Spoken Child Language Acquisition Flashcards

Question

What is the protesting function of language used to do in John Dore’s Individual Speech Act?

Answer 1

Objecting to requests from others

Answer 2

Using language when no adult is present

Answer 3

Lexis Phonology Discourse Pragmatics Grammar and syntax Morphology Graphology and orthography

Answer 4

Conditioning a child into producing language by using positive and negative reinforcement, reinforcement encourages to do something again n but punishment discourages from it. The behaviourism theory is built off of this.

Answer 5

-It has been scientifically proven and there is evidence of this in the real world -Conditioning behaviour works on both humans and other animals, and there are specific experiments that proved this -It’s completely plausible - focuses on the information right in front of us rather than on abstract ideas -There is proof that when a child babbles, if they are given some vocal attention like intonation, they are likely to continue to make those same noises -Children pick up sounds, words and pronunciation that they hear around them - this is very obvious

Answer 6

-Although it has been tested on pigeons, does the same apply to humans and learning language -Children dont understand the conventions of being rewarded and punished, the theory therefore doesn’t work - may say words on a whim and never say them again -If a behaviour is rewarded at the wrong time, then the wrong behaviour may be reinforced and repeated -Removes the argument that all humans have a natural ability to speak -Children who are raised in homes where they aren’t rewarded for making words, still know how to speak the language - proving language isn’t developed based on behaviour

Answer 7

Language Acquisition Device - linked with nativism - says our brain has a function in it to create and learn language

Answer 8

States children have their own knowledge that displays a greater intelligence rather than repeating words like they’d say mouses instead of mice even though they’ve never heard that - these are called virtuous errors - linked with nativism

Answer 9

Poverty of stimulus comes from the nativist theory and says that a child isn’t exposed to planned language without hesitations, so it’s not clear to learn, thus they come up with language themselves through recalling it

Answer 10

Bound morpheme = has no meaning and is only used to make grammatical sense Unbound morpheme = infinitive word that can be applied to anything

Answer 11

-it makes sense -the evidence it uses to back the theory up does justify it -general consensus is the child isn’t exposed to planned language so basing it off of that makes sense -better than behaviourism in the sense that it acknowledges our brain isn’t necessarily a blank slate - we have an innate ability to move just as we have an innate ability to talk and produce language

Answer 12

-every child’s experience learning language is different - some parents may plan their language but others may not -using general trends in virtuous errors to learn language but that doesnt mean that it comes from an innate ability to produce language its just about noticing patterns -doesn’t acknowledge that our brain is impacted by our environment -not many studies done to show this -based on abstract belief not on much evidence `

Answer 13

Language Acquisition Support System - linked with social interactionism - the people and environment around a baby are a LASS

Answer 14

Child Directed Speech - social interactionism - says that the people around a child use this style of language to help a child’s language development through the way they speak like speaking more slowly and more clearly

Answer 15

The period of time where the brain progresses the most

Answer 16

Books - pictures, sound effects, texts Parents, friends, teachers, siblings Classroom displays like phonics etc. Toys, games Real world Signs, lists, notes Verbal games

Answer 17

Simplified grammar and meaning Restricted range of sentence patterns Slower speech Repetition of sentences Use of special words and sounds e.g. blanky Large number of questions and utterances with high rising intonation to get feedback Focusing on the present environment not the past or future or hypothetical situations

Answer 18

1. Parents direct the child’s attention e.g. ‘Look at this!’ 2. Parent asks the child to label an object e.g. ‘What’s this? It’s a…’ 3. Parent provides label for the child e.g. ‘it’s a cow’ 4. Parent gives the child feedback e.g. ‘that’s right!’

