Chapter 14

Question 1

a special register with distinctive linguistic properties that is used in certain societies for addressing very young children

Answer 1

Child‑directed Speech (CDS)

Question 2

an online system of resources on language acquisition, including an archive of children’s speech from various languages, programs for data analysis, and instructional materials

Answer 2

CHILDES (Child Language Data Exchange System)

Question 3

the process by which a linguistic unit, such as an utterance, conversation, or narrative, is produced by more than one person

Answer 3

co‑construction

Question 4

how humans learn and process knowledge; the mental processes that take in information from the environment, use it to form mental representations, and apply this stored knowledge in activities such as thinking, speaking, and remembering

Answer 4

cognition

Question 5

term used in language acquisition for a type of assimilation in which one consonant is produced with the same place or manner of articulation as a nearby consonant; see vowel harmony

Answer 5

consonant harmony

Question 6

the hypothesis in nativist acquisition theory that children have the same syntactic categories and rules as adults from the outset

Answer 6

continuity hypothesis

Question 7

in first language acquisition, research which compares children in different age groups at a single point in time, either in their spontaneous speech or in their performance of an experimental task

Answer 7

cross‑sectional research

Question 8

in language acquisition research, obtaining more frequent samples of child speech than is customary, e.g., at least five hours per week

Answer 8

dense sampling

Question 9

when a linguistic unit, such as a word, phrase, or clause, is not uttered; the “missing” unit can be understood in the speech context by the listener without explicit mention

Answer 9

ellipsis

Question 10

in narrative research, the particular linguistic and non‑linguistic strategies, such as repetition, that the narrator uses to highlight the significance or point of the story, i.e., why it is worth telling

Answer 10

evaluative device

Question 11

in narrative research, the function of conveying the significance or point of the story, i.e., why it is worth telling

Answer 11

evaluative function

Question 12

in language acquisition, a caregiver utterance that provides a fuller, more grammatical version of a preceding child utterance that is incomplete or ungrammatical

Answer 12

expansion

Question 13

a type of study in which the researcher manipulates linguistic or contextual features to observe the effects on the performance of a particular task

Answer 13

experimental research

Question 14

the process by which young children come to know and use the language(s) of their caregivers

Answer 14

first language acquisition

Question 15

term used in language acquisition to indicate a phonological error pattern in which a child moves consonants forward in the mouth; e.g., pronouncing car [ka?] as [da] by replacing velar [k] with alveolar [d]

Answer 15

fronting

Question 16

the persistence of the same function (e.g., direct listener’s attention) over time, even though that function may be expressed by different non‑linguistic or linguistic forms as time passes

Answer 16

functional continuity

Question 17

theories that attribute the process of first language acquisition to general cognitive abilities such as learning and analogy; contrast with nativist theories

Answer 17

functional discourse‑based theories of first‑language acquisition

Question 18

a gradual process of change in which a particular linguistic form is applied in an increasing number of cases, so that the frequency of the form increases and its function/meaning becomes more general; used in discussing language change and language acquisition

Answer 18

generalization

Question 19

information that is activated in the listener’s mind because it has just been mentioned or is obvious in context; therefore it is information that the speaker assumes to be already in the focal consciousness of the addressee

Answer 19

given informationssee

Question 20

in language acquisition, a phonological error pattern in which a child substitutes the glides [j] or [w] for liquids [l] and [?], e.g., pronouncing lap [læp] as [jæp]; see phonological error pattern

Answer 20

gliding

Question 21

lexemes or expressions that share the same form (in spelling, in pronunciation, or in both) but have different senses; e.g., sea and see

Answer 21

homonyms

Question 22

the beliefs held by an individual or social group about how children acquire language, e.g., by imitating adult speech

Answer 22

ideology of language acquisition

Question 23

the study of how language is learned, includes first language acquisition (the study of how children learn their native language) and second language acquisition (the study of how speakers learn a language that is not their native tongue)

Answer 23

language acquisition

Question 24

in language acquisition, a type of error in which a word is applied to a larger number of referents than is appropriate in adult speech; see referent and overextension

