Child language acquisition Flashcards
(119 cards)
1
Q
EARLY LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Beside from language, what does a child learn between 0 and 5?
A
Walking, socialisation, manners, co-ordination etc
2
Q
CHILD LANGUAGE SKILLS
A
2
Q
CHILD LANGUAGE SKILLS
A
3
Q
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT BEGINS IN THE WOMB
What did Descasper and Spence 1986 find?
A
Babies expressed familiarity with stories read by mothers during the last 6 months of pregnancy
4
Q
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT BEGINS IN THE WOMB
What did Mehler et al 1988 find?
A
Four day old French babies increased interest when they heard French as opposed to Italian or English
5
Q
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT BEGINS IN THE WOMB
What did Fitzpatrick 2001 find?
A
The heart rate of an unborn baby slowed when hearing the mothers voice
6
Q
STAGES OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
When is the preverbal stage?
A
Birth to 12 months
7
Q
STAGES OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
What is crying?
A
The first stage of understanding the nature of discourse and interaction with others. This reduces after 2 months
8
Q
STAGES OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
What sound is the second for babies to experiment with?
A
The sound made by the tounge and the back of the mouth coming into contact - this is called cooing
9
Q
STAGES OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
When does babbling appear?
A
Around 6 months
10
Q
STAGES OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
What is babbling?
A
Random vowel and constanant sounds
11
Q
STAGES OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
What are the two types of babbling and give examples
A
Reduplicated babbling - baba
Variegated babbling - bada
12
Q
STAGES OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Are there any recognisable words at the preverbal stage?
A
No
13
Q
STAGES OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
When is the holophrastic stage?
A
12 - 18 months
14
Q
STAGES OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Define the holophrastic stage
A
Children typically know and can use 50 words, mainly nouns
15
Q
EARLY LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Define articulatory ease
A
Plosives come before frictaves. The ‘sh’ sound is difficult to differentiate from the ‘s’ sound
16
Q
EARLY LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Define a frictave
A
A frictave is a consonant produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together
17
Q
EARLY LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
At this stage, why do you see lots of reduplicated words?
A
It eases pronunciation
18
Q
EARLY LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Give an example of reduplicated words
A
Booboo, weewee
19
Q
EARLY LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Why are caregivers and children likely to use diminutives?
A
It eases pronunciation
20
Q
EARLY LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Give an example of a diminutive
A
Doggie instead of dog
21
Q
12 - 18 MONTHS
What does a child begin to use to communicate?
A
Individual words.
22
Q
12 - 18 MONTHS
What are a large proportion of first words?
A
Concrete nouns such as ‘mummy’ or ‘daddy’
23
Q
12 - 18 MONTHS
Why might a child’s first word be a noun?
A
Children, at this time, are reliant on non-verbal communication to clarify their intended meaning
24
THE TWO WORD STAGE
When does this stage occur?
18 - 24 months
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THE TWO WORD STAGE
What do you see during the two word stage?
A vocabulary spurt w children learning 2-3 new words each day
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THE TWO WORD STAGE
How many words do children have by age 2?
Around 800 words
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THE TWO WORD STAGE
What are children now able to do?
Put two words together to convey meaning
28
THE TWO WORD STAGE
What becomes less essential?
Non-verbal communication, as children begin to understand relationships between words
29
TELEGRAPHIC STAGE
When is the telegraphic stage?
Age 2
30
TELEGRAPHIC STAGE
What do children move from?
Placing words together to longer and more complex utterances
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TELEGRAPHIC STAGE
What will telegraphic speech include?
Key content words, but children at this stage are likely to omit the grammatical words which are required for structural accuracy but not to convey meaning.
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TELEGRAPHIC STAGE
Give an example of telegraphic speech
'Me going on a trip' - the child has misused the object pronoun me and omitting the auxiliary verb 'am'
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POST TELEGRAPHIC STAGE
When is the post-telegraphic stage?
Age 3 +
34
POST TELEGRAPHIC STAGE
What does speech begin to sound more like?
More adult w grammatical words previously omitted beginning to appear in a sentence alongside content words
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POST TELEGRAPHIC STAGE
What does speech begin to sound more like?
Adult w grammatical words previously omitted beginning to appear in sentences alongside content words
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POST TELEGRAPHIC STAGE
What is likely to happen?
Subtle nuances of language such as contracted forms, verb inflections and formation of pronouns will be increasingly accurate
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POST TELEGRAPHIC STAGE
By the age of four what are children speaking with?
Largely completed sentences
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POST TELEGRAPHIC STAGE
What becomes a key feature of language from 4 onwards?
Questioning
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POST TELEGRAPHIC STAGE
By the age of 5 what is happening?
Pronunciation may still be childlike and children may still copy words and phrases from TV or other environmental sources
40
PHONETIC MISTAKES
Describe perceptual discriminability
How easily children can distinctly hear different sounds
41
PHONETIC MISTAKES
What did Berko and Brown explore?
The extent which children can hear pronunciation of words but are unable to correctly articulate the phonemes for themselves
42
PHONETIC MISTAKES
Why may children not be able to articulate the phonemes correctly themselves?
