)

2. In, on

3. -ed (past tense)

4. Plural -s

5. Possessive 's

6. -s (third-person present)

First-language acquisition: Function morphemes

What is the progression of plural development?

1. Singular form (mouse).

2. Irregular plural may appear briefly (mice).

3. The plural morpheme -s appears.

4. Overgeneralization may occur (mans).

5. Words ending in sibilants may initially remain unchanged (mouse).

6. Sibilant plural ending /ɪz/ develops (mouses, manses).

7. Irregular forms develop again (mice).

First-language acquisition: Function morphemes

What is overgeneralization in plural development?

Applying a regular plural rule to irregular words.

Example: Man → mans instead of men

First-language acquisition: Function morphemes

What happens with words ending in sibilants during plural development?

They may initially remain unchanged, followed by the development of the /ɪz/ plural ending.

First-language acquisition: Negatives

What is the first stage of negative development?

Children add no to the beginning of an utterance

• No baby sleep.

• No I drink milk.

First-language acquisition: Negatives

What is the next stage of negative development?

Children insert no, not, can't, or don't between the subject and verb

• Baby no sleep.

• I not drink milk.

First-language acquisition: Interrogatives

What is the first stage of interrogative development?

Children use intonation to turn statements into questions.

• Mommy cup?

• More ride?

First-language acquisition: Interrogatives

What is the next stage of interrogative development? (verbs)

Auxiliary verbs appear before the subject

Example: Can we go?

First-language acquisition: Interrogatives

What happens next in interrogative development?

Wh-words are added to the beginning of a declarative sentence.

Example: Where he is going?

First-language acquisition: Interrogatives

What is the final development described in the slides for Wh-questions?

Inversion of the subject and verb

First-language acquisition: Vocabulary development

When do children typically produce their first words?

Around one year of age

First-language acquisition: Vocabulary development

Approximately how many words do children know by age six, according to the slides?

Almost 14,000 words

First-language acquisition: Vocabulary development

What determines the order in which children learn word meanings?

The complexity of the concept represented by the word.

First-language acquisition: Vocabulary development

Which concepts are learned first?

Simpler concepts before more complex concepts

First-language acquisition: Vocabulary development

How do children's initial word meanings relate to adult understanding?

Initial word meanings are related to adult understanding and progress systematically

children initially learn words with meanings similar to how adults understand them, and their understanding develops in an organized way over time.

For example:

• Chair: A child learns that a chair is something you sit on.

• As they develop, they understand that chairs can have different shapes, sizes, and designs.

• Eventually, they understand that not everything you can sit on is a chair (like a couch).

First-language acquisition: Vocabulary development

Can children sometimes prioritize the wrong characteristic when learning a word?

Yes. They may focus on the wrong unifying characteristic.

First-language acquisition: Complexive concepts]

What are complexive concepts?

Children group different things under one word because they associate them with that word, even if the things don't have much in common

No single shared characteristic, just personal associations

complexive concepts

First-language acquisition: Complexive concepts

What is the main characteristic of a complexive concept?

Different objects are grouped together under one word even though they do not share one common characteristic.

First-language acquisition: Overextensions and underextensions

What is an overextension?

When a child applies a word to more things or in more contexts than its actual meaning indicates

Example: Calling multiple types of animals kitty

First-language acquisition: Overextensions and underextensions

What is an underextension?

When a child applies a word to fewer things or in fewer contexts than they should.

Example: Using toy only to refer to one specific toy.

First-language acquisition: Overextensions and underextensions

What happens to complexive concepts as children develop?

They are present for a short time early in development and are replaced by overextensions and underextensions

Different objects are associated with one word, even without a shared characteristic.

Complexive concept

Using a word for TOO MANY things.

Overextension

Using a word for TOO FEW things.

Underextension

First-language acquisition: Set membership and more difficult concepts

What do complexive concepts, overextensions, and underextensions have to do with?

Recognition of set membership

First-language acquisition: Set membership and more difficult concepts

Which types of words are easier for children to understand in terms of set membership?

Words such as:

• Chair

• Walk

• Daddy

First-language acquisition: Set membership and more difficult concepts

Which types of words are more difficult for children to understand?

• Relational terms.

• Deictic expressions.

• Many verbs

First-language acquisition: Set membership and more difficult concepts

What are relational terms?

Words whose meanings depend on comparing things or understanding their relationship

Examples: Large and small.

First-language acquisition: Set membership and more difficult concepts

Why are relational terms difficult to learn?

Correct use requires knowing the absolute size of an object and its position on a scale of similar objects

Example: A small elephant may still be larger than a large dog.

First-language acquisition: Set membership and more difficult concepts

What are deictic expressions?

Words that depend on the context in which they are used.

First-language acquisition: Set membership and more difficult concepts

What are the three types of deictic expressions covered in the slides?

• Personal: I / you

• Temporal: now / then

• Spatial: here / there

First-language acquisition: Set membership and more difficult concepts

Why are deictic expressions difficult to learn?

Their meaning changes depending on the context in which the word is used.

First-language acquisition: Verbs

Why are many verbs conceptually more complex than nouns?

First-language acquisition: Verbs

• Some verbs are abstract (think, believe) and cannot be seen or visualized.

• Some verbs have a connection to other verbs (give/take, buy/sell)

First-language acquisition: Verbs

How are buy and sell connected?

They describe the same transaction from different perspectives.

Example:

• Peter bought the car from Mike.

• Mike sold the car to Peter.