Child Language Acquisition Key Notes
English Language Paper 4
Child Language Acquisition:
All children go through the same stage, but language learning varies
Before birth:
Language learning before birth. A child born (4 days old) in France could distinguish between French and other languages: when he heard French, he sucked the feeder more vigorously than on hearing other languages
Babies become attuned to the rhythm and intonations of the language around them
The First Year:
All babies cry in some manner around the world
At six weeks, cooing starts which makes reduplication
At six months, babbling sounds are closer to language
Parents help develop peaking
Caretaker language of parents-teachers turn taking
Exposed to language more
The entire environment is language
Parents converse with child-teach him conventions of turn taking. Repeating key words lead him to understand vocabulary and syntax better
Babies between 0-3 months can even differentiate between voices
In early months, phonemes produced are hot culture specific (i.e. well – “we” sound is phoneme, bell, “ba” sound is phoneme).
Around 10 months, these sounds develop into the native language like vocabulary or sound so, then child language differs
Body recognizes simple and often repeated phrases as bye-bye, night, moon, toys.
Language Acquisition:
From one to two years, the Holophrastic stage:
Age of rapid vocabulary acquisition and basic syntax
First word spoken at about 12 months of age
Gain vocabulary of 200 words before 2nd birthday
Term Holophrastic means the first grammar
Lexical items learned are nouns (referring to things, toys, noun, etc.)
Vocabulary items relate to personal interactions
Long/speech is linked with child’s wants and needs
Express emotions
Vocabulary is limited, car may refer to anything with wheels
Two-word stage; e.g; train go/plane fly
Sentences are not inflected-no indication of tenses
Use consonant sound example; m, h, b
Certain sounds (phonemes arrive before others)
Indulges plosive sounds: b+p and nasal sounds in response m+h
They babble
Language is limited but understanding is wider
Age 2-3:
Including the telegraphic stage
Huge increase in vocabulary
Learns vocabulary of 2000 words by the age of five and most are learned at this stage
Over-extension when a word is used more broadly then it is over extension e.g, ‘daddy’ might be used for all men
Under-extension-word used is used in a narrative context (shoes for everyone/plate)
Telegraphic stage is: child’s utterance has some longer, grammatically complex/some parts missing)
Words have greater meaning like food-all-we going now
Child is logically coherent
Straight forward with subject (food) and verb (gone)
Often use auxiliary verb (is)
Not use → prepositions-determines (the/a) suffices tenses etc. at this stage
Use wider range of consonants- p, t, d, n, w, f
Can’t say polysyllabic words like ba /ra /na- repetition
Language repetitions from adults
Now understood to clause commands, hot or cold, day and night
Understanding contrasting concepts, hot or cold, day and night
Types of child languages
Monologues | Dialogue |
About two children provide a running commentary. As they become older, monologues change into narratives | Children engage in a dialogue and need parents or somebody to talk to |
3-5 years-pre-operational stage:
Cognitive and social development with language development
Following feature develop with speed:
Connecting words example, because/if
Number words
Words connected with emotions
Family terms (aunt/brother)
Colors
Contrasting concepts (cold/hot, day/night)
Vocabulary includes hypernyms (words for categories like animals/vegetables)
Vocabulary in hyponym (words within those families)
Home environment and family members are important
Use longer words with three or more syllables (el/e/phant-he/li/cop/ter)
Become competent in communication
Increase knowledge of syntax/tenses and plurals)
They make virtuous errors, applying regular grammatical endings with irregular forms e.g, runned/mouses/wented/thoughted
Berko Wug Test – 1958
Use questions and negotiations (rot)
Mixed up homophones-one/won (words with same sound)
LAD and LASS:
Language acquisition device & language acquisition support system
LAD takes no real account of child’s social world. According to Brumer, innate abilities of the child (LAD) are supported by parents, family, education and environment
LASS:
Child interaction with caregiver
LASS is important between the ages of 2 and 5 as it is the critical period where learning begins to flourish
Pre-school education provides a scaffold of support for child language development
Cognitive development:
The mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding thoughts, experiences and senses
Both LAD/LASS show that humans have the capacity for language development separate from cognitive development
Jean Piaget: 1869-1980
Piaget revolutionized child development
Arrested-child was not a miniature adult in their thinking, went through stages of mental health parallel to language development
Cognitive ability is in born
Language learning alongside with worldly language
1): The Sensorimotor Stage (babies acquire):
Earliest knowledge through physical activities
Stage lasts till about the age of 2
At this stage, development of object permanence for the child. Learns that things have names example, bat, mummy, try)
Language begins with infants increasing engagement with the environment
2): The pre-operational stage: (between age 2 and 7)
Child thinks in definitive terms
Language develops quickly although child only sees the world in relation to themselves-an egocentric perception – ‘everything is about me’
2)(c): The concrete operational stage (between 11 years)
Child uses language for situations outside their experience and think logically about specific concrete or observable situations
Cognitive development is conservation → child’s understanding of something and it stays the same
4)d): The Formal Operational Stage: 11+
The final stage in cognitive theory, from the age of about 12, adolescents understanding of abstract ideas and the language associated with them
Piaget’s theory revolutionized the field of child development
Example, IB-international Baccalaureate
Primary education curriculum (age reporters)
Lev Vygotsky: developed Piaget’s theory
Theory emphasized the value of language in developing thoughts/adults should interact with children
Sir Igratius Loyola: “give me a child for the first seven years and I will give you a man”
B.F skinner: language took place in a environment with constant rewards
Chomsky: innate skill in language learning
Piaget: cognitive development goes hand in hand with maturing child and his understanding
Halliday’s function of language:
Instrumental: language used to fulfill a need-obtaining food, drink and comfort
Regulatory: language used to influence the behavior of others-persuading/commanding
Interactional: develops social relationship ease the process of interactions concerns phatic dimensions of talk “you are my friend-here is my teddy”
Personal: express personal opinion/feelings and identity of the speakers
Representational: language used to exchange information (need to see granny/my tea is finished)
Hermistic: language used to explore the world and to learn and discover (why is the sky blue)
Imaginative: imaginary world created-story telling
Influence of TV on language:
No educational benefits under 2 years
Passive TV watching does not develop cognitive language skills
Pictures on TV numb child’s imagination
Age 5 children watching cartoons have poor reading habits
Child Language Acquisition
Theories:
B.F Skinner (1904-1990)
Skinner followed Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov who worked with dogs to develop-the stimulus-response mechanism to influence behavior through rewards and punishments
Language is acquired by conditioning
Child imitated the sands around him, receives praises and approval (good boy etc.)