Answer 19

Sachs, Brown and Salerno (1970): they reported fewer subordinate clauses, relative clauses, and negations in CDS

Answer 20

1. Lenneberg 2. Dromi 3. Atchinson 4. Hakuta et al. - 2003

Answer 21

Suggested that the existence of a critical period during which a child must learn language, this critical period was seen to be a child’s first few years - acquisition becomes more difficult from about age 5 and puberty - says the flexibility of our brain slowly declines

Answer 22

Found that we experience a long slow decline in the power of general learning mechanisms that progressively hinders our ability to acquire language, hence, age effects may not be caused by a language specific critical period but rather by a more general decline in learning

Answer 23

-If her father interacted with her, he barked or growled and beat her if she made a noise -She was discovered at the age of 13, confined to a small room -Susan Curtiss, a linguist worked with Genie -Psychologists and language experts began the process of rehabilitating Genie -she often spat and stayed silent, unable to chew and only recognised her own name and the word ‘sorry’ -Was at the level of a 1 year old -She could communicate non verbally particularly through drawing -Curtiss found that Genie could use words but she couldn’t produce grammar, not being able to arrange words in meaningful ways -Genie moved through foster homes where she was neglected, and went back to silence -After a year of treatment, she put three words together which fits in with Crystals stages of language development but her language abilities were stuck at this stage

Answer 24

-supports behaviourism which says that because Genie wasnt exposed to language, she couldn’t speak it even though she did have a LAD -Some said that critical periods are the way children acquire language where an organism is sensitive to external stimuli and capable of acquiring certain skill - the critical period last until age 12 and after the puberty, the brain becomes set - she was in rehabilitation for years, was able to add and learn some single words and then put two words together like children - some said she was fully capable -Doesn’t learn to construct grammar in a standard way - Cannot conjugate -Little questions -Knows little functional words -The two word stage lasted a long time with her -Lenneberg said peak brain activity finishes at 13 - when genie got out -She went silent

Answer 25

-She did acquire vocab but not comparable to a 2 year old -Trauma can have an impact on a critical period - PTSD -Didn’t have a normal experience like a toddler -She was able to use syntax well -She had atrophy on her left so there may be external factors that impacted her language acquisition -She may have been cognitively delayed

Answer 26

-She explored the specifics of Child-Directed Speech (CDS). It often manifests as exaggerated phonetics and simplified lexis and grammar. -For example, pronouns are often avoided in talking to babies and toddlers, with parents referring to themselves as “Mummy” and “Daddy” and using the child’s name instead of “you”, and question forms are simplified, using structures which avoid inverting subject and verb where possible. -They also explored non-verbal aspects of the LASS. Many games played with babies and young children use ritualised turns and show how turn-taking works. Most parents of babies will speak to them as though they can reply and treat non-verbal behaviours, such as smiles, gestures or cooing, as responses. -CDS is not universal. For example, in some countries, there is no evidence of CDS and yet children develop speech at the same rate as those in countries with a high usage of CDS.

Answer 27

-Dromi (1987) identified the vocabulary spurt (or naming explosion) to describe when children begin rapidly acquiring vocabulary very quickly. -However, there is little consensus among academics about what prompts this: age, productive vocabulary, environment, innate learning capacity...

Answer 28

-Aitchison (1997) suggested that children will realise that every object, person or place has a word or label attached to it and therefore develop a naming insight -this will be followed by a naming explosion when they rapidly develop new terminology to fill in the gabs of their lexical knowledge

Answer 29

1. Sensorimotor Stage 2. Pre operational stage 3. Concrete operational stage 4. Formal operational stage

Answer 30

-birth to 2 years old -coordination of senses with motor response, sensory curiosity about the world, language used for demands and cataloging -object permanence is developed

Answer 31

-2 years old to 7 years old -symbolic thinking, use of proper syntax and grammar to express full concepts, imagination and intuition are strong but complex abstract thought is still difficult, conversation is developed

Answer 32

-7 years old to 11 years old -concepts attached to concrete situations, time, space and quantity are understood and can be applied, but not as independent concepts

Answer 33

-adolescence to adulthood -theoretical, hypothetical and counterfactual thinking, abstract logic and reasoning, strategy and planning become possible, concepts learned in one context can be applied to another

Answer 34

-For children to acquire language as rapidly as they do, they must have biases that enable them to rule out many alternative hypotheses for the meanings of a word -Whole object assumption - assume that the word thats used to describe that is for the whole object and there arent separate individual objects in it -Mutual exclusivity assumption - objects have one label - its a pug, so its not a dog -Taxonomic assumption - assume that an object is another object as it looks similar

