CHILD LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

In the 1950s, Alfred A. Tomatis stated that listening to Mozart music in D major increased children’s intelligence and reasoning skills.

The first stage of the pre-verbal stage is crying and it starts at birth.

The second stage of the pre-verbal stage is cooing and it starts from two months old.

The third stage of the pre-verbal stage is laughing and it starts from four months old.

The two types of babbling are reduplicated babbling (child makes the same sounds over and over) and variegated babbling (child varies the consonant and vowel sounds they produce); babies babble from six months old and reduplicated babbling comes before variegated babbling which emerges later.

The holophrastic stage usually spans between 12 and 18 months.

Nelson categorised the early words of children into NAMING, ACTION, SOCIAL and MODIFIYING (descriptions).

Nelson stated that 60% of a child’s first words were nouns.

Bloom stated that noun bias reflects the frequency of nouns in our language; the noun:verb ratio in dictionaries is 5:1.

Reduplication is the repetition of words or syllables (e.g. choo choo).

Diminutive/addition is the reduction of the scale of a noun by adding a suffix (e.g. doggy).

Deletion is the deleting of consonants at the end of a word (e.g. pi =pig).

Consonant cluster reduction is the reducing of consonants to smaller units - usually by deleting at least one consonant (e.g. blanket becomes banket).

Assimilation is where sounds are influenced by the ones around them (e.g. rabbit becomes babbit).

Substitution is the swapping of one sound for another easier one (e.g. this = dis).

The ‘fis’ phenomenon is where a child produces an error in the pronunciation of a word but, having the error repeated back to them, corrects the speaker; it was first reported in 1960 by Berko and Brown.

Eve Clarke’s two types of overextension are:

• SEMANTIC FEATURES HYPOTHESIS - where the overextension is based on features such as shape, height, and texture (e.g. every four legged fluffy animal is a cat).

• FUNCTIONAL SIMILARITIES HYPOTHESIS - where the overextension is based on similarities in the use of an object (e.g. every vessel that can hold water is a bathtub).

Underextension is where a child underapplies words; for example, a child may be able to use the word banana when faced with one in real life but may not realise that a bunch of bananas or a picture of a banana are the same.

Lesley Rescorla’s three types of overextension are:

• CATEGORICAL OVEREXTENSION - where a child mixes hypernyms and hyponyms (e.g. every apple is fruit, every fruit is apple).

• ANALOGICAL OVEREXTENSION - overextension based on the properties of a noun (the exact same as Clarke’s semantic features hypothesis).

• MISMATCH/PREDICATE STATEMENT - where a child makes abstract links between objects which aren’t always obvious (e.g. calling a cot ‘doll’ because the doll is always in the cot).

The two-word stage begins at around 18 months (1 and a half years) and it marks the beginnings of a child’s syntax and grammar.

The vocabulary spurt/naming explosion is where children begin to realise that everything around them has a name (naming insight) and their vocabulary range increases to include more verbs, adjectives, adverbs and pronouns.

Productive vocabulary is words that a person understands and can use.

Comprehensive vocabulary is words that a person understands but cannot or do not apply.

A gestalt expression is the compressing of a string of words into one utterance without segmenting (e.g. ‘what’s that?’ becomes ‘wassat?)

John Braine suggests that children in the two-word stage use pivot schemas to form their utterances; pivot schemas consist of a pivot word and an open word (the pivot class consists of words that appear frequently and in fixed positions).

The eight combinations of words that Brown suggests children in the two-word stage are capable of constructing are:

• Agent and action (e.g. Daddy go)

• Action and object (e.g Make cake)

• Agent and object (e.g. Granny gloves)

• Action and location (e.g. Run garden)

• Object and location (e.g. Teddy chair)

• Possessor and possession (e.g. Billy bike)

• Object and attribute (e.g. Coat soft)

• Demonstrative and object (e.g. This chair)

Brown states that the average MLU of children between the ages of 12 and 26 months is 1.75.

The telegraphic stage usually begins at two years of age.

