Child Language Development

behavioral theory

Skinner: language is learned through experience

nativist (generative) theory

Chomsky: children are born with an innate mechanism for learning language

interactionist theory

infant is predisposed to learn language and learns it through interaction w others and environment

birth to 6 months

produce reflexive sounds (crying), prefer human voice, discriminate btwn different speech sounds

babbling

random sound play, usually CV or VC syllables

reduplicated babbling

long strings of CV repetitions

variegated babbling

syllables produced without repetition

jargon

babbling with adult-like intonation

lexicon

personal dictionary of the child

telegraphic speech

use content words, omit grammar

MLU

mean length of utterance (calculated by counting morphemes)