Child Language Acquisition Edexcel

holophrastic stages

one word communication 12-18 months

Two word stage

18-24 months

Telegraphic stage

early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram--'go car'--using mostly nouns and verbs and omitting 'auxiliary' words

Post-telegraphic

more grammatically complex combinations 36+ months

Universal grammar

Noam Chomsky's theory that all the world's languages share a similar underlying structure

Phonemic expansion

The variety of sounds produced increases

Phonemic contraction

the variety of sounds is reduced to the sounds of the main language used

Plosives

Consonant sounds that are created when the airflow is blocked for a brief time 'b', 'p', 't', 'd'

Fricatives

f, v, θ(fa), ð(tha), s, z, ʃ(sha), ʒ(ish), h produced when air is only partially blocked

Affricatives

tʃ (as in church) , dʒ (as in judge), created by putting plosives and fricatives together

Approximates

Similar to vowel sounds e.g w,r,j

Nasals

m, n, ŋ, produced through the nose

Laterals

l, created by placing tongue on ridge of teeth and moving air

Deletion

Early phonological mistake, omitting the final consonant in a word e.g 'do(g)' or 'cu(p)'

Substitution

Early phonological mistake, switching one sound of another in harder to pronounce sounds that develop later e.g 'pip' for 'ship

Addition

Early phonological mistake, adding an extra vowel sound to the end of words e.g 'doggie'

Assimilation

Early phonological mistake, Changing one consonant or vowel for another in early plosive sounds d, b e.g 'gog' for 'dog'

Reduplication

repeating a whole syllable e.g. 'dada' and 'mama'

consonant cluster reduction

phonological process seen in preschool children in which one or more consonants are deleted from a cluster of two or more in order to simplify production

Deletion of unstressed syllables

Omitting the opening syllable in polysyllabic words e.g. 'nana' for 'banana'

Berko and Brown (1960)

Child calls fish 'fis' and child tells adult this is wrong when replicated - child isn't aware of contrast

Protowords

early form of an actual word that usually contains some of the sounds of the target word

Rate of lexical development

12 months: 50 words
24 months: 200 words
36 months: 2000 words

Katherine Nelson childrens first words

1) Naming 60% of words
2) Actions/events
3) Describing/modifying things
4) Personal/social words 8% of words

Vocative

A form used to address a person

Content word

a noun, verb, adjective, or adverb that conveys meaning

Function word

a preposition, article, or other word that conveys little of the meaning of a sentence but is important in specifying its grammatical structure

Brunner social interactionist theory

Children, learn language through social interaction. Through positive and negative reinforcement

B.F Skinner Behaviourism

Children learn by imitating speech, accompanied by positive and negative reinforcement, also known as operant conditioning. However, how do we explain words like "hitted" if this is the case?

overextension

the overly broad use of words, overgeneralizing their meaning

underextension

when children define words more narrowly than adults do

Rescorla - categorical overextension

Name for one member of a category is extended to all members of that category. E.g apple used for all round fruits 60%

Rescorla - Analogical Overextension

A word for one object is extended to one of a different category usually on the basis that it has some physical or functional connection e.g. Ball used for round fruit 15%

Rescorla- Mismatch Statements

One word sentences that appear quite abstract e.g child saying duck when seeing a pond. 25%

Aitchison Stages of Lexical Development

Labelling- linking words to the objects which they refer to

packaging- exploring the labels and to what extent they can apply. Over/under extension occurs

network building- Making connections between words, understanding similarities and opposites in meanings

Hyponymy

The hierarchical structure that exists between lexical items

Hypernym

a word that is more general than another (e.g. animal is a hypernym for horse, plant is a hypernym for flower)

Hyponym

a more specific word within a category or under a hypernym

Vygotsky and Piaget- Cognitive theory

believed that language helps to develop concepts, believed that concepts must be developed first if language is to follow.

Piaget's stages of cognitive development

-sensorimotor (Up to age 2)- Lexical choices concrete rather than abstract. Object permanence develops. Child experiences physical world
-pre-operational (2-7)- Language and motor skills develop and become more competent. Language is ego centric- either focused on the child or used by child when no one else is around
-concrete operational(7-11)- Child begins to think logically about concrete ideas
-formal operational (11+) Abstract reasoning develops

Eve Clarks 50 first words

Usually common adjectives, but also spatial adjectives are acquired later

Roger Brown two word stage

AGENT + ACTION E.g daddy kick
AGENT + AFFECTED E.g Me ball
ENTITY + ATTRIBUTE E.g Kitty Big
ACTION + AFFECTED E.g throw stick
ACTION + LOCATION E.g Sit chair
ENTITY + LOCATION E.g Spoon Table
POSSESSOR + POSSESSION E.g Daddy coat
NOMINATION E.g That cake
RECURRENCE E.g More ball
Negation e.g No ball

Child Language questions

-Usually formed in one or two word stages
-Formed by rising intonation alone
-Questions appear correctly at start of sentence
-Inversion of the subject and auxiliary/copula verb does not happen till later
-Only later can kids create yes/no interrogatives
-Appear in a certain order- what, where, why, when