A virtuous error is an error in morphology that has some underlying logic that demonstrates learning has taken place (e.g. ‘I runned’).

The Wug test, invented by Jean Berko Gleason, tests children’s knowledge of grammatical rules; in the case of the ‘wug’, children were shown an image of an imaginary creature that the tester claimed was called a ‘wug’, when shown an image of multiple of the creatures, the tester asked the child what they were, most children claimed they were ‘wugs’ applying the grammatical rule that the suffix /s/ is added to words to make them plural.

Ursula Bellugi’s three stages of negation are:

• 1. Affirmative declarative + no at the beginning or end - most commonly before the subject (e.g. 'no mummy work).

• 2. Subject is put in correct syntactic position (at the start) followed by the negation particle (e.g. you no sit there); can’t and don’t are also learnt here.

• 3. Auxiliary verbs used appropriately in front of negation particle (e.g. that was not me).

Roger Brown’s three stages of questions are:

• 1. Prosodics used to show interrogative - rising intonation.

• 2. Interrogative pronouns used at the start of sentences (e.g. WHERE mummy?).

• 3. Auxiliary verbs and syntactic inversion (swapping words) learned (e.g. is mummy gone?).

Children usually enter the post-telegraphic stage between 3.5 to 4 years old.

Vygotsky states that egocentric speech (speech that addresses no-one in particular; talking aloud to yourself) is not a phase that children outgrow (as Piaget stated) but that egocentric speech becomes the language adults think in; he called this ‘inner speech’.

An MKO is a More Knowledgeable Other, he defines an MKO as anyone with a better understanding or a higher ability level than the learner.

The ZPD is the Zone of Proximal Development; the ZPD is the idea that an MKO can enhance a child’s learning by guiding them through a task slightly above their ability level.

Vygotsky’s overarching idea is that infants develop soial and cognitive skills through interactions with more knowledgeable individuals; his work supports COGNITIVISM.

A LAD is a Language Acquisition Device; Chomsky states that people are born with a section of their brain (their LAD) which can instinctively process language patterns and rules.

Chomsky never actually studied any children.

Pinker wrote ‘The Language Instinct’ in 1994.

Pinker stated that speech is a uniquely human evolutionary advantage; it contradicts Chomsky’s proposal that humans developed speech by chance.

When a school for the deaf opened in Nicaragua, all of the home variations of sign that each student used merged into one. The next generation of students at the school developed this mixed language further (e.g. the ‘new’ variation had more complex grammatical constructions)'; this supports nativism as the students developed the language instinctively.

Chomsky’s overarching idea is that children are born with the capacity to process language; his work supports NATIVISM.

Skinner’s overarching idea is that language acquisition is related to the social behaviour surrounding it; children copy those around them, retain which things get them the most praise and continuing doing those praised things. Skinner’s work supports BEHAVIOURISM.

Skinner states that POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT (e.g. applause or approval) encourages children to emulate the language of their parents of carers.

When children gain positive reinforcement even when they’re wrong, they pick up ‘incorrect’ habits; it also gives them no incentive to respond to correction of language.

If a child isn’t exposed to enough language, they will be unable to imitate appropriate models of speech and will, therefore, not be able to be conditioned into speaking properly.

Bandura conducted the ‘Bobo doll experiment’ in children watched an adult violently abuse a doll (both physically and verbally) before playing with the doll themselves; in most instances, the children abused the doll also.

Bandura emphasises the importance of modelling language to children as children imitate the language they hear; Bandura’s work supports BEHAVIOURISM.

The two processes that Tomasello states are interconnected with language development are:

1. INTENTION READING: children try to understand the intention behind adults’ speech (e.g. a child will begin to understand that “look at” directs someones attention to something).

2. PATTERN FINDING: children start to identify which words are commonly grouped together (e.g. give + noun); these constructions build up schemas for the child allowing them to develop their grammar.

Ibbotson states that instead of children picking up single words and then learning to combine them , they learn constructions that they are able to adapt.

Tomasello and Ibbotson’s work support the USAGE-BASED theory.