Answer 35

It’s a crossover between cognitivism and social interactionism - focus on interpersonal relations and the influence of the environment on language acquisition

Answer 36

-there are 4 elementary skills -Happens in zone of proximal development - what we can do with the help of the ‘more knowledgeable other’ - this can be anyone - there must be a MKO to learn language -Scaffolding is necessary - it’s a form of support for language acquisition -Internal speech in the brain forms external speech that is produced but if this process isn’t present, then the child may need to verbalise to think

Answer 37

-carers seem to intuitively use -its the gap between what the child can currently do and what they might be able to do with support -In terms of language, it describes the tendency of adults to use language that enables the child to make progress cognitively and linguistically

Answer 38

PIAGET: -WILL LEARN LANGUAGE EITHER WAY NOT NECESSARILY WITH A MKO -INTERNAL FACTORS (BRAIN) FOCUSED ON VYGOSTKY: -LEARNING PRECEDES DEVELOPMENT -EXTERNAL FACTORS FOCUSED ON RATHER THAN THE BRAIN -UNDERSTANDS WE ARE SOCIAL CREATURES AND LEARN MOST THINGS THROUGH SOCIAL INTERACTIONS -MUST BE A MKO

Answer 39

-developed by Tomasello -there is no self contained language instinct to explain how children learn language - linguistic ability is interwoven with other cognitive abilities -These skills help children to identify the intentions of adult speakers as well as the patterns of language - based on social interactions and the patterns it has in it -Grammar emerges as the speakers of a language create linguistic constructions out of recurring sequences of symbols; children pick up these patterns -‘Pattern-finding’ - children extract abstract linguistic constructions from utterances language is acquired through experience, interaction, and repeated exposure rather than innate grammar rules. It emphasises pattern recognition, frequency of use, and social interaction - children learn language by imitating and generalizing constructions rather than following pre-set rules.

Answer 40

1. Deletion 2. Substitution 3. Addition 4. Assimilation 5. Reduplication 6. Consonant cluster reduction 7. Deletion of unstressed syllables

Answer 41

-the removal of a phoneme -occurs on final consonant of word E.g. do not dog

Answer 42

-one phoneme swapped for another phoneme a child can pronounce

Answer 43

-extra phoneme added to words -creates consonant vowel consonant vowel word usually E.g. doggie not dog

Answer 44

-phonemes changed because of other phonemes around it E.g. Babbit not rabbit

Answer 45

-whole syllable is repeated -similar to addition E.g. dada

Answer 46

-consonant clusters reduced to smaller units to make them easier to pronounce

Answer 47

-syllables omitted and only say stressed sounds -like nana not banana

Answer 48

-Gleason and Brown (1960s) – the ‘fis’ phenomenon -In a famous study, researchers found that a child referring to a plastic fish as a ‘fis’ couldn’t link the adult’s use of ‘fis’ to the same object – they only recognised the adult’s correct pronunciation

Answer 49

Diphthong - two vowel sounds together e.g. tired, toy, pie, now, sky, ray Monothong -Creating one vowel sound even though there are two - present in accents not in RP

Answer 50

24 months - m p d w t b n 30 months - k g h ŋ 36 months - l s f j 42 months - r v z dʒ ʃ tʃ 48+ months - ð θ ʒ

Answer 51

Modelling = presenting how the language is used in standard English - links with LASS and being MKO Paralinguistics = communicating through actions (pointing) not language Mutual exclusivity = an object only has one name and if you refer to it using a different noun the child things its ‘wrong’ Semantic rigidity = links to mutual exclusivity - they thing that there is only one word that may convey what they mean False start = child corrects their mistake

Answer 52

-links to Hallidays taxonomic functions of speech -says children learn language because they need to interact socially as it serves a communicative function -focus on communication not grammar and how social needs drive language development through family

Answer 53

-MacWhinney -langauge emerges from interaction between congnitive abilities, environment and linguistic input -no innate grammar or specific language model in brain but rather general cognitive mechanisms like memory -children learn through patterns and repeated exposure -competition model - children weigh and balance linguistic cues like word order and context, and how they function in that language production

Spoken Child Language Acquisition Flashcards

(77 cards)