2-1 - Phonological Acquisition: The First Words Flashcards
What is Phonology?
The sounds of a language
How they are organized to form words
What does the child need to learn when acquiring language?
Speech sounds
Phonotactics
Vocabulary
Mental representations
What are speech sounds?
Combinations of consonants and vowels
What do we call the way speech sounds combine to form words?
Phonotactics
splash - good
psash - bad
esplash - bad
What are mental representations (in language acquisition)?
How is each word supposed to be pronounced
Conceptual knowledge of phonemes
What is a Lean Interpretation of child language acquisition?
What does the child know about word? (Do the perceive /@/ as /k@t/? Do they perceive /t/ as /k/?)
They may not have a specific knowledge of /k/, but they might be able to distinguish its sound from other sounds
What features are they listening for?
What is a Rich Interpretation of child language acquisition?
The child hears the specific phonemes but can’t pronounce them yet
Is is easy to prove a rich interpretation of child language acquisition?
No!
During the first words stage, how many words does the child usually acquire? Is this number set in stone?
50
No
A Child’s First Words usually contain _____ syllables (______, ______) and ______.
Simple
CV
CVC
Reduplications
What nasals usually appear in a child’s first words?
/m/
/n/
What stops usually appear in a child’s first words?
/b/
/d/
What affricates are usually in a children’s first words?
None
What liquids are usually in a child’s first words?
None
What glides are usually in a child’s first words?
/w/
/y/
What fricatives are usually in a child’s first words?
/f/
/s/
What three things seems to help determine a child’s first sounds?
Phonetic simplicity
Language Input
Token Frequency
What is Phonetic Simplicity?
Sounds that seem to require less effort than other sounds
This may not be identical for all children even if they are learning the same language
What is Language Input?
Linguistic environment of the child
A child is going to mimics the words being used around them
(This will change depending on the linguistic environment)
Who is Cliff Pye?
Studied “k’iche” /kiʧe/ (Guatmalan)
Noted that the two most frequent early consonants were /ʧ/ & /l/
What is Token Frequency?
How often a sound occurs in speech
What is Type Frequency?
How many unique words have this particuuar sound
Does Dr Ingram believe that token frequency is an important determiner of first words in English?
No
Is there evidence that Token Frequency may play a role in first words for other languages?
Yes
What is an unusually first phoneme for Chinese infants? Why do we think they learn this so early?
Initial nasal velar
Children learn this early but it has a high Type Frequency but a low Token Frequency
Do some kids take a while to pick up final consonants?
Yes
What word structure is more common in Spanish kids but not in English?
VCV
What word structure is most common in English?
CV
What word structure is the most rare?
VC
Do words show variable pronunciations? Why?
Yes
Kids don’t always pronounce words the same way each time they say them
Sounds may be pronounced differently when in different words or in a different position within the words (intitial, medial, final, etc.)
What are three Transition Phenomena?
Word shifts
Proto-Words
Presyntactic Forms
What are Word Shifts?
Change from one word to another
What are Proto-Words?
Child created words
Ex:
Momma = /mamama/
Woof = /u’u/
What are Presyntactic Forms?
Brief, unstressed phonetic material around lexical words
Example:
dog = /ʌda͞ʊgɪ/
Why do kids often produce presyntactic forms?
They rarely hear words on their own. They are usually in the midst of continuous speech
When does the Word Spurt occur? What can the child’s word acquisition rate reach?
1;6
6 words/day
Why does the Word Spurt occur?
The child’s phonology needs to keep up with new sounds & syllables
What is the Lexical Pattern of Emergence?
That some speech sounds come in and are only used in very few, specific words: /mɑmɑ/
Child has /m/ but only lexically. It doesn’t generalize to other words. It only uses the sound for one word.