Child Language Acquisition Flashcards

Question

What is the purpose of communication at each pre-verbal stage?

Answer 1

Vegetative- survival Cooing- conveying emotion Babbling- trying to formulate sounds Proto word- trying to communicate using sounds

Answer 2

Different rates of development for individuals

Answer 3

When babies start to babble, the number of phonemes (sounds) they create increases Later in this stage, they reduce the number of phonemes they use- phonemic contraction Babies then concentrate on reproducing only the phonemes they hear in their native language Babies of different nationalities start to sound different around this stage (around 10 months old)

Answer 4

When the number of phonemes created increases, suggests there may be some innate aspect- where do these sounds come from? Babies of different nationalities start to sound different around 10 months- if seen by all babies then must be some innate rather than environmental aspect

Answer 5

Phonemic contraction requires the presence of parents to know which sounds to preserve

Answer 6

easiest Stopped sounds- when air is momentarily stopped from being released 'p' Reduplication- where the same vowel consonant combination is repeated 'da da' Variegated babbling- as above except vowel sound changes 'da de' Consonant cluster- where a number of consonants are combined 'fr' Friction sounds- where there is a vibration of air while air is released eg 's' in 'pleasure' most difficult

Answer 7

Study of whether babbling is linguistic or accidental When we talk our mouth is more open on the right side as the language centre is in the left side of the brain Videoed 5 babies with English speaking parents and 5 babies with french speaking parents babbling Reviewed footage using the laterality index to measure the 'lopsidedness' of the mouth when babbling Found when babbling the mouth on the right side opened wider- confirming babbling is a fundamentally linguistic activity

Answer 8

Seen in French and English babies- universal and therefore innate

Answer 9

The stage where language comprehension is more developed than language production- we understand more than we can say Have to use other forms of communication to support one word utterances eg body language, gestures

Answer 10

Early 8- m, b, j (y), n, w, d, p, h (by age 3) Middle 8- t, ŋ (ng), k, g, f, v, ʧ (ch), dʒ (j) (by age 4-5) Late 8- ʃ (sh), θ, ð (th), s, z, l, r, ʒ (zh) (by age 6)

Answer 11

Shows biological component in production of sounds

Answer 12

Addition- adding an extra vowel to create a CVCV structure eg doggy Deletion- leaving out the last consonant of a word eg mou instead of mouse Reduplication- the repetition of particular sounds and structures eg mama Substitution- one sound is swapped for another easier sound eg babbit instead of rabbit Assimilation- one consonant is swapped for another, usually one produced previously or needed in same utterance eg babbit Consonant cluster reduction- children find it difficult to produce multiple consonants so reduce them to smaller units eg tuck rather than truck

Answer 13

Child referred to plastic inflatable fish as 'fis'- phonological error (deletion) Even after adult modelled proper pronunciation, child kept making same error as they didn't see that they were making an error Biological explanation- even though standard English has been modelled, the child is physically unable to produce the 'sh' phoneme as it requires complex articulators Supports Chomsky- children won't respond to corrections as language is hard wired and innate construction/ novel utterance- not heard from parents

Answer 14

Called one word utterances 'holophrases' Indivisible units of language that convey a single complete communicative intention Means child has taken a complete speech act (full sentence) from an adult, determined the adult's intention and reduced it to a single word Children learn forms and functions of words and understand intentional aspects of language (links to usage based theory)

Answer 15

Affects the intended meaning of one word utterances eg rising intonation= a question Supports nature- intonation is so subtle and there are so many variations that it must have some innate aspect for a child as young as one to understand Supports nurture- child directed speech- parents often rise intonation to be more engaging

Answer 16

Despite being two words they do not appear seperately in the child's speech The child might not have segmented the two words- they see it as one *only when repeated by child multiple times*

Answer 17

Childrens environments are often rich in language- offers the basis for a child's early utterances- nurture Children pick up 'chunks' of language and create productive structures from them -> adapt them to generate new and creative forms of their own These 'chunks' are called constructions- a ready made chunk of language that can be used to express multiple ideas- depending on context has different meanings Child forms patterns which create mental schema- builds up understanding and knowledge of language

Answer 18

Children create and learn constructions such as: more X , put X here , there's a X When a child hears constructions like this, they find similarity in the way things work or sound These reliable patterns give the child a foothold into learning complex syntax

Answer 19

Even though input and output match, they see patterns and are creative Virtuous errors may still occur

Answer 20

Rejects Chomsky's UG Said ability to learn language is driven by human pre-disposition to communicate We rely on cognitive processes to acquire language Identified by 9-12 months children make use of pattern forming ability Children use these words and constructions to form larger syntaxes The more times you hear an utterance the more likely you are to understand and acquire it

Answer 21

How the behaviour of caregivers is adapted to support language acquisition in children Aims to attract and hold the child's attention and help the child understand the language

Answer 22

Exaggerated 'sing songy' intonation Concrete nouns (cat,train) Names instead of pronouns eg mummy instead of I

Answer 23

Language acquisition support system Proposed by Bruner Network of adults that interact with a young child, supporting the child's language development

Answer 24

Believes children can learn language through regular exposure to interaction and communication Children learn when adults around them speak because the purpose of language is to communicate with others Agreed with Chomsky that children have some instinctive drive and ability to learn language but also believed this learning wouldn't be possible without the adults around the child

