Week 5: Language and literacy

What is the definition of language?

Symbolic communication that is rule-governed, social, and intellectual, and does not have to be spoken, e.g. written/sign

What are phonemes?

The smallest unit of sound in language, such as /b/, /p/, and /a/.

What is phonology?

The perception and production of sounds used in language.

What is orthography?

The way letters are written and formed, linked to phonemes.

What are graphemes?

The smallest unit of text that corresponds to phonemes.

What are morphemes?

The smallest meaningful units in language, such as [dog] or [s].

What is semantics?

The study of meaning in language.

What does pragmatics refer to in language?

The social conventions and context-dependent use of language. Adjusting language for context.

Name some pragmatics (non-linguistics) within language

• Adjusting language for context

• Social conventions

• Perspective taking

• Intonation (pitch and tone)

• Prosody (rhyming and rhythm)

What is syntax?

The arrangement of words to create grammatical sentences.

What is the focus of Stern's theory of the Motherhood Constellation? *

The new mental state after childbirth that emphasises the child's safety, emotional bond, and support network.

What is the focus of caregiver-infant interactions within Stern’s theory? *

Close contact, exaggerated expressions, repetition, and eye contact structured in rhythmic 'interaction runs.'

• Preverbal exchanges communicate feelings and build emotional attunement

What occurs in the prelinguistic stage of language development? (Newborn)

Newborn: Reflexive vocalizations such as crying, which communicate without language.

1 month: Discriminate virtually all phonemes - different cries: pain vs hunger

2-3 months: coo, smile, laugh

What occurs during the 4-6 month stage of language development? (Prelinguistic: the first year)

• Babbling and echolalia, where infants repeat sounds they hear from others.

• Cross-culturally similar sounds and ages

• Joint attention

• Turn taking

What occurs during the 6-9 month stage of language development? (Prelinguistic: the first year)

• Canonical babbling: sound-like combination - not words

• Reduplicated babbling: extended version of canonical - repeated over and over

What is canonical babbling?

A stage where infants produce sound-like combinations that resemble words.

What is reduplicated babbling?

Extended version of canonical babbling - repeating sound-like combinations over and over

What occurs during the 9-12 month stage of language development? (Prelinguistic: the first year)

• Modulated babbling: more conversation-like sounds like words, intonation

• Infant begins taking active role (Reddy, 1999)

• •Dyadic -> triadic interaction: infant is learning to communicate with their caregiver as well as taking into account environmental factors

  –Meaningful gesture

  •Pointing from 8 months

  –Comprehension of simple instructions: may not fully understand it, but comprehend it

What is the significance of 'gesture+word' in language development? (Doherty-Sneddon, 2008) *

It extends to 'gesture+gesture' before two-word utterances occur.

How does vocabulary development change from 18-24 months?

It increases to 10-20 words per week.

What is the estimated vocabulary of a 6-year-old?

Approximately 15,000 words.

What is the role of parental interpretation in babbling? *

Parents treat babbling as meaningful, which supports communication development.

What is Infant-Directed Speech (IDS)? *

A speech style characterised by exaggerated pitch, rhythm, and tone that aids early understanding.

What is coregulation in parent-infant communication? *

The continuous adjustment between parent and infant based on each other's cues.

What is the jazz metaphor in communication? *

Communication as mutual improvisation that is shared, rhythmic, and co-created.

According to Tomasello (2000), how do children learn language? *

Children learn specific linguistic items/structures as adults use them, but can substitute freely.

What did Ingram (1999) suggest about children's phonological systems? *

Children's phonological systems develop similarly to adult languages.

What are holophrases and at what age do they typically occur?

Holophrases are single words expressed for complex ideas, occurring between 12-18 months.

What is the typical age range for two-word utterances in children?

Two-word utterances typically occur between 1½ to 2½ years.

What characterises the three-word utterance stage in children?

Three-word utterances occur between 2-3 years, e.g., 'I pick up.'

What is over-regularisation in language development?

Over-regularisation is when children apply regular grammatical rules to irregular forms, e.g., saying 'deers' instead of 'deer.'

At what age do children typically understand most grammatical constructions?

By age 5, children typically understand most grammatical constructions and can describe personal experiences.

What was the focus of the study by Nelson et al. (1973) regarding grammar learning? *

The study focused on how adult feedback helps children learn grammar through expansion and recast techniques.

What are the two types of feedback identified in the Nelson et al. (1973) study?*

Expansion (adult finishes the child's sentence) and recast (adult repeats the idea in a new, better sentence).

What did Schank (1982) and Nelson (1989) suggest about autobiographical memories in children? *

They suggested that autobiographical memories are processed, reprocessed, and cross-indexed into a system of interlinked schema categories, becoming scripts.

What was the purpose of Emmy's monologues studied by Bruner and Lucariello (1989)? *

Emmy's monologues served to repeat stories, add predictions, and actively construct her experiences.

What does Gleitman's Syntactic Bootstrapping Hypothesis (1990) propose? *

It proposes that children's ability to infer the meanings of words is aided by syntax.

→ children use the syntactic structure of sentences to help infer the meanings of new words—especially verbs.

In Gleitman's study, what did 27-month-old children do with the two videos shown to them? *

Children matched actions between puppets based on the syntax of the sentences describing the actions.

They used the sentence they heard to decide which of two videos matched the meaning of a new verb.

What are context-bound words in Barrett's multi-route model? *

Context-bound words are used only in specific behavioral contexts, e.g., 'duck' used when hitting a toy duck off the edge of the bath.

