3.01 English: Child Language Development Flashcards

1
Q

Language has a critical period for learning (0-7 years)
• Then there’s a systematic decline to learn language

Babies are ‘citizens of the world’ - they can discern sounds from any language

Before their first birthday, they decide what language they’re going to speak

Adults are culture-bound listeners

Babies listen to the statistics of language
• Become more receptive to the statistics of their own language
• It takes a human being for babies to take on these statistics

A

Patricia Kuhl: The linguistic genius of babies

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2
Q

Involves experimenting with noises and sounds

A

First stage of development: Pre-verbal stage (0-12)

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3
Q

2-6months

Open mouth vowel sounds: oo, aa, ee

These experimental noises are distinct from crying

Desmond Morris (2008):
Suggests these gurgles and babbles will be the same, regardless of the baby’s nationality or the amount of parental impact they’ve had

A

First stage of development: Pre-verbal stage (0-12) - Cooing

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4
Q

Consonant vowel combinations (CVCV): gaga, baba etc.

Two types:
Reduplicated: simpler, appears first and involves a child creating the same sound repeatedly - EG: babababa

Variegated: Emerges slightly later and involves variation in the consonant and vowel sounds being produced - EG: bada, manamoo

A

First stage of development: Pre-verbal stage (0-12) - Babbling

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5
Q

Appears around 12-18 months

Ability to say one word

Child conveys a whole sentence of meaning in just one word or labels things in the world around them

Large proportion of first words are nouns

A

Second stage of development: Holophrastic stage

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6
Q

Adding an extra vowel sound to create a CCVC structure

EG: Horse becomes ‘horsey’, dog becomes ‘doggie’

A

Holophrastic stage: Phonological simplification strategy - Addition

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7
Q

Leaving out the last consonant of a word

EG: Cat becomes ‘ca’, pig becomes ‘pi’

A

Holophrastic stage: Phonological simplification strategy - Deletion

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8
Q

Repetition of a phoneme

EG: Choo choo, wee wee

A

Holophrastic stage: Phonological simplification strategy - Reduplication

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9
Q

One sound is swapped for another, easier sound

EG: Rabbit becomes ‘wabbit’, sing becomes ‘ting’

A

Holophrastic stage: Phonological simplification strategy - Substitution

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10
Q

Consonant clusters are reduced to single consonant sounds

EG: Dry becomes ‘dai’, frog becomes ‘fog’

A

Holophrastic stage: Phonological simplification strategy - Consonant cluster reduction

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11
Q

Removal of an entire unstressed syllable from a word

EG: Banana becomes ‘nana’, pretending becomes ‘tending’

A

Holophrastic stage: Phonological simplification strategy - Deletion of unstressed syllables

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12
Q

Substitution - but the sound changes to a sound already in the word

EG: Doggie becomes ‘goggie’, lorry becomes ‘rorry’

A

Holophrastic stage: Phonological simplification strategy - Assimilation

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13
Q

• Child referred to his toy fish as a ‘fis’
• When adults asked him, “Is this your fis?” he rejected the statement
• When they asked him, “Is this your fish?” he responded, “Yes, my fis”

Showed that although the child couldn’t produce the /sh/ phoneme, he was able to perceive it as being different from the /s/ phoneme

Demonstrates that perception of phonemes occurs earlier than the ability for them child to produce them

A

Holophrastic stage: Berko and Brown - ‘Fis’ phenomenon study (1960)

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14
Q

Found that first words were most commonly nouns (60%) followed then by:
• Action words (EG: verbs)
• Modifiers (EG: Adjectives/adverbs)
• Social/personal words (Bye-bye, please etc.)

Diminutives may also be common at this stage (EG: kitty, dolly, doggie)

A

Holophrastic stage: Katherine Nelson (1973)

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15
Q

Around 9-12 months - children will begin to communicate in a way that makes their meaning clear
• Through individuals words accompanied by non-verbal communication

He proposed seven reasons why language is initially used - pragmatics

A

Holophrastic stage: Michael Halliday - Functions of early language (1973)

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16
Q

Language used to try to fulfil a need

EG: ‘Nana’ - gesturing for more banana

A

Holophrastic stage: Michael Halliday’s functions of early language - Instrumental

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17
Q

Language used to influence others - to command or persuade

EG: ‘Come’ - when wanting to enter a playground with caregiver

A

Holophrastic stage: Michael Halliday’s functions of early language - Regulatory

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18
Q

Language used to build and strengthen social relationships with others

EG: ‘Love you’ - aimed at sibling

A

Holophrastic stage: Michael Halliday’s functions of early language - Interactional

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19
Q

Language used to develop a sense of self, express preferences and opinions etc.

