Child Grammar

Question 1

Sentence functions/types

Answer 1

Declarative
Interrogative
Imperative 
Exclamative
Simple, compound, complex, minor

Question 2

Overgeneralisation

Answer 2

Over application of the grammatical rule to irregulars, for example “goed” and “sheeps”

Question 3

Negatives

Answer 3

Year 1: gesture, eg shaking head
18 months: negative holophrases eg “gone”
2-21/2: negatives used at the beginning and end of two word sentences “not there”
Year 3: middle of sentences “I no want to go to bed”. Verbs can’t, won’t and don’t appear.
Year 4: negative words and endings used more accurately and “n’t” with more verbs. “Not” replaced “no” more often.
Years 5/6/7: subtle negatives picked up and a greater understanding of indirect refusal/denial develops.

Question 4

Questions

Answer 4

Year 1: rising intonation to convey a question
15-18 months: first question words appear and initially used on their own.
Year 2: question words used with other words and more complex questions are gradually formed
Year 3: by three, most previous difficulties are overcome. Despite complexity, auxiliary verbs and the inversion rule are picked up.

Question 5

Syntax

Answer 5

Syntax becomes more accurate as the child becomes older and more advanced in language

Question 6

Concrete nouns

Answer 6

Children’s first type of words are often concrete nouns because these are objects in there physical world that they can give a label to. Abstract nouns indicate more advanced cognitive development.

Question 7

Auxiliaries

Answer 7

An auxiliary verb is a verb placed in front of the main verb. Modal auxiliaries “could, would, should, must, might, ought, can, may” can only be used with main verbs, can significantly alter the meaning. Later to be used by children. Primary auxiliaries “be, have, do” can act as main verb.

Question 8

Passive and active

Answer 8

Takes until the age of eight or nine for children to learn that many sentences look or sound similar but have different meanings, eg passives. Until a certain stage in development, children interpret all passive sentences as active ones. Demonstrated by experiments called elicited imitation, in which the researcher asks a child to try to repeat exactly what they say and the child cannot understand the passive (2 and a half)