W6

Question 1

What syntactic processes develop up to the age of 4?

Answer 1

Likely to be at Browns Stage V+ and have a MLU of 4.5+.
Syntactic outcomes associated with Stage V (41-46mo) should be established.
The emergence of relative clauses (subordinate/dependent clauses that modify nouns). Phrasal or clausal post noun embedding of modifiers are not commonly used by children until they are of school age though.
Knows to use ‘some’ or ‘any’ instead of ‘a/the’ for mass nouns like “sand” with no specific quantity
Uses some adult-like tag questions: He went home, didn’t he? It isn’t my book, is it?
Joins clauses by embedding or using conjunctions
Embedding: smaller clause inside a larger clause
Conjunctions: coordinating conjunctions

Question 2

What is MLU?

Answer 2

It’s a moderate predictor of syntactic complexity of language in young English-speaking children. Calculated by dividing the number of morphemes by the number of utterances produced.

18 months to 4 years: ↑ 1.2 morphemes/year.
Above 4.0 MLU, growth in utterance length slows considerably and individual variation increases, so the MLU is not a reliable measure for >4.0.

MLU is affected by context (if you only ask questions that require a one-word answer) and can vary widely between children.
MLU is still useful for conceptualizing/signposting syntactic development.

Question 3

What is an average MLU in pre-school children?

Answer 3

In Australia, preschool are aged 4-5 years of age, therefore the average MLU is 4.5+

Question 4

How many stages are there in Brown’s Model of Morphology and Syntax Development?

Answer 4

6, including stage V+

Question 5

What are the key pragmatics milestones in pre-schoolers?

Answer 5

● Follows three-step directions without cues
●Uses direct requests with justification (e.g., “Stop that. You’re hurting me.”)
●Uses words to invite others to play
●Uses language to resolve disputes with peers
●Plays competitive exercise games
●Has good control of the elements of conversation
●Speaks of imaginary conditions, such as “What if …” or “I hope …”

●By 3.5 years: About 75% of utterances are on topic.
●By 5 years: 50% of children can maintain a topic through 12 turns.
●Preschoolers are aware of turn taking. Even by 2.5 years so before they get to preschool, less than 5% of utterances are interrupted by the partner. Turns are very smooth.
●Preschoolers use filler words to acknowledge their partner’s turn.
●Preschoolers understand the role of their mother’s questions to cue and structure turns – tend to model it in role play
●Awareness of the listener and social cognition starts in preschool and continues throughout the school years.