Which encourages them to repeat and develop language
This is a behaviorist theory
We learn to speak languages which we grow up with
Adopts accents of those around us
There is a strong environmental influence in the language that we speak
Each child produces an infinite number of utterances, many of which are not heard before, so they do not imitate exactly
Children make virtuous (common) errors of grammar and language which adults do not generally do. They apply –ed, put tenses with many verbs where not even needed
Babies and children seem to pass through some stages of key development if this were dependent on the people around, there would be more variation
Children correct their own language to a standard form even when adults do not correct them
Children can understand a lot more language and are able to answer (expression)
LAD
Language Acquisition Device
An innate language competence
Noam Chomsky (1965):
He criticized this theory (Skinner)
He believed that human brain has the ability to learn language-a LAD-which allows children to develop language skills
This device enables children to be receptive to language development and are able to acquire language around them
Children are born with an instinct for a universal grammar which makes them receptive
They possess an instinctive capacity to learn grammatical structures
Children pick up language when they are exposed to the form
Eric Lexeberg (linguist, 1967):
He supported the idea
LA activated at a critical period
Critical period is early mid-childhood
Next is sensitive period in which further language learning at times is more successful
From birth to puberty: sensitive time of native language acquisition
Stages of language development; some ages for all language environment differs
Children acquire language differently
Deaf children exposed to language, they make up their own language
LAD – Key points:
Children learn to speak rapidly, innate capacity for language explains this
Children make virtuous errors of these and syntax by applying deep language structure before they are aware of correct forms
Subject-verb form- a child knows it without any education
Harry Ritchie
He argues against Chomsky’s LAD and believed it was wrong
Recent evidences from neurology grammaticism, which all indicated that there is no innate programming in us
Harry supported Skinner like vie-children language as they learn all the other skills
Jerome Bruner (1983)
Chomsky’s LAD has limitations addressed by Bruner and it is called LASS language acquisition support system
Theory takes no account of any interaction of the child with those around him LAD is assumed to be innate and so will develop automatically into native language
No evidence of a grammar structure or language device is in brain
Statistics of deprived and feral children have shown that they do not develop automatically in the absence of language stimulation around the child
Lad implies that a child has no active role in language acquisition but observations shows that children are active learners
They understand idiors without knowing their literal meaning
By the age of five, they can understand the literal meaning too
They can use conditional tenses
After infancy, they go to school, wider experience
By the age of five, children can:
Converse effortlessly in the majority of situations
Understand and articulate complex language and tenses
Use conditional tenses as (if it stops raining, can we go out)
Can understand about ideas and idioms
Take part in conversations mostly about themselves
Standard from coos and bubble, by now become fluent speakers
Language Development: (from 5-11 years)
When they go to school, they meet a variety of people. They learn different relationships which are reflected in the different register of level of formality they must use in their speech
Children use two patterns:
Restricted code Elaborated groups
↓ ↓
Lower socio-economic groups Higher socio-economic group
↓ ↓
Both the codes are within standard English language quote by Bernstein
Language skills of children aged 5-7:
Good at speaking/expressing using connectives (because, as) longer sentences
Their reading and writing skills are broader as they know the context in which a meaning is being used
Their vocabulary is extended and included understanding too
They understand words which can be used literally and in an unimaginative way \
Their language is affluent/they have sustained conversation, though they are interested in personal talking
Language skills of children between 7-11
In the set of development, milestones occur at the age of 7
They are fluent speakers
They use a wide vocabulary
They are taught in formal education-(standard English)
Speaking skills develop/master in humor/playing around with words specific to native language
They argue unnecessarily
They are self-oriented, but do change their style according to the needs and audience
Use abstract nouns to express ideas and emotions
Many are bilingual
Teenage language:
Inarticulate groups
Express through feedback or cell phones (text speech)
Early adopters of popular culture, style, fashion, music, technology and language
Older people criticize their language
Innovators of language with their conversational styles
Fluent speakers
They bend and would establish patterns
Digital communication generates language which is under and incomprehensible for those outside the circle
At times, they use language of lower standard
Patios (their own local speech)
At this stage, they learn to adopt and use language in a variety of situations
They may live in contrasting worlds
Virtual Real
↓ ↓
World of games/technology Reality
Use jargons and colloquial phrases
Successful children write standard/formal English
Teenager’s code-switch between language and styles
Slang is common among them.
Functions of Young People’s Language:
Pragmatics: it concerns the sermons and contexts for speech and ways in which these factors affect the way we speak. Example, infants are told to say please/thank you
Address their teachers as Ms. Mr. Mrs.
They are more self-expressive at this stage no matter what their medium
Speech strategies:
Semantics: It is the study of the meaning of words and sentences
Pragmatics: Analysis of the context in which we speak