Child Language Acquisition: Stages, Errors, and Theorists

Phoneme

Smallest unit of sound

Babbling

Repetitive consonant-vowel sounds (e.g. "bababa")

Proto-words

Invented words with consistent meaning (e.g. "baba" = bottle)

Holophrase

One word conveying a whole sentence ("milk" = I want milk)

Telegraphic speech

Short utterances missing function words ("want juice")

Overextension

Applying a word too broadly ("dog" for all animals)

Underextension

Applying a word too narrowly ("shoes" = only their shoes)

Overgeneralisation

Applying grammar rules incorrectly ("goed", "mouses")

Virtuous errors

Errors showing rule learning in progress

Irregular verb development

Went → goed → went

Child-directed speech (CDS)

Simplified speech used with children

Caregiver speech

Same idea as CDS

High pitch / sing-song intonation

Exaggerated tone to engage child

Simple syntax

Shorter, grammatically simpler sentences

Repetition

Repeating words/phrases for reinforcement

Turn-taking

Back-and-forth structure of conversation

Adjacency pairs

Expected responses (e.g. question → answer)

Phatic communication

Speech for social bonding ("hello", "good girl")

Noam Chomsky

Language Acquisition Device (innate ability)

B.F. Skinner

Behaviourism (imitation + reinforcement)

Jean Piaget

Cognitive stages

Lev Vygotsky

Social interaction + scaffolding

Jerome Bruner

Language Acquisition Support System (LASS)

Catherine Snow

Caregiver interaction research

Pre-linguistic stage

Crying, cooing, babbling

Holophrastic stage (1-2 years)

Single words

Two-word stage

Simple combinations ("mummy go")

Multi-word stage

Longer, more complex speech