Language Acquisition Review

Phonotactic rules

Rules that state what sounds can occur in a sequence that are side by side

Sound combinations allowed at word beginnings (st, sp, th) and how consonant clusters form are examples of what rules?

Phonotactic rules

Protoimperatives

pointing/gestures to gain control over the behaviors of others

- ex : The child reaches toward a toy while looking at the caregiver (requesting it).

Nominals

specific - refers to only one thing : "mama"

general - all members of category : "dog" for all "dogs"

Motherease

- Pitch variations

- Loudness variations

- Simple sentences/shorter utterances

- Exaggerated facial expressions

- Slower than normal rate

- Longer pauses than normal

- References made to items the child can see or hear

- Regular rhythm

- Repetition

- Face to face interactions

Cooing

vowel like sounds with brief consonant like sounds

Ex: "ooo" "goo" "coo"

Babbling

better vowel and consonant sounds

Ex: "ba" "ma" "ga" "da"

Reduplicated babbling

same vowel and consonant productions

Ex: "bababa" "mamama" "dadada"

Variegated babbling

syllables that differ in production

- mixing different consonants and vowels in the same string

Ex: "bamada" "dagoo" "mabaga"

Jargon

babbling with adult like intonation, rhythm, and stress

Ex: " ba da MA goo" "DAda MAba"

protowords

Words that aren't similar to the adult form but child uses it consistently

Ex: "wawa" for water "baba" for bottle

Language sampling

method of collecting and transcribing the communicative abilities of an individual at a specific point in time

Morpheme

The smallest unit of language that has meaning, functioning as the "building block" of words

Free morpheme

words that can stand alone

Bound morpheme

are added to words (prefixes, suffixed)

Derivational morphemes

prefix or suffix

Inflectional morphemes

only suffixes

The words "book", "run", "cat", and "jump" are all examples of

free morphemes

the words "s", "ed", "ing", "un" are examples of

bound morpheme s

Ground stages of syntactic development

- semantic roles and grammatical relations

- grammatical morphemes and modulation of meanings

- modalities of the simple sentence

- embedding of one sentence within another

- coordination of simple sentences and propositional relations

Browns stages will encompass ages

12 to 46 months

How to compute MLU

Count all morphemes and divide by the total number of utterances

Compute the MLU for the sentence "Mommy's running"

- one utterance

- four morphemes

Mommy = 1 (free)

’s = 1 (possessive or contractible copula)

run = 1 (free)

-ing = 1 (bound inflectional)

MLU : 4

When children produce 2 words the development of

syntax occurs

Most frequently used sounds in babbling stage

stops (/p, b, t, d, k, g/), nasals (/m, n/), glides (/w, j/), and the vowels /a, i, u/.

When does the big milestone of laughing happens

3-4 months of age?

extension

Adding semantic information to the utterance

expansion

Completes the utterance into full grammatical form

over-extension

Using a new word to broadly/over extend the use of it

under-extension

Using a word too narrowly

A child saying "bottle" only for their baby bottle, not others', this is an example of

under-extension

A child saying "dog" for all four-legged animals (like cows or cats), this is an example of

over-extension

fast mapping

initial stage of word learning — when a child forms a quick, rough connection between a new word and its referent (meaning) after hearing it only once or a few times

slow mapping

gradual process of refining and strengthening the understanding of a word’s meaning and how it’s used.

- This occurs over time, with repeated exposure in different contexts.

substantive words

refers to events or objects

- agents

- objects

substantive : agents

things that cause action

ex : "mommy" "mommy eat"

substantive : objects

things that receive the action

ex : "ball" for "throw ball"

presuppositional skills

speaker's ability to make assumptions about what the listener knows, believes, or needs in a conversation — and to adjust their language accordingly

a child says "put it over there" is an example of

presuppositional skills

- Assumes listener can see what "it" and "there" refer to — uses pronouns and deixis appropriately.

dietetic gestures

calls attention to object

representational gestures

used to demonstrate feature of an object

a toddler holds up a book for caregiver to see is an example of a

deictic gesture

a baby signs "eat" before they can say it is an example of a

representational gesture

A child hands a ball to caregiver (could mean "take it" or "let's play") is an example of a

deictic gesture

A toddler blows air to show something is hot is an example of a

representational gesture

intentionality

- deictic gestures

- representational gestures

preverbal behavior

language a child has before they learn functional speech

examples of preverbal behavior

eye contact/gaze, vocalizations, gestures that are used with purpose and intent to send a message