Child Language Acquisition Keywords

Suitable for CIE A Level English Language (9093). Covers keywords in Section B: Child Language Acquisition for Paper 3

babbling stage

the first stage of language acquisition, generally occurs from 6 months until 12 months of age; where a child begins experimenting with articulate sounds but does not produce any recognizable words

holophrastic stage

a stage of language acquisition where the use of a single word to express a complex idea; generally occurs from 9 to 18 months of age

telegraphic

a stage of language acquisition where (often) two-word sentences consisting of a noun and verb are used to express ideas; generally occurs from 18 to 24 months of age

post-telegraphic stages

the final stage of language acquisition where a child is able to utter phrases that are grammatically correct and complex to communicate; generally occurs from 24 to 30 months of age

functions of language

developed by Michael Halliday; describes the seven ways children use language

instrumental function

used to achieve a certain result by the speaker or someone else

regulatory function

controls the behavior of another person or others

interactional function

the communicative use of language to help others understand them

personal function

Language used to express personal beliefs, ideas and opinions. E.g. “Purple is the best colour.”

heuristic function

Language used to learn, discover and explore the world. E.g. “Why is the sky blue?”

imaginative function

Language used to tell non-fiction stories

representational function

Language used to request or relay information; ask for clarification

what is the imitation and reinforcement theory?

the belief that language is acquired by conditioning (the repetition of a stimulus), this is often done by a child imitating sounds and positive reinforcement by parents

who developed the imitation and reinforcement theory?

B. F. Skinner, 1957

what is LAD (language acquisition device)?

an innate system in the brain that allows the spontaneous and rapid development of language skills in children; children seem to be aware of the subject-verb form of grammar common in all languages

who developed the LAD theory?

Noam Chomsky, 1965

what is LASS (language acquisition support system)?

a support system that helps children acquire language and become sociable; this support system includes parents and other caregivers such as teachers; it is most important between the ages of 2 and 5

who developed the LASS theory?

Jerome Bruner, 1983

what is the cognitive development theory?

the theory that children went through stages of increasingly complex mental development that aided language development

who developed the (main) cognitive development theory?

Jean Piaget

Piaget’s stages of development

the stages in the cognitive development theory; includes the sensorimotor, pre-operational, concrete operational, and formal operational stages

sensorimotor stage (Piaget’s stages)

earliest knowledge is acquired through physical actions and sensations, develops object permanence; lasts until the age of 2

pre-operational stage (Piaget’s stages)

child perceives the world in relation to themselves, can be seen as egocentric perception, able to think in more definite terms; lasts between the ages of 2 and 5

concrete operational stage (Piaget’s stages)

child is able to think more logically about specific ‘concrete‘ or observable situations, development of the idea of conservation; lasts between the ages of 5 and 11/12

formal operational stage (Piaget’s stages)

child is able to think and understand more abstract concepts and the language associated with them; lasts from the age of 12 and is the last stage of child development

child-directed/caretaker speech

a speech style used by adults and older children when talking to infants or young children; this can be seen as using shorter sentences, restricted vocabulary, and higher intonation

Accomodation

When people interact the adjust their speech, their vocal patterns and their gestures, to accomodate others.

Theorist Howard Giles.

Amala & Kamala case study

Children not exposed to language do not speak eg. in 1920, two ‘feral’ children named Amala and Kamala were found in India having been reared with wolfs- they had no language

Basic level assumption

While learning word meanings, children will follow certain biases or assumptions that allow them to quickly rule out unlikely alternatives. Biases are important for children with limited processing abilities.

Behaviourist

Focus on the importance of the language environment. The infant and young child need appropriate language models and constant feedback as they attempt to communicate.

B.F Skinner

Comprehension V production

Children know and understand much more than they can physically produce.

Fis Phenomenon

Conjunctions

A word used to connect clauses or sentences or to coordinate words in the same clause (e.g and, but, if). Appear in pre- school phrase.

Cooing

It comprises mostly of vowel sounds like “aaa”, “ooo”, etc. The words have no meaning to the child as they think they are just making sounds.

Cognition

The mental action of process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses.

Constant cluster reduction

Something is left out. (Example ng becomes n, walking → walkin’, ct becomes t, victoria → vittoria) Deletion is something missing (words or sounds) and ellipsis normally refers to more than one missing word.