What are referential words according to Barrett's multi-route model? *

Referential words are used in a variety of different behavioral contexts.

What are the 2 classes of early words according to Barret’s multi-route model? *

1. Context-bound

2. Referential words

What is the typical age range for rapid grammar growth in children?

Rapid grammar growth typically occurs after the 3-4 word stage.

2-5 years old

What are the two main theories of language acquisition?

Behaviourist (e.g., Skinner) and Nativist (e.g., Chomsky)

What does the Nativist theory suggest about language abilities?

That language abilities are innate and that humans have a Universal Grammar.

• Cross-cultural similarities

• Generative grammar - application of rules generates actual sentences

What is the main argument of the Behaviourist theory of language acquisition?

Language is learned through imitation and reinforcement.

What is the interactionist approach in language acquisition?

It combines elements of both Nativist and Behaviourist theories, emphasising the role of social interaction.

How does written language develop in relation to spoken language?

Written language develops after spoken language and requires explicit education.

What did Ritchie and Bates (2013) find about early reading ability? *

It is associated with academic motivation and later socioeconomic status.

What is the significance of rhyme and alliteration in literacy development? *

Children's sensitivity to rhyme and alliteration is linked to their success in reading.

What did the training study by Meins et al (2006) conclude about phonological awareness? *

Phonological awareness causally supports reading success.

What are the stages of literacy development according to Frith (1985)?

Logographic stage, Alphabetic stage, and Orthographic stage.

What characterises the Logographic stage of literacy development?

• Occurs at approximately 3-4 years

• Children recognise salient visual cues rather than phonetic sounds.

• Children expect large objects to have long spellings

• Reading is based on visual cues, not letters or sounds.

Limitations:

• Children cannot read new or unfamiliar words

• This strategy is inefficient and unreliable

What happens during the Alphabetic stage of literacy development?

• 5 years +

• Children use phoneme-grapheme correspondences to read and write.

• Convert to known spoken words

• Dependent on knowledge of phonology

• Must eventually acquire additional strategies to learn language development, e.g. school teachers

• → e.g. spelling cat as kat

• Children learn that letters represent sounds.

• They begin to sound out words using phoneme–grapheme links.

What is the Orthographic stage in literacy development?

Children develop orthographic and morphological knowledge, focusing on reading rather than sounds.

• Children recognise whole words automatically.

• They use spelling patterns and morphemes, not just sounds.

• Orthographic knowledge (spelling rules)

• Morphological knowledge (e.g. plurals, prefixes)

What are the four stages of literacy development according to Piaget?

Sensorimotor, Preoperational, Concrete Operational, and Formal Operational stages.

What are the four stages of literacy development according to Piaget? What occurs at these stages?

Sensorimotor stage: birth – 2 years

–No / limited language skills

–Sensory exploration of world
 Preoperational stage:  2 – 7/8 years

–Rapid language development

–Children begin to categorise with words
Concrete Operational: 7/8 – 11/12 years

–Use concrete objects to think about abstract concepts
Formal Operational: 11/12 years – adult

–Use language in abstract way, e.g. theorise and predict

What is the Cognition hypothesis (Cromer, 1974)? *

• We understand and use linguistic structures based on our cognitive abilities.

• Even once our cognitive abilities allow us to grasp an idea, we may say it in a less complex way because we have not yet acquired the grammatical rule for expressive it freely

What is the relationship between oral language skills and learning to read?

Learning to read is a natural developmental phase linked to the development of oral language skills.

What is the emphasis of Snowling's research on reading? *

Reading is a search for meaning and the value of semantic skills in learning to read.

What coping program was studied by Firth et al. (2013) for dyslexia? *

A program involving 102 year 6 students, which showed that dyslexic students could achieve similar well-being and school connectedness as non-dyslexic peers.

What are the four key components of literacy development as proposed by Holdaway?

1. Observation

2. Collaboration

3. Practice

4. Performance

Orange Cats Prefer Pizza

What is the nature of the relationship between spoken and written language?

It is bi-directional; development in one impacts the other.

What is metalinguistic development?

The understanding of language as an object of thought, allowing for abstract thought.

What does Tomasello's model of language development emphasise?

Children's cognitive understanding of various 'scenes' in their lives and specific steps in language development.

→ It emphasises the influence of social interaction

What is the 'verb island hypothesis' proposed by Tomasello?

'Each verb seemed like an island of organisation in an otherwise unorganised language system.'

• Children learn language one verb at a time. Each verb acts like its own “island” with limited, verb-specific patterns.

How did Chomsky (1965) view adult-child speech?

He believed adults spoke to children as they would to other adults, requiring innate abilities for language learning.

What did later studies reveal about adult-child speech?

Adults speak differently to children, using higher voices, slower speech, and simpler words.

Why do babies prefer child-directed speech?

Because of its musical sound and rhythm, even before they understand the words.

What is syntactic bootstrapping as described by Gleitman (1990)? *

Children use grammar (syntax) as a guide to infer word meaning, even when the context is unclear.

→ Babies notice stressed syllables and pauses to find word boundaries.

How do parents assist infants in learning words according to Messer (1981)? *

By stressing important words and placing them at the end of sentences to aid memory.

What did Fernald & Mazzie (1991) confirm about mothers reading to infants? *

Mothers emphasize and position new words clearly when reading.

What role do sound patterns and parental cues play in language learning?

Infants use both to learn words effectively.

What are the stages involved in the literacy development model, according to Frith, 1985 and Ehri 1995?

1. Logographic

2. Alphabetic

3. Orthographic