Answer 24

lexical overextension

Question 25

in first language acquisition, a type of error in which a word is applied to a smaller set of referents than is appropriate in adult speech; see referent and underextension

Answer 25

lexical underextension

Question 26

in first language acquisition, a type of research which follows the language development of one or more individual children over time

Answer 26

longitudinal research

Question 27

the average number of morphemes per utterance in a sample of speech; used in language acquisition research as a measure of linguistic development

Answer 27

Mean Length of Utterance (MLU)

Question 28

forms of stored information/knowledge in the mind, including imaginal forms such as mental images, symbolic forms such as words and grammatical constructions, and physiological forms such as patterns of neural activation in the brain

Answer 28

mental representation

Question 29

the production of a narrative by more than one person

Answer 29

narrative co‑construction

Question 30

theories of first‑language acquisition based upon the view that innate grammatical structures ( Universal Grammar ) are required to explain the process of first language acquisition; contrast with functional discourse‑based theories of first‑language acquisition

Answer 30

nativist theories

Question 31

information a speaker assumes is not already in the focal consciousness of the addressee

Answer 31

new information

Question 32

a linguistic context in which the use of a particular morpheme is required in order for the utterance to be grammatically correct

Answer 32

obligatory context

Question 33

in language acquisition research, a type of study in which the researcher makes a written, audio, or video record of children’s naturally occurring communicative behaviors

Answer 33

observational study

Question 34

in language acquisition, a type of error in which a linguistic form or construction is used in a larger number of contexts than is appropriate in adult speech

Answer 34

overextension

Question 35

in language acquisition, a type of error in which the regular form of a morpheme is used in cases that require an irregular form, e.g., goed instead of went

Answer 35

overregularization

Question 36

in language acquisition, a consistent difference between the adult and child pronunciation of a phonological unit such as a syllable or speech sound

Answer 36

phonological error pattern

Question 37

in nativist linguistic theory, the argument that the speech children hear does not provide sufficient evidence for them to acquire fundamental aspects of linguistic structure through learning; it is therefore assumed that the necessary syntactic information must be innately available as part of Universal Grammar

Answer 37

poverty of the stimulus

Question 38

the study of how context shapes our use and interpretation of linguistic expressions; the competence to draw from context plausible inferences, which complement linguistic meanings

Answer 38

pragmatics

Question 39

term used in narrative research for the function of recounting who did what to whom, i.e., the sequence of events that comprise the plot of the narrative (its primary referential content); contrasts with evaluative function

Answer 39

referential function

Question 40

in language acquisition, caregiver behaviors that support young children’s use of language before they are capable of performing independently, e.g., adult questions that support a child’s telling of a story

Answer 40

scaffolding

Question 41

a biologically programmed period of time during which, it is hypothesized, young children are able to acquire language most easily and successfully

Answer 41

sensitive period

Question 42

in language acquisition, a type of phonological error pattern in which speech sounds that are difficult to perceive or produce are replaced with ones that are easier to perceive or produce

Answer 42

sound substitution

Question 43

a social action that a speaker intends to perform by producing an utterance, such as a command, greeting, or request

Answer 43

speech act

Question 44

term used in language acquisition to indicate a phonological error pattern in which a child replaces a fricative or other type of consonant with a stop, e.g., pronouncing English see [si] as [di]

Answer 44

stopping

Question 45

in first language acquisition, a type of error in which a linguistic form or construction is applied to a smaller set of referents than is appropriate in adult speech

Answer 45

underextension

Question 46

in formal linguistic theories, a set of innate linguistic categories, structures, principles, and constraints that form the basis for the grammars of all languages; in nativist theories of language acquisition, UG is hypothesized to account for children’s first language acquisition

Answer 46

Universal Grammar (UG)

Question 47

a cognitive system for temporarily storing and processing information that has just been experienced or recalled; enables performance of tasks such as language comprehension and production, learning, and problem‑solving

Answer 47

working memory