Physical limitations of inability to recognise the errors occuring
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PHONETIC MISTAKES
What did B and B show?
A child correcting adult articulation of the noun fish as fis while continuing to articulate is as fis themselves
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PHONETIC MISTAKES
What did B and B's findings demonstrate?
Even though a child is unable to articulate the sound, they can still differentiate between the correct and incorrect pronunciations from another speaker
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MECHANICS OF PHONOLOGY
What is a plosive and ranking
Created when the air flow is blocked for a brief time 1
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MECHANICS OF PHONOLOGY
What is a fricative and ranking
Created when the airflow is only partially blocked and the air moves through the mouth in a steady stream 3
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MECHANICS OF PHONOLOGY
What is a affricate and ranking
Created by putting plosives and frictaves together 2
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MECHANICS OF PHONOLOGY
What is a affricate and ranking
Created by putting plosives and fricatives together 2
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MECHANICS OF PHONOLOGY
What is a approximant and ranking
Similar sounds to vowels 2
50
MECHANICS OF PHONOLOGY
What is a nasal and ranking
Air flows through the nose 1
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MECHANICS OF PHONOLOGY
What is a lateral and ranking
The tounge is against the ridge of the teeth and air moves down the side of the mouth 2
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PHONETIC ALPHABET
What is a phoneme?
A unit of sound
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PHONETIC ALPHABET
When do children learn the early 8?
By age 3
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PHONETIC ALPHABET
What are the early 8?
p, b, d, m, n, w, y
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PHONETIC ALPHABET
When do children learn the middle 8?
Age 4 - 5
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PHONETIC ALPHABET
What are the middle 8?
t, ch, ge, k, g, f, v, ng
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PHONETIC ALPHABET
When do children learn the late 8?
By age 6
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PHONETIC ALPHABET
What are the late 8?
th, the, s, z, sh, su, l, r, wi
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NON STANDARD PHONOLOGICAL FEATURES
Define reduplication
Reduplicated syllables within a word eg baa baa (blanket)
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NON STANDARD PHONOLOGICAL FEATURES
Define diminutive
Reduce the scale of an object by addition eg doggie (dog)
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NON STANDARD PHONOLOGICAL FEATURES
Define addition
Add an additional suffix to the end of a word in order to change it's pronunciation eg dolly (doll)
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NON STANDARD PHONOLOGICAL FEATURES
Define substitution
The process of swapping one sound for another eg fink (think)
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NON STANDARD PHONOLOGICAL FEATURES
Define assimilation
One consonant or vowel is swapped for another eg borry (lorry)
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NON STANDARD PHONOLOGICAL FEATURES
Define deletion
Omitting a particular sound within a word eg dis (dish)
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NON STANDARD PHONOLOGICAL FEATURES
Define consonant cluster reductions
Reducing phonologically more complex units into simpler ones - from two or more consonants down to one eg flyin(g)
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Skinner: Behaviourism
What is Skinner's theory?
all behaviour is a result of conditioning, rather than free choice
67
Skinner: Behaviourism
Give two positives
Children learn through imitation.
Operant conditioning: behaviour is spontaneous, but the consequences affect future behaviour.
68
SKINNER: BEHAVIOURISM
What are the negatives?
children’s grammatical accuracy is not often corrected.
There is evidence that children do not respond to correction.
Children do not spontaneously produce grammatically complete sentences, which they would if they were imitating.
69
CHOMSKY: NATIVISM
Who does chomsky oppose?
Skinner, Bruno and Tomasello
70
CHOMSKY: NATIVISM
What is Chomsky's theory?
the human brain has a natural programmed ability to learn grammar and syntax (the Language Acquisition Device – LAD).
71
CHOMSKY NATIVISM
Give positives
Supported by the fact that children learn language at similar rates and in similar ways.
There are similarities between world languages.
Children make virtuous errors: they attempt to apply rules they have learnt, e.g. “I swimmed”.
72
CHOMSKY NATIVISM
Give negatives
it doesn’t place enough importance on the role of caregivers.
Children who lack exposure to language and interaction don’t catch up.
73
PIAGET STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT
What is piaget's theory?
children’s language develops as their cognitive (brain) understanding develops.
74
PIAGET STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT
Give an example
As an example, children can’t use terms like “small, smaller, smallest” until they understand that things come in different sizes.
75
PIAGET STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT
What are some negatives?
children show features of more than one stage simultaneously.
Researchers have found that children develop earlier than Piaget thought.
Vygotsky (we’ll see him later) said Piaget ignored cultural differences in ways of thinking.
76
PIAGET STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT
Sensorimotor (0-2 years)
Child begins to interact with environment, using senses and physical movement.
Remains egocentric and develops understanding of object permanence.
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PIAGET STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT
Pre-operational (2-6/7 years)
Child learns to speak and develops imagination. Can represent the world symbolically in play. Remains egocentric but questions to develop understanding.
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PIAGET STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT
Concrete operational (6/7-11/12 years)
Child can understand others’ points of view. More capable of logical thought.
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PIAGET STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT
Formal operational (11-16+ years)
Competent logical thought; thinking becomes increasingly abstract.