Bellugi - Stages of Negation

1) Use no at beginning or end of sentence
2) Moves no inside the sentence
3) Attaches negative to auxiliary verb

Bellugi - stages of pronouns

1) Child uses their own name
2) Child recognises I/me pronoun and uses it in different places in the sentence
3) Child uses them according to whether they are in the subject or object position

free morpheme

a morpheme that can stand alone as a word

Bound morpheme

cannot stand alone

Virtuous error (Chomsky)

A nonstandard utterance from a child based upon logical conclusions about grammar and morphology

Overgeneralization

applying grammar rules in areas they don't apply ("I writed a story"; goed; comed)

Halliday's Taxonomy of speech functions

Instrumental- fulfil a need
Regulatory- influences the behaviour of others
Interactional- develops and maintains social relationships
Personal- conveys individuals opinions
Representational- Conveys facts and information
Imaginative- creative and imaginary world
Heuristic- learn about the enviroment

John Dore- Language Functions

Labelling, repeating, answering, requesting action, calling, greeting, protesting, practising

Brown and Levinson

Positive and negative politeness

child-directed speech

Repetition, higher pitch, child's name rather than pronouns, the present tense, one word utterances, short elliptical sentences, fewer verbs/ modifiers, concrete nouns, expansion- development of a child's uttereance into a longer more meaningful form, Recasts- commenting on, extending and rephrasing a childs utterance, yes/ no questioning, exaggerated pauses giving turn taking cues

Nativism theory

Chomsky's idea that language learning is achieved through 'nature' - it has been programmed into our brain through genetic evolution. In built LAD- Language Acquisition device

social interactionist theory- Bruner

explains language acquisition as being caused by a motivation to communicate and interact with others. LASS- Language, Acquisition Support system. Introduced concept of scaffolding, transferring a skill from adult to child.

Emergent writing

Children's early scribble writing, a stage of their literacy development

Ascender

Portion of letter,goes above its usual height

Descender

Where part of a letter goes below the baseline font

Kroll's four stages of development

-Preparation (Up to 6). Basic motor skills acquired along side with principles of spelling
-Consolidation (7/8) Writing is similar to spoken language
-Differentiation (9/10) Awareness of writing as separate from speech emerges. Understanding of writing for different audiences and purposes is evident
-Integration (Mid-teens) Personal voice in writing and evidence of controlled writing with appropriate linguistic choices

Rothery's categories for evaluating children's writing

-Observation/comment; writer makes an observation and follows this with an evaluation
-Recount
-Report- factual and objective, non chronological
-Narrative

Britton's 3 Modes of Children's Writing

Expressive- resembles speech. Uses 1st person perspective and content based on personal preferences
Poetic- Develops gradually, requiring skills in crafting and shaping language, phonological features such as rhyme and rythym
Transactional- dissociated with speaking style, style of academic essays, impersonal, 3rd person

Katherine Perera

Classifying texts:
chronological and non-chronological: the second requires more skill because it relies on the child being able to link ideas mentioned elsewhere and come up with their own system of organisation. This compliments Rothery.

Diagraph

combination of 2 letters possessing a single sound (graph= ph/ swing=ng/chance=ch/head=ea)

Homophone

a word that has the same sound but a different meaning as another word

5 Spelling Stages

1. Pre-phonemic-imitate writing, mainly scribberling and pretend writing
2. Semi-phonetic- link letter shapes and sounds, using this to write words
3. Phonetic- Understand that all phonemes are represented by graphemes
4. Transitional- Combine phonic knowledge with visual memory
5. Standard Spelling- Spell most words correctly

Categories of spelling error

INSERTION= Adding extra letters
OMISSION= leaving out letters
SUBSTITUTION= Switching one letter for another
TRANSPOSITION= Reversing the correct order of letters and words
PHONETIC SPELLING= Using awareness of sounds to guess letters
OVER/UNDERGENERALISATION OF SPELLING RULES
SALIENT (KEY) SOUNDS= writing only key sounds

Gleason et al

Parents use more diminutives when talking to girls than boys

Ely et al

Parents use more inner state words when speaking to girls

Sinclair and Coulthard

Initiation response feedback model. IRF Model. Teacher talk, teaches uses informatives, directives, and eliciation

Piaget's egocentrism

Child at 3-5 goes through stage where they develop an ability to understand someones point of view. Take part in ego-centric speech e.g talking to themselves

David Crystal developing Bellugi's findings

Children also used pragmatic devices like "maybe" to say no (thus being indirect)

Kirby

Children tend to grasp the passive construction at 4

Thompson- Gender

Found girls more likely to ask an adult for help in play activities

Sachs- Gender

Boys more likely to use simple imperatives with their playmate. Girls used fewer imperatives and used language that involves the other child with planning

Amy Sheldon- Gender

Girls try to negotiate a settlement in any play disputes whereas boys threaten and issue directives