Child Language Acquisition

What are the 5 stages of language development?

pre-verbal

holophrastic

two word stage

telegraphic

post-telegraphic

How old is the pre-verbal stage?

0-12 months

Examples of pre-verbal communication

smiling, mimicking, babbling, movement of arms, screaming

What is cooing?

vowel based noises

What are the 2 different types of babbling?

reduplicated babbling (bababababa)

variegated babbling (manamoo)

Reduplicated babbling

same vowel and consistent repeated

Variegated babbling

a variety of different vowels and consistents practised

What is the purpose of babbling and cooing?

to communicate a babies needs or emotions ,to practice sounds or to mimic/imitate

What age is the holophrastic stage?

12-18 months

What is the key feature of the holophrastic stage?

one word utterances to convey meaning

What word class used in the highest frequency in the holophrastic stage?

concrete nouns

Phonology in the holphrastic stage

during this stage a child will begin to develop

their ability to pronounce words in a recognisable way

children will use sounds which are easier to pronounce- plosives over fricatives

Assimilation

one consonant or vowel swapped for another e.g. bus to bub

Substitution

the process of swapping one sound for another that is easier to pronounce (fricative to plosive) e.g. vet to bet

Deletion

omitting a particular sound within a word (completely getting rid of a whole sound) e.g. banana to nana

Consonant cluster reduction

reducing the more complex units into simpler ones (from two or more consonants down to one) e.g. string to sing

What age is the two word stage?

18 months-2 years

What is the two word stage?

when two word sentences appear usually in a grammatically correct squence

Examples of grammatical utterances during the two word stage

subject + verb e.g. Jenny sleep (Jenny is sleeping)

verb+ object e.g. Suzy juice (Suzy is drinking juice)

subject + compliment e.g. Daddy busy (daddy is busy)

What age is the telegraphic stage?

around 2 years

What is the telegraphic stage?

children begin to use words that are most important to convey meaning e.g. it raining (still understandable to the adult what the child is trying to communicate)

What word class is most common during the telegraphic stage?

stative or dynamic verbs (rather than modal or auxiliary verbs) as these are crucial to establish meaning

What age is the post-telegraphic stage?

around 3 years

What occurs during the post-telegraphic stage?

this is when a child's speech will become increasingly similar to an adults speech, grammatical words which are missed out during the telegraphic stage will start to appear more regularly, child will begin to formulate more complex syntax structures

Who theorised negative formation and question formation?

Bellugi

What are the 6 stages of negative formation?

1. the use of the negative alone e.g. no or not

2. combining a negative with others in the 2 word and telegraphic stages, usually at the beginning e.g. no want

3. the use of negatives in the middle of an utterance e.g. me no like that

4. increasing accuracy of negative words and the use of contractions with auxiliary verbs e.g. I don't want to

5. increased complexity and range of negative words e.g. I haven't got any

6. saying no without using negatives (positive face strategy)

Question formation (3 stages): Bellugi

1. use of intonation to signal when a question is being asked e.g. ball?

2. the use of question words e.g. what were why, where is the ball?

3. manipulating syntax to create more detailed questions e.g. are you going to play with that ball?

Behaviourism (Skinner 1957)

-language was another form of learned behaviour (nurture)

-children learn through positive and negative reinforcement and learn from listening to the words around them and eventually imitate them

-he claimed no internal mechanism were needed for language and that it was virtually no different from a rat pressing levers

behaviourism evaluation: ideas that support

-children eventually learn to say 'went' not 'goed'-seems that they have learnt the correct pronunciation through imitation and correction

-imitation does seem to play a part in semantic development- they would not learn that a dog was a dog unless someone was pointing at one whilst saying it

-children also learn some social and pragmatic aspects of language in this way e.g. politeness strategies

behaviourism: ideas that counter

-humans are very different to rats- speaking is a uniquely human characteristic

-children make utterances they have never heard before ('linguistic creativity') e.g. 'runned'

-children all over the world learn language at roughly the same speed regardless of different factors (e.g. culture), this could suggest language is an innate quality

case study: Genie

-13 year old Genie was locked away in complete isolation during her childhood

-when she made a noise her father beat her and he never communicated to her in words

-after she was rescued she was able to recognise many words and speak in basic sentences (telegraphic stage) e.g. father hit leg

-she was never able to ask questions or understand the English grammar or syntax

findings from the Genie study (Lenneberg)

-suggests the existence of a critical period for language development

-a critical period is a fixed time period of which certain experiences can have a long lasting effect on development

-in 1967 Lenneburg proposed that language depended on maturation- between 18 months and puberty is the period in which language must first be acquired (the critical period)

Chomsky (opposite to Skinner)

-he suggests language is an innate faculty: we are born with a set of rules in our head which he refers to as a 'Universal Grammar' in which the basis upon all human language is built and this is the most significant reason in which children acquire their mother tongue

-he says children are exposed to little correctly formed language yet they still manage to learn all their language the same

-children do not simply copy language from those around them, they deduce the rules from it in which they are able to make sentences they have never heard before

Chomsky (nativism): Language Acquisition Device

LAD is the idea that humans are all born with an innate language learning facility

Chomsky (nativism): Universal Grammar

the notion that all human languages possess similar grammatical properties which the brain is hard wired to be able to decode and use