EG: ‘No like it’ - describing a new food

A

Holophrastic stage: Michael Halliday’s functions of early language - Personal

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20
Q

Language used to request information from, or give information to, another participant

EG: ‘I eating all my dinner’

A

Holophrastic stage: Michael Halliday’s functions of early language - Representational

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21
Q

Language used to explore the world around oneself

EG: ‘Who that?’ - when hearing a knock at the door

A

Holophrastic stage: Michael Halliday’s functions of early language - Heuristic

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22
Q

Language used to play and be imaginative

EG: ‘Dragon’

A

Holophrastic stage: Michael Halliday’s functions of early language - Imaginative

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23
Q

Around 18-24 months

Child puts two words together to convey meaning

Shows understanding of grammar for the first time - see relationships between two words

The two words uttered will usually be content words - that convey essential meaning, rather than grammatical words - that indicate relationships between content words

A

Third stage of development: Two word stage

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24
Q

Suggested that syntactical structures of two word utterances follow a limited range of patterns

A

Two word stage: Roger Brown (1973)

25
Q

EG: Daddy go

A

Roger Brown: Agent + action

26
Q

EG: Make cake

A

Roger Brown: Action + object

27
Q

EG: Billy bike

A

Roger Brown: Agent + object

28
Q

EG: Run garden

A

Roger Brown: Action + location

29
Q

EG: Teddy chair

A

Roger Brown: Object + location

30
Q

EG: Granny gloves

A

Roger Brown: Possessor + possession

31
Q

EG: Coat soft

A

Roger Brown: Object + attribute

32
Q

EG: Here chair

A

Roger Brown: Demonstrative + object

33
Q

Usually between 2-3 years old

Longer, more complex utterances - clear meaning

Includes key content words and omits grammatical words

EG: ‘Me going to sleep’ instead of ‘I am going to sleep’

A

Fourth stage of development: Telegraphic stage

34
Q

Usually around age 3

Increasingly like adult speech

Grammatical words alongside content words
• Subtle nuances: irregular verbs etc.

Child will be gaining confidence with inflectional functions and understand the ways in which particular words have different endings
• According to quantity, scale or time

Sentences will be mainly grammatically standard, with occasion ‘virtuous errors’

A

Fifth stage of development: Post-telegraphic stage

35
Q

Nurture theory

Language is learnt through positive/negative reinforcement (also known as operant conditioning) and imitation

Positive reinforcement: Successful utterances are rewarded by parents and therefore reinforced, whilst unsuccessful ones are forgotten

A

Skinner: Behaviourism

36
Q

Arguments for:
• Any given language is a behaviour

Arguments against:
• Poverty of stimulus
• Linguistic universals
• Ineffectiveness of correction
• Conflicts with Chomsky’s LAD
• Doesn’t account for cognitive factors in language development

A

Skinner: Behaviourism evaluation

37
Q

Nature theory

LAD (Language Acquisition Device): Children are born with the innate ability to understand and produce language

This is based on the idea of a ‘universal language’
• Functions for a limited critical period

May occasionally get verb tenses wrong for example - he calls these ‘virtuous errors’

Doesn’t say environment doesn’t matter, just that the LAD is more important

A

Chomsky: Nativism

38
Q

Arguments for:
• WUG test
• Stroke victims
• Formation of creole varieties
• Studies of sign language

Arguments against:
• Skinner: no innate ability, purely imitation
• Why are mistakes still made if it’s built in?
• The term ‘universal grammar’ is vague - different languages have different structures

A

Chomsky: Nativism evaluation

39
Q

Children were shown an imaginary animal - a ‘wug’ and asked to produce the plural version

Children produced the word ‘wugs’ - shows an innate understanding of grammar rules

