SHS 465 Exam 2

What is Phonology?

The set of rules that governs the occurrence and distribution of phonemes, specific to each particular language

Word frequency

High frequency words are recognized and produced more

Neighborhood density

The number of possible words that differ easily by one phoneme

Phonotactic probability

The likelihood of a sound sequence occuring in the language

Word and syllable shapes

Describes the structure of sounds in words, usually using C (consonant) and V (vowel) patterns.

Phonemic inventory

Children tend to develop sounds earlier if they are more common in the words languages (ex: /m/,/n/,/b/,/p/,/w/)

How to calculate PCC

Percent of consonants correct - PCC = correct consonants divided by total consonants x 100

How to calculate pMLU

Phonological mean length of utterance.

pLMU: phonemes + correct consonants

How to calculate proximity

The child pMLU divided by adult pMLU multiplied by 100

Phonological processes/patterns (know chart on slide 18 of Lecture 2.4)

Final consonant deletion: 3 Stopping: 3-5 Fronting: 4 Cluster reduction: 4 Weak syllable deletion: 4 Deaffrication: 4 Gliding: 6 Vowelization: 6 If a child has one of these phonological processes after the age of elimination that is not ok.

What constitutes a true "first word?"

Must be used purposefully/intentionally, consistent pronunciation similar to adult form, used consistently beyond context in which it was learned.

Relationship between word comprehension and production

People (especially children) can understand words and sound contrasts before they can produce them accurately

Nature and timing of word spurt

A word spurt is this: 20-100 words in a matter of months. The nature of a word spurt is that children tend to understand words before they learn to say them (rate of comprehension is twice as fast as production) and that there is individual variability.

Strategies for word-learning

Bootstrapping, whole word assumption, type assumption, and mutual exclusivity

Nelson's categories of meaning

Nominals, action words, personal social, and modifiers

Word mapping and refinement

Fast mapping is a quick, initial guess of a word’s meaning. Slow mapping is the gradual refinement with more exposure. During this, children may overextend or underextend words before reaching correct use.

Referential and expressive learners

Referential: Dominance of general nominals

Expressive: Higher use of personal social words, more of an even distribution across categories

Refinement:

Overextensions: a wider range of meaning than the adult form. Underextensions: a more limited range of meaning than the adult form. Appropriate: using it right

30-million word gap study and significance

The 30-million word gap study found that children from higher-income families were exposed to about 30 million more words by age 3 than children from lower-income families, which was linked to differences in vocabulary and later academic outcomes.

What is a morpheme?

Smallest unit of meaning

Bound versus free morphemes

Bound: inflectional and derivational, can't stand alone

Free: lexical and functional, stands alone

Lexical

Carries the content of a message (aka root) open class

Functional

Modulates the meaning of a message; closed class

Derivational

Creates a new word using pre-fixes and suffices

Inflectional/grammatical

Creates new forms of the same word using suffixes (aka grammatical)

Cognitive skills required

Categorization of words into semantic classes. Segmentation of words into morphemes it takesseveral years to acquire morphological competence

Allomorphs and morphophonemic rules

Allomorphs: like phonemes, morphemes are influenced by the phonemes around them (the phonetic variations of a morpheme)

Implications of morpheme overgeneralization

Overgeneralization of morphemes: a morphological rule in a context where it does not apply (ex: 1 foot 2 foots). Overgeneralization is proof that children are using morphological rules productively.

How to calculate MLU

Add up all the morphemes, every single one, divide by child utterances, MLU is done. Utterance is a verbal sentence or statement

Grammatical morphemes and Brown's Stages (know these well)

Stage 1: MLU= 1.0-1.99 Morpheme: none. Stage 2: MLU= 2.0-2.49 Morpheme: present progressive, prepositions, preposition, plural. Stage 3: MLU= 2.5-2.99 Morpheme: past irregular, possessive, uncontractable copula Stage 4: MLU: 3.0-3.99. Morpheme: articles, past regular Stage 5: MLU: 4.0+. Morpheme: 3rd person regular, 3rd person irregular, uncontractible auxiliary, contratable copula, and contractible auxiliary

Bootstrapping

Using what you know to support what you don't know

Relationship between vocabulary development and syntactic development

In toddlers, vocabulary size predicts MLU, showing that word learning supports early syntax. In preschool and school-age children, vocabulary growth and grammatical development are strongly correlated, with each supporting the other over time.

3 stages of syntactic development (Stages 1-3 for toddlerhood)

1. Hollophrastic: 1 word represents a whole sentence

2. 2-word stage: 2 word utterances

3. Telegraphic stage: "see boat river" just the main ideas

General concept of semantic relations and how they influence syntax

Using syntactic knowledge to support the acquisition of semantics. word meaning and arrangment creates well formed sentences. Using knowledge also impacts the acquisition of new words.

Syntactic spurt

Initially, a slow period of developing unique sentences, then suddenly they are acquired quickly

Pre-requisites for pragmatic competence

Pragmatic competence is rooted in a child's capacity for representation. Skills like object permanence and joint attention help children understand that others have their own goals, desires, and perspectives. As the ability to differentiate self from others develops, it provides the foundation for understanding communication, including humor and figurative language.

Concept of "Theory of Mind"

The ability to understand that others have unique perspectives and interpret those perspectives in a social context

Categorial:

Categorical (overextension): extending a word to referents in the same or a related category (e.g., saying “truck” for a bus, or “dada” for other men)

Analogical and relational:

Extend the word to a referent that is semantically and perspectually thematically and functionally similar

1. Come here

2. Cookie yummy

3. Play music

4. My turn

1. action + location

2. entity + attribute

3. action + object

4. possesor + possesion

Calculate MLU

Example 1

Utterances:

“Doggie run”

“He running”

“I see dog”

Count morphemes:

doggie (1) + run (1) = 2

he (1) + run + -ing (2) = 2

I (1) + see (1) + dog (1) = 3

Total morphemes = 7 Total utterances = 3

MLU = 7 ÷ 3 = 2.33

Example 2

Utterances:

“Mommy’s book”

“I want cookie”

“She is eating”

Count morphemes:

mommy (1) + ’s (1) + book (1) = 3

I (1) + want (1) + cookie (1) = 3

she (1) + is (1) + eat + -ing (2) = 3

Total morphemes = 9 Total utterances = 3

MLU = 9 ÷ 3 = 3.0

Example 3

Utterances:

“Dogs are barking”

“I played outside”

Count morphemes:

dog + -s (2) + are (1) + bark + -ing (2) = 5

I (1) + play + -ed (2) + outside (1) = 4

Total morphemes = 9 Total utterances = 2

MLU = 9 ÷ 2 = 4.5