A2 Key Terms Flashcards
Archaism
An old fashioned word or phrase that isn’t used in modern day english
Amelioration
When a word develops a more positive meaning over time
Babbling
The production of short vowel/consonant combinations by a baby acquiring language
Behaviourism
A theory of language acquisition that suggests that children learn language through a process of imitation and reinforcement
Bidialectism
The ability of speakers to switch between two dialect forms, the most common being between standard english and a speaker’s regional variety
Blending
When parts of two of words are combined to make a new one
Borrowing
When words from one language fall into common usage in another q’s q result of contact
Broadening
When a word that has quite a specific meaning becomes more general over time ( also known we generalisation, expansion or extension)
Child-directed speech
The way that carers talk to children - usually in a simplified and/or exaggerated way
Clipping
When a shortened version of a word becomes a word in its own right
Cluster reduction
When a child only pronounces one consonant from a consonant cluster
Cognitive theory
A theory of language acquisition that suggests that children need to have developed certain mental abilities before that can acquire language
Conversion
When a word becomes part of a different word class in addition to the original one
Cooing
The earliest sounds children are able to make as they experiment with moving their lips and tongue
Critical period hypothesis
A theory popularised by Lenneberg (1967) which states that or a child does not have any linguistic interaction before the ages of 5-6, their language development will b be severely limited
Deletion
When a child misses out consonants in words
Descriptivsm
The attitude that no use of language is incorrect and that variation should be acknowledged and recorded rather than corrected
Overextension
When a child acquiring language uses a word too generally to refer to different but related things
Pejoration
When a word develops a more negative meaning over time
Phonemic contraction
When a baby stops making certain sounds, and just makes the sounds it hears from the language its caregivers use. (10 months)
Phonemic expansion
When a baby starts to make lots of different sounds in the babbling stage. Happens before phonemic contraction.
Plosive
A consonant sound in English produced by completely stopping the flow of air from the lungs and then releasing it. E.g p,b,t,d,k
Presciptivism
The attitude that language should have a strict set of rules that must be obeyed in speech and writing
Porto-word
A combination of sounds that a child uses that actually contains meaning, rather than just being a random utterance like during the cooing and babbling stages.