Answer 25

Rescorla (1980) When a child reaches 18 months they have a productive vocabulary of around 50 words Children have a lot to do with the little vocabulary they have so must be creative Therefore children's early words are often overextended to cover more things that have similar properties Applying a label to more referents than it should have eg Daddy to all males Sea to all bodies of water Duck to every bird

Answer 26

Rescorla (1980) Occurs less frequently A child uses a word but only applies it to a specific situation Eg apple to only green apples Car to only mummys car

Answer 27

Nurture- exposed to objects in their environment allowing them to access properties Nature- children are trying to seek connections-sign of an innate capacity to make sense of language

Answer 28

Stage 1 - labelling, linking words to objects Stage 2 - packaging, children explore what labels apply to, over/underextension happens here Stage 3 - network building, connections are made between words, understanding opposites and similarities in meaning

Answer 29

18 months+ Vocabulary 'spurt' - when a child has acquired between 50 and 100 words - a cognitive change occurs - they gain naming insight Move into a period of rapid lexical acquisition Two to three new words per day Children speak using content words- words in a sentence vital to create meaning Child can now break language into segments Usually the two words are in a grammatically correct sentence (SVO order)

Answer 30

Critical period hypothesis Language development is subject to critical period effects We have ‘cut off points’ which we need to have acquired aspects of language by We have ‘periods of peak plasticity’ where it is easier to learn language

Answer 31

Girl abused until the age of 13 Locked away and deprived of human contact Followed some patterns expected when learning language initially eg babbling/making sounds Her vocabulary size increased rapidly at first- could say many words However she lacked the ability to use grammar or sentence structure Had passed the critical period and therefore couldn’t learn language

Answer 32

Developed by Skinner Part of the behaviourism approach Believed only observable behaviour can be studied and anything in mind is misconception or irrelevant Suggests organisms do what they do naturally until they accidentally encounter a stimulus that created conditioning resulting in a change in behaviour Skinner placed a rat in an operant conditioning chamber- known as Skinner Box Contained a lever that released food when pressed ABC’s: A- antecedent- accidentally presses lever releasing food B- behaviour- presses leaver purposefully to release more food C- consequence- food keeps coming out Applied this to language acquisition- a positive or negative response given by caregiver can influence the way children talk Positive reinforcement = giving praise or encouragement Negative reinforcement = lack of feedback

Answer 33

Behaviourist- she didn’t receive any negative or positive reinforcement so continued with her natural / instinctive behaviour due to lack of stimuli - behaviour didn’t change so language never developed Nativist- her LAD wasn’t activated so couldn’t process any words she heard leading to a lack of universal grammar- couldn’t acquire sentence structure, passed Lenneberg’s critical period Interactionist- lacked a LASS so didn’t have anyone encouraging her to learn language, also not exposed to CDS so less engagement with the language Usage based- unable to build mental schema due to being deprived of a language rich environment- didn’t have patterns of language so couldn’t acquire grammar or sentence structure

Answer 34

Bard and Sachs (1977) Study of child ‘Jim’ Hearing child with deaf parents Parents wanted son to speak English so watched lots of TV and listen to radio However his progress was limited until he interacted with a speech therapisr

Answer 35

Found children learnt words from a shared book experience, not television

Answer 36

Dora the Explorer only facilitated language acquisition when there was some form of reciprocal social interaction

Answer 37

Children’s language gets more complex when logical reasoning improves Language of a child reflects development of their logical thinking Children take an active role in the learning process As children interact with the world they add new knowledge Argues until infants understand object permanence they struggle to name things, hence why language is acquired properly after a year Child has to understand a concept before acquiring a particular language form eg seriation- a child unable to put objects in order of size won’t be able to use comparative adjectives like bigger or smaller

Answer 38

0-2 years = sensory motor stage - interact with environment using senses and physical movement, child is egocentric, begin to understand object permanence 2-6 years = pre operational - developing imagination, start to question a lot as trying to understand world, still egocentric 7-11 years = concrete stage - stop being egocentric, can appreciate other people’s perspectives 11-16 years = formal operational- thinking becomes more abstract

Answer 39

Child imitates language of parents/carers Successful attempts are rewarded through praise or giving the child what it is asking for- reinforced Unsuccessful ones are forgotten

Answer 40

Language is based on structure/rules that cannot be acquired through imitation alone- children make virtuous errors that aren’t copied from parents Developmental milestones are relatively unaffected by treatment child receives Children often unable to repeat what adult says Few children receive explicit grammatical corrections Critical period for language acquisition

Answer 41

We have evolved to have a vocal tract and specific areas of the brain for language eg Wernicke’s area, Broca’s area unlike apes Stroke victims show depending on site of brain damage different areas of language are impaired Escaped slaves unable to learn Dutch as past critical period however their children learned it forming their own language- pidgin

Answer 42

His work was theoretical- didn’t study real children Bard and Sach’s case study of Jim- being exposed to language is not enough to learn it

Answer 43

As child develops harder to find clear links between language and intellect Some children have learned to speak fluently despite abnormal mental development

Answer 44

Some cultures don’t adopt special ways of talking to children yet they still acquire language- CDS seems useful but not essential

Answer 45

Looks at child’s ability to use ‘-s’ plural Shows child a fictional creature called a ‘wug’ and asks what two of them would be called- expected to answer ‘wugs’ Of 4-5 year old tested 76% formed regular -s plural Of 5-7 years olds 95% formed regular plural

Answer 46

Children still omit verb inflections, determiners, auxiliary verbs and prepositions Child’s mean length of utterance (MLU) increases from 2 words

Child Language Acquisition Flashcards

(70 cards)