Piaget stated that the first stage of cognitive development in children (lasting roughly from birth until 2 years old) was the SENSORIMOTOR stage.

In this stage:

• Children begin to understand concepts of size and tactile sensations (e.g. hot/cold).

• Children develop schemas (templates in which children accommodate new information).

• Children establish object permanence (when babies realise that things still exist even when they can’t see it).

• Early vocabulary of children consists mainly of nouns.

Piaget stated that the second stage of cognitive development in children (lasting roughly from 2 years old until 7 years old) was the PREOPERATIONAL stage.

In this stage:

• Children develop object representation (children can assign characteristics to people and objects).

• Children in this stage are egocentric; applied knowledge is from their own point of view.

• Language is egocentric and symbolic concepts are understood.

Piaget stated that the third stage of cognitive development in children (lasting roughly from 7 years old until 11 years old) was the CONCRETE OPERATION stage.

In this stage:

• Children use more than one semantic feature to classify an object.

• Children think more logically and understand numbers, weight and size through interactions with concrete nouns.

• Children become less egocentric and acknowledge the views of others.

• Children in this stage can now be taught lexis and how to include other people in syntax, they also learn turn-taking and conversation discourse.

Piaget stated that the third stage of cognitive development in children (lasting roughly from 12 years onwards) was the FORMAL OPERATIONS stage.

In this stage:

• Children become smarter and can understand abstract nouns (e.g. love, peace).

• Children become scientific thinkers, able to link their logic to new situations.

• Children establish their own identity and forms of communication.

• Everything they say won’t be so literal or based on concrete operations.

Piaget states that the two language functions are:

• Social pragmatic function; communicating with and influencing the world around them.

• Egocentric speech; talking by themselves (using language to help make sense of the world they are experiencing and to aid classification of objects).

Piaget’s work falls under the idea of COGNITIVISM; his overarching idea is that if a child is not cognitively ready to do something, the child will not be able to do it.

Lewis and Ramsey found that pronoun development during a child’s second year depends on the extent of the child’s sense of identity and whether they can recognise the notion of self, especially within the context of imaginative play.

Lewis and Ramsey found that 15-21 month-old children who showed self-recognition in a mirror exhibited a greater sense of self and were more likely to partake in other-directed pretend play whereas those who showed no recognition exhibited exclusively self-directed play.

Repacholi and Gopnik conducted an experiment in which broccoli and crackers were offered to infants ,aged between 14 and 18 months, who had a strong preference for crackers.

When offering a snack to the researcher:

• The 14-month-olds would offer the cracker, regardless of whether the researcher expressed an interest in broccoli or crackers.

• The 18-month-olds were able to identify that the researcher had a preference for broccoli and offered this.

Eric' Lenneberg stated that ‘the ability to learn language is innate, but if [children] do not learn it before puberty (a critical period) they will not master the language. Lenneberg’s Critical Period Hypothesis supports NATIVISM.

Genie was a girl who was abused by her parents and had no social interaction her entire childhood (the only form of communication she had was her father who barked and growled at her). Once she was rescued, she could not speak or stand; they attempted to teach her English but she never fully comprehended it (the most she could say was 2-3 word phrases but she never understood English grammar or how to ask questions as she didn’t have a language system).

Genie supports Lenneberg’s ‘Critical Period Hypothesis’ as Genie tried to learn English after her critical period and, as a result of this, was unable to ever master it.

Oxana was a girl who grew up with a pack of wolves after her parents abandoned her when she was 2; she ran on all fours and communicated through barking. She was able to learn some language because she was able to recall language from her younger years but she spoke in a flat, emotionless tone; her bark was a lot more emotive.

Oxana supports Lenneberg’s ‘Critical Period Hypothesis’ because she missed majority of her critical period and was, therefore, unable to ever communicate emotion through her language (she was unable to master it).

CDS stands for Child Directed Speech; it refers to the physically exaggerated and tonally high-pitched style of speech that adults use when talking to babies and young children. Also know coloquially as "baby talk or motherese."