Critical period (critical age hypothesis)

states that language is acquired rather than learned and that there is a particular period during which children acquire it most easily. If children are not exposed to language until after this period is over (perhaps around puberty) they may never catch up.

Digresssions

If you steer away from the topic then you digress. Often used to give a new perspective or direction to a subject. Children may use non-sequitur comments and go completely off topic.

non-sequitur

A conclusion or statement that does not __logically__ follow from the previous argument or statement.

Deletion

A child says ‘ca’ instead of ‘cat’. Child is either not hearing is producing the last consonant sound ‘t’. Deletion of unstressed syllable

Disequilibrium and Equilibrium

Suggests imbalance between what is understood and what is encountered. .

Fis Phenomenon

A child refered to his plastic fish as a fis. When an adult asked “ is this your fis?” the child said no, stating that it was his fis. When the adult then asked, “ Is this your fish?”. The child replied, “Yes, my fis”

Genie case study

Genie was discovered in USA in 1970 at about age 13- had been locked away by her parents and deprived of all human contact. When discovered she had no language at all. After working with linguists for several years, she acquired quite a large vocabulary, but her langauge consisted mainly of strings of content words and he rsyntax never fully developed to an adult level.

Grammar

way in which language is put together

Grice’s Maxims

4 basic ‘conversational’ as criteria for successful conversation:

* Quantity (don’t say too much or too little )
* Relevence (keep to the point)
* Manner (speak in a way that is clear, coherent and orderly)
* Quality (be truthful)

Haliday’s theory of 7 functions (1975)

Their language function satisfies their social/emotional/physical needs (instrumental/regulatory/interactional/personal) OR shows them coming to term wit their environment and their place within it.

Heuristic

Where a person can discover or learn something for themselves from the immediate environment. Children become concerned with naming and classifying things (frequently asked “wassat”). Children’s questions at this stage often begin with interrogative pronouns (what, where) followed by a noun Children’s questions at this stage often begin with interrogative pronouns (what, where), followed by a noun or verb: where ball? Where gone?

Holophrastic

Occurs around 12-18 months. Single word utterances that are the prelinguistic use of a single word to express a complex idea /to convey the meaning of an entire sentence e.g “teddy”, “gone”, “more”. Can be dependent on paralinguistic features.

Interactional

Both biological and social. Interactionists argue that language learning is influence by the desire of children to communicate with others. It is based largely on the socio-cultural theories of Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsky

Imitation

Children learn words and syntax by copying others- according to behaviourist B. F. Skinner. He believed that language is acquired through principles of conditioning, including association, imitation and reinforcement.

Inflectional Affixation

The suffix changes the grammar of a word. E.g push, pushed (present - past tense). Children can add the ing inflection as early as 20 months - probably because it signifies the present state. Other inflections are plural’s/possesives/articles a/the/ past tense ed/ 3rd person singular verb endings. Auxiliary be (is)

Intonation

Children will use rising intonation as early as 2-word stage to indicate a question.

Jim case study

A boy noted in the devilliers & devilliers study in 1978. He was born to deaf parents and placed in front of a TC in the hope he would pick up language by watching it. HIs language acquisition was hampered and it’s often used to support the interactive theory.

Morphology

How words are made up of smaller units of meaning

Motherese/Parentese

Uses simple vocabulary and short sentences, slow, widened pitch of voice, ‘conversations’ with the baby even before the child can respond meaningfully. Typically, the mother will speak and wait for a reaction from the child (gurgles, laughs) before speaking again. This introduces the child to one of the basic skills of conversation: turn-taking.

Nativist

Stresses that children are pre-programmed and have an innate ability to acquire language

Negative construction

Used as a child becomes more proficient at constructing sentences. “I would help if I didn’t have to play football right now”

Operators

Serve to convey the whole of the child’s meaning or intention (e.g want)

Over-Extension

The child uses a word in a wider context than an adult would, misunderstanding the precise application (e.g uses ‘ball’ to describe not only a ball but also any round object such as awheel or a marble.

Under-Extension

The child restricts the applications of a word (child uses ‘white’ only to describe snow and is confused to hear the same word used to describe blank pages in a book).

Over-generalisation

Child applies regular rules to irregular verbs “I goed to the park””I catched the ball”

Over-regularising verbs

Children may go through a stage of forming all past tenses with -ed