80
Vygotksy: Zone of proximal development
What is Vygotsky's theory?
children need a More Knowledgeable Other (MKO), an older participant in conversation who supports a child’s development. They help the child move into the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) - the area just beyond what they can already do.
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Vygotksy: Zone of proximal development
What does this theory apply to?
Applies to education as well as language acquisition.
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Vygotksy: Zone of proximal development
What are the negatives?
However, this disregards the fact that people can develop their own understanding independently.
It assumes that all knowledge is acquired the same way, through building blocks.
It assumes that the way to make progress is by having help from someone else.
83
Bruner: Social interactionism
What theories did Bruner reject?
Rejected Chomsky’s LAD and Piaget’s stages!
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Bruner: Social interactionism
What theory did Bruner expand on?
Popularised and expanded on Vygotsky’s ZPD.
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Bruner: Social interactionism
What does Bruner say children need?
Bruner says children need quality input, such as full explanations.
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Bruner: Social interactionism
What was Bruner's theory?
children need a LASS (Language Acquisition Support System), AKA caregivers. These people offer scaffolding to support children in learning language, and to model language for them.
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Tomasello: Usage-based linguistics
Who did Tomasello reject?
Chomsky
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Tomasello: Usage-based linguistics
What was Tomasello's theory?
the ability to learn language is social, and relies on using the same cognitive processes as other skills, such as walking.
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Tomasello: Usage-based linguistics
At 9 months what do children do?
form patterns
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Tomasello: Usage-based linguistics
What do children build?
Then they build generalisations, which become the building blocks for grammar.
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Tomasello: Usage-based linguistics
How is language acquired?
Language is acquired through usage, based on sensory input and interaction with caregivers.
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FEATURES OF CDS
Give features of CDS
- Pauses
- Simpler sentences
- Repetition
- Questions
- Mitigated imperatives
- Diminutives
- Politeness features
- Providing answers to qs
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DISCOURSE
What is a key feature of discourse?
Turn taking, childhood games can develop this
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DISCOURSE
What did Sinclair and Coulthard say?
Through CDS children become familiar w qs and answer adjacency pairs. They suggested the IRF structure as a way to analyse educational discourse and early childhood conversations
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DISCOURSE
What did Nelson find?
Children's first words can be categorised according to function
- Names of pp, animals and things
- Expressing or demanding actions
- Modifiers
- Personal and social words
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FUNCTIONS OF DISCOURSE
What did Halliday identify?
7 functions for a child's lang. He suggested that having an intended motivation for using language might encourage a child to use language more.
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FUNCTIONS OF DISCOURSE
Define instrumental
Where the child is trying to fufill a need
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FUNCTIONS OF DISCOURSE
Define regulatory
Used to control someone's behaviour
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FUNCTIONS OF DISCOURSE
Define interactional
Used to develop relationships w others
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FUNCTIONS OF DISCOURSE
Define personal
Used to express views and preferences
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FUNCTIONS OF DISCOURSE
Define heuristic
Used to explore the world around them
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FUNCTIONS OF DISCOURSE
Define imaginative
Used to explore something creatively or during play
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FUNCTIONS OF DISCOURSE
Define representational
Used to exchange, give, or receive information
103
GRAMMAR
What can grammar apply to?
- Sentence constructions and how they develop
- Specific words and how they alter to convey meaning
104
GRAMMAR
Who created the WUG test?
Jean Berko 1958
105
GRAMMAR
What does the WUG test?
Whether children have a more sophisticated understanding of morphology then they have been specificly taught
106
GRAMMAR
What did the WUG test find?
76% of 4 - 5 year olds answered that more than one wug makes several wugs
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GRAMMAR
What did Rodger Brown outline?
5 stages of grammatical development. The features were morphemes, MLU, and inclusion of grammatical words
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GRAMMAR
Stage one
15 - 30 months, no bound morphemes, MLU 1.75, generally correct word order
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GRAMMAR
Stage two
28 - 36 months, bound morphemes start appearing, use of -ing suffix, regular -s plurals, MLU 2.25
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GRAMMAR
Stage three
Possessives begin to appear, MLU 2.75, emergence of adjectives and adverbs, use of articles 'a' and 'the'
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GRAMMAR
Stage four
40 - 46 months, regular past tense -ed suffix, MLU 3.5
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GRAMMAR
Stage five
42 - 53 months, compound sentences that are joined, MLU 4.0
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GRAMMAR
Who investigated pronoun acquisition?
Ursula Bellugi
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GRAMMAR
What are the three stages of pronoun acquistion?
1. Noun instead of pronoun
2. Recognise diff between subject and object pronouns but not use them correctly
3. Use of sub and obj pronouns correctly
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GRAMMAR
Who investigated negative acquisition?
Ursula Bellugi
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GRAMMAR
What are the three stages of negative acquisition?
Negative utterance at beginning of sentence
Negative into middle of utterance
Child attaches negative to auxillary verb
117
GRAMMAR
Describe question formation
Rising intonation of single, then multiple words to signify a question
Inversion of auxiliary verbs to signify a question
Wh questions
Tag questions
