Language Development in Infancy & Early Childhood

2 components to language

1. comprehension (understanding words)

2. production (producing words)

--> to be an affective communicator

--> word acquisition 2x as fast for comprehension as for production

--> more comprehension = more production

how language comprehension differs from language production in infancy

comprehension precedes production - 9 months (start comprehending words) vs 12 months (production of words begin)

- 50 word milestone: 13 months (50 words comprehended) vs 18 months (able to produce 50 words)

sequence of sound production

1. cries

2. cooing

3. babbling

4. jargoning

5. words

cries

vowel-like sound made when exhaling

- compels response from caregiver

- increase first 6 weeks

--> happens for the first time at birth

--> physical response/reflex: no communicative value from the newborn but there is from the caregiver (gives baby food, comfort, etc.)

cooing

6 weeks - 20 weeks

- comfort sounds: attractive to adults (opposite from crying; response from when being comforted)

- single sounds (vowel) initially then string of sounds

- exploring what voice can do (aren't trying to communicate

--> once sound is made, they want to make that sound again and explore their voice more (socioemotional significance)

babbling

5 to 10 months

- first structured vocalizations (structure = "baba", "gaga", etc.)

- syllabic combination of vowels and consonants in alteration

- vocal play, exploration, practice sounds (no communicative value; could babble by themself facing a wall when they're happy, explore, etc.)

what does "universality of babbling features" refer to? when does it decline?

can't tell what language community they're involved in

- 9 months: babbling narrowed to native sounds (start to only babble sounds centered around the specific language native sounds they are surrounded by)

jargoning

toward end of the 1st year

- babbling with intonation and stress of actual utterances (babies realize language isn't just sounds; they start t involve pragmatics = use facial expressions, hand gestures, rise voice in intonation, social engagement, take turns while talking)

words

a sound or combination of sounds forming a meaningful element of speech

- fuzzy when babble/jargon turn into words

when is a sound a word?

when a spoken sound is a phonetic form that approximates an adult word

- when a spoken sound has situational consistency (relates sound to an object = "dada" babble vs "dada" looking at dad) in use

- infants begin producing first recognizable words around 12 months

holophrase

through 1st months of word production, infants usually select single word to convey whole event

--> example: child says "pancake" excitedly while eating it then sad intonation of "pancake" once it's dropped)

- a single word that expresses meaning of entire phrase

- context needed to interpret

2 common errors in early language production

1. overextension

2. underextension

overextension

using a word to refer not only to standard referents but to other referents as well

--> saying "dada" when pointing at multiple other males)

underextension

limiting use of word to a subset of its standard referents

--> using the word "doggie" only to their own pet not to other dogs that look different

which type of language error is more common?

underextensions are more common than overextensions

language explosion

18 months: vocabulary spurt

- 2x gain between 18 and 21 months

- 2x gain between 21 and 24 months

- 20 months = 150 words

- 24 months = 300 words

telegraphic speech

simple two-word (noun-verb) sentences that adhere to the grammatical standards of given language

- contains only essential words

--> "give cupcake" not "cupcake give"

- 18-36 months: essential noun and verb to communicate = they hear sentences but figure out which 2 key words they should use

mean length utterance (MLU)

used by researchers to quantify language development

- how many words are they using in a single sentence?

--> "daddy eat red apple" = 4

- also takes into account complexity of sentence (grammatical markings)

--> "daddy eats apples" = 5 (each plural/grammatical marking is 1 MLU)

- by the end of early childhood, the average MLU is 8

fast mapping

the process used by preschoolers to quickly acquire new words into their vocabulary by mentally charting new words into categories

- a kind of grid or mental map

--> easier to learn 'tiger' if already knows 'lion' (knowing at least one word of a category allows other words to be fast mapped)

--> fast mapping words = adding new vocabulary into a categroy

fast mapping experiment

"give me the burgundy tray, not the blue one"

- children who knew blue would quickly grasp new color word

- children who didn't know blue were unable to map new color

--> then later on the kids that knew the word blue were able to grasp/fast map the word burgundy and recognize it

grammar

structures, techniques, and rules that are used to communicate meaning

- word order, prefixes, suffixes, intonation and emphasis

- around second baby, sentences are filled with grammatical morphemes (-s, -ed, -ing); errors with these markings

Berko's 1958 "wug" experiment

"this is a wug"

"now there is another one, there are two of them"

"there are two ___" = wugs

--> showed preschoolers how to correctly apply grammatical rules in unfamiliar/novel situation (child knows to add the plural -s or add -ed for past tense or -ing for an action happening now)

overregularization

the young child's tendency to apply the rules of grammar even when doing so is not necessary or appropriate (foots, tooths, sheeps, mouses, goed)

- shows that children are learning to apply grammatical rules (broke, it braked, did broked)

- by end of early childhood, mastered most of the grammatical rules

--> caregiver should gently correct them so that the next time they use that word it is used with the correct grammar

when is it easiest for a child to become bilingual?

children can become fluent in two languages, and it's easiest for them to do so in early childhood

what does research show regarding bilingualism and whether it hinders early language development?

research shows:

- 1-2 year olds learning 2 languages simultaneously progress somewhat slowly

- 3-4 years proficient in both languages

bilingualism in early language development: advantages and disadvantages

- disadvantage: bilingual children are usually less fluent in each language than monolingual children are in one BUT...

- advantage: when combine number of words known in each language, surpass monolingual children

promoting language development

talk frequently to and treat children as partners in conversation

- talk interactively (ask child questions to show that you want to hear what they have to say)

- read aloud to children

- don't tempt to finish a child's sentence (they should know that their language efforts are worth while)

- pay attention and respond appropriately lets them learn language works (language is the best way to get what you want)