Chomsky (nativism): Virtuous Errrors

Grammatical errors that are understandable and logical through an incorrect assumption being made out of grammatical rules

Jean Berko: The Wug Test

-when children learn grammatical rules they apply them rather than just memorise them (internalise the grammatical rules)

-uses made-up creatures to figure out how children apply rules they aren't familiar with e.g. pluralisms

-this aligns with the idea of 'Universal Grammar', supporting the idea that children have an innate ability

-opposes Skinners idea on imitation and reinforcement

-children noticed the -ed morpheme marks tense and the -s morphemse marks plurality

Piaget: Cognitive Development

-children acquire language through the lens of cognitive development (language is used to express thought and is an onward expression of a child's evolving mental structure)

-language acquisition is a product of cognitive development

-children need to have a conceptual understanding before being able to use language to articulate it e.g. a child cannot use the word 'gone' without understanding the concept of object permanence

Piaget (Cognitive Development): egocentric speech

-children talk to themselves without the concern of others listening as they are unable to fully understand others may have different perspectives

-children, between the ages 0 to 2 begin to interact with their environment using their senses however they remain 'egocentric'

Vygotsky: What is the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)?

the zone lies between the actual development level of a child and the potential development level

learning happens most effectively when children are challenged in this zone

scaffolding in this zone gradually helps the child gain independence in their skills or task

Vygotsky: actual development level

the point when a child can do things on their known without assistance

Vygotsky: potential development level

this is the zone of the potential things a child can do when given the correct support- what a child can do with support or guidance from a more knowledgeable other

Scaffolding (Bruner and Vygotsky)

scaffolding is when you provide external input to assist a child so they can move into their zone of proximal development

examples:

-modelling how to speak Standard English

-modelling the correct mistakes in pronunciation or grammar

-recasting

Bruner: What is Child directed speech? (CDS)

the specific way that caregivers talk to their children (often simplified)

also referred to as 'baby talk' or 'motherese'

Features of CDS: long (frequent) pauses, repetition & slower speech

gives the child time to process (less developed cognitive functions)

Features of CDS: politeness features

pragmatically, politeness features help the child understand acceptable behaviour socially

example:

mitigated imperatives is when a command word is given but in the form of a question (e.g. 'Shall we do this'), appearing more gentle and could possibly give the child a sense of control

Features of CDS: recasts

the caregiver will recast an incorrect utterance to form a grammatically correct one (scaffolding/ZPD)

Why is CDS important?

recasting aids scaffolding (Bruner and Vygotsky)

social interactionism focuses on the role of the caregiver in assisting childrens language

Skinner highlights the importance of positive reinforcement

What does Halliday theorise?

that there are seven different functions of language (HIPRIRI)

Halliday: instrumental function of language

fulfilling a need, directly concerned with obtaining food drink and comfort so mainly concrete nouns are used

e.g. asking for a drink

Halliday: regulatory function of language

language used to influence the behaviour of others by persuading/ commanding/ requesting other people to do something e.g. 'put down'

Halliday: interactional function of language

language is used to develop social relationships and ease the process of interaction, concerned with phatic talk as a child realises language can be said beyond declaring what you/ want need

Halliday: personal function of language

used to express views and preferences e.g. 'me like that'

Halliday: heuristic function of language

heuristic= enabling someone to discover something for themself

language is used to explore the world around you (what you are doing), children use language to learn this includes asking questions and a running commentry which accomplices a child playing

Halliday: imaginative function of language

used to explore something creatively through play, language used to explore the imagination

Halliday: representational function of language

used to exchange information e.g. give or receive, concerned with relaying or requesting information

Berko and Brown 'fis' phenomenon

described how a child referred to a plastic fish

when an adult asked the child 'is that your fis?' he replied 'no, my fis'

this shows that the child understood that they were saying to wrong but unable to pronounce this themselves, thus demonstrating how comprehension precedes competency

Tomasello

children learn language through use and usage-based mechanisms

language learnt through communicative intensions

he refutes any innate ideas- children learn language socially, language used in specific contexts

usage comes first (trying to something in a specific social context comes before grammar)

What are the two things Tomasello says children do?

Intention reading - children learn how to use language to achieve social ends

Pattern finding - children look at many utterances and develop schemas based on patterns in language, children notice grammatical patterns and turn them into rules- Wug

Kaluli tribe

in Papua New Guinea and do not use any form of CDS- the children's language development is not stunted by this and do not experience any form of speech delay

however when considering this, must be aware that the differing factors between members of the Kaluli tribe and children who have been socialised in the West

Garvey

Considered the importance of play

Pretend play, can help vocabulary grow and provides an opportunity for lexical growth

Pair of children adopt roles and identities- role-play setting- she calls this 'pretend play' which fulfills Halliday's imaginative function

She states that 'pretend play' is useful because it simultaneously lets children play together because its enjoyable but also helps practise social interaction and negotiation skills with roles and responsibilities, which are often decided as they play- "sociodramatic play" as it involves both social and dramatic skills

"sociodramatic play" often begins when a child is around 4 years old, Garvey suggests this is possibly linked to their cognitive understanding of the different roles people have, lexis and structure them in some of the formulaic ways that adults use in real-life situations, suggesting they can observe and imitate adult behaviours