The 14 features of CDS are:

• Higher pitch and exaggerated intonation or stress.

• Repeated sentence frames (e.g. ‘that’s a cat’, that's a bus’).

• Repetition or partial repetition of the adult’s own words.

• Questions and commands (getting the child to do something).

• Frequent use of the child's name and an absence of pronouns.

• Using the child's words for things and using hypernyms.

• Absence of past tenses.

• A large number of one-word utterances.

• Use of simple sentences.

• Omission of inflections such as plurals and possessives (e.g. ‘Cat’s’ and ‘the man’s’).

• Fewer verbs, modifiers (adjectives in front of nouns) and function words (e.g. ‘at’, ‘my’).

• Use of concrete nouns and dynamic verbs.

• Use of expansions (where the adult fills in the child’s utterance).

• Use of re-castings (where the baby’s vocabulary is put into a new utterance).

Catherine Snow is credited with defining and categorising the characteristics of CDS.

The two countries that act as criticisms of CDS are:

• Papua New Guinea; in the Kaluli Tribe, adults speak to children as if they are adults and those children acquire language at the same pace as all other children.

• Samoa; in some Samoan tribes, parents do not speak to their children until they reach a certain age. These children still go through the same developmental stages at roughly the same time as other children provided there is exposure to language.

Brown, Cazden and Bellugi found that parents often respond to the truth value of what their baby is saying as opposed to its grammatical correctness (e.g. a parent is more likely to respond to ‘there’s doggie’ with ’yes, it’s a dog’ than ‘no, it’s there is a dog’).

Mark Vandam stated that male talk to children is more likely to resemble that used to other adults and is less likely to have the sing song intonation and simplifiction than a female caregiver.

Hirsh-Pasek found that even four-year-olds adjust their language when speaking to a two-year-old.

Hersh-Pasek and Trieman found that adults talk to babies in a similar way to how they talk to dogs.

Katherine Nelson found that children in the holophrastic stage whose mothers corrected them on word choice and pronunciation actually advanced more slowly than those with mothers who were genuinely more accepting.

Bryant and Clark Barrett stated that intentions can be recognised in CDS, regardless of whether the meaning is actually understood.

Clarke-Stewart found that children whose mothers talked more had larger vocabularies.

Schatz stated that 4% of children’s errors are corrected by caregivers.

Social Interactionism is the idea that carers scaffold conversation and interaction of children and its only through interactions with adults that children learn the social pragmatics of language.

The Jim case study is where Jim, a child of Deaf Adults (CODA) was exposed to TV and radio by his parents in hope that he would acquire spoken language. However, his language development was severely limited.

This study suggests that simple exposure to language (such as TV and radio) is not an effective stimulus for learning language and that human interaction in necessary to language acquisition.

Bard and Sachs is credited for the study.

The Jim case study.

Catherine Garvey stated that sociodramatic play is child’s play that involves practising social interaction with clear rules that reflects real world behaviour (e.g. a child playing shopkeeper).

It usually begins when a child is around four years old.

Sociodramatic play fulfils Halliday’s imaginative function.

Halliday’s seven functions of language are:

1. Instrumental - To get and satisfy personal and biological needs (e.g. pleading).

2. Regulatory - To control the behaviour of others (e.g. demanding).

3. Interactional - To maintain interaction (e.g. establishing relationships).

4. Personal - To express feelings (e.g. conveying attitudes).

5. Heuristic - To find information out (e.g. questioning).

6. Imaginative - To create new worlds (e.g. playing imaginary games).

7. Informative or Representational - To communicate information (e.g. gossiping).

John Dore’s eight functions of language are:

1. Labelling - Naming of identifying a person, object or experience.

2. Repeating - Echoing something spoken by another speaker.

3. Answering - Giving a direct response to an utterance from another speaker.

4. Requesting Actions -Demanding something.

5. Calling - Attracting attention by shouting.

6. Greeting - Saying ‘hello’ etc…

7. Protesting - Objecting to requests.

8. Practising - Using and repeating language when no-one else is present.