A

Jean Berko Gleason: The WUG test (1958)

40
Q

Nature theory

Says language development will never be greater than cognitive development - always match

Language development is dependent on cognitive development

A

Piaget: Cognition

41
Q

When children can compare

A

Piaget: Cognition - Seriation

42
Q

The child’s realisation that objects exist regardless of perception

A

Piaget: Cognition - Object permanence

43
Q

Only think about themselves when using language

A

Piaget: Cognition - Egocentric

44
Q

Aged 0-2

We develop the five senses through movement and experiences

Labelling takes off

Object Permanence

Egocentric

Increased physical ability increases our cognitive ability - leads to linguistic development

A

Piaget: First stage of cognitive development - Sensori-motor stage

45
Q

Aged 2-7

Imaginative function role

Learning symbolic meaning/functions of language

Thinking is still egocentric

Roleplay

Around age 4: Intuative age - start asking lots of questions

A

Piaget: Second stage of cognitive development - Pre-operational stage

46
Q

Aged 7-11

Finally discover logic

Inductive reasoning

Brain learns to reverse actions

Learning operations have certain cause and effects

Gain empathy

A

Piaget: Third stage of cognitive development - Concrete operational stage

47
Q

Aged 11-16

Gain the ability to think and reason in more abstract, idealistic and logical ways

No longer dependent on concrete manipulation

A

Piaget: Fourth stage of cognitive development - Formal operational stage

48
Q

Arguments for:
• Some linguistic development seems to match cognitive development

Arguments against:
• Too much reliance on cognitive ability
• There isn’t always clear cohesion between language and cognitive development
• Small sample size

A

Piaget: Cognition evaluation

49
Q

Nurture theory

Parents and caregivers (more knowledgeable others) are key players in children’s language development

Child-directed speech

MKO’s scaffold children’s language by supporting their language development

LASS (Language Acquisition Support System) - In response to Chomsky’s LAD

A

Bruner: Input and interaction

50
Q

Features include:
• Higher pitch and exaggerated intonation
• Repeated grammatical structures
• Repetition of the child’s name
• Use of many questions and commands
• Use of concrete nouns
• Fewer verbs, adjectives and function words
• Shorter overall mean length of utterance
• Recasting - reconstructing the child’s utterance to make it more accurate and developed

A

Bruner: Input and Interaction - Child Directed Speech features

51
Q

A more knowledgeable other (MKO) needs to be presents for children to be able to learn language

The MKO can move children beyond their zone of proximal development (ZPD) through scaffolding and supporting their language development

Child’s ZPD will then broaden - meaning learning can continue to progress

A

Vygotsky: Input and interaction

52
Q

Arguments for:
• It seems like a child will learn quicker with frequent interaction

Arguments against:
• There are cultures where adults don’t adopt special ways of talking to children - meaning CDS may be useful but not essential

A

Bruner: Input and interaction evaluation

53
Q

Language development and cognitive development are co-dependent

A

Tomasello: Usage based

54
Q

When the child understands the semantic meaning of words

EG: Understanding ‘more milk’ means drink more milk

A

Tomasello: Usage based - Intention reading

55
Q

When the child understands the grammatical meaning of words

They understand that they need to put words in a certain order to convey meaning

EG: “more milk” in this order conveys to the other person that they want more milk

A

Tomasello: Usage based - Pattern finding

56
Q

Says babies are born ready to learn

Children living in poverty are behind 2 years

Brain neurons are affected by poverty environment (Social economic status - SES)

Evidenced a strong correlation between the number of CDS heard by babies and the vocabulary developed by them

A

Anne Fernald

57
Q

Victim of severe abuse, neglect and social isolation
• Kept in a locked room at approx. 20 months old by father and was tied to either a toilet or crib

Little to no interaction with anyone

Found at approx. 13 years 6 months

A

Genie (1970 - America)

58
Q

Her rate of grammar acquisition was much slower than normal, her vocabulary was okay

Linguists determined she was unable to full acquire a language, she was only able to acquire some

Supports: Bruner
Challenges: Chomsky

HOWEVER,

She did learn some - proves necessity of both nature and nurture?

A

Genie findings (1970 - America)