Child Langauge Acquisition

Question 1

SECTION 1: STAGES OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
What is the pre-verbal stage?

Answer 1

Before actual words; includes crying, cooing, and babbling.

Question 2

What is cooing?

Answer 2

Vowel-like sounds (e.g. “ooo”, “ahh”) made around 6–8 weeks.

Question 3

What is babbling?

Answer 3

Repeated consonant-vowel sounds like “ba-ba” (from 4 months).

Question 4

What is the holophrastic stage?

Answer 4

Using single words to express whole ideas (e.g. “milk” means “I want milk”).

Question 5

What is the two-word stage?

Answer 5

Two words combined to form simple meaning (e.g. “Mummy go”).

Question 6

What is the telegraphic stage?

Answer 6

Use of key words in speech, missing out smaller ones (e.g. “Want toy now”).

Question 7

What is the post-telegraphic stage?

Answer 7

More grammatically complete sentences (e.g. “I want the toy now”).

Question 8

SECTION 2: LANGUAGE FEATURES & ERRORS
What is overextension?

Answer 8

Using one word for too many things (e.g. “dog” for all animals).

Question 9

What is underextension?

Answer 9

Using a word too specifically (e.g. “bottle” only for one bottle).

Question 10

What is a virtuous error?

Answer 10

A logical mistake based on language rules (e.g. “runned”).

Question 11

What is overgeneralisation?

Answer 11

Applying a rule too widely (e.g. “mouses” instead of “mice”).

Question 12

What is the Fis phenomenon?

Answer 12

Child understands a word but can’t say it properly (e.g. “fis” for “fish”).

Question 13

What is a proto-word?

Answer 13

Made-up word with consistent meaning (e.g. “baba” for bottle).

Question 14

What is reduplication?

Answer 14

Repeating a sound (e.g. “choo-choo”).

Question 15

What is deletion?

Answer 15

Missing out a sound (e.g. “nana” for “banana”).

Question 16

What is substitution?

Answer 16

Swapping one sound for another (e.g. “wabbit” for “rabbit”).

Question 17

What is assimilation?

Answer 17

A sound changes to be more like another (e.g. “gog” for “dog”).

Question 18

SECTION 3: THEORIES
What is the LAD?

Answer 18

Chomsky’s theory that all humans are born with a mental structure (LAD) that helps us learn language.

It means children don’t need to be taught every word or rule — they naturally pick up grammar from hearing language around them.

Question 19

What is nativism?

Answer 19

The idea (supported by Chomsky) that language ability is innate — we are born with it.

Children can understand grammar and form sentences without direct teaching because of inbuilt brain structures.

Question 20

What is behaviourism?

Answer 20

Skinner’s theory that language is learned by copying others and being rewarded (e.g. praise, attention).

If a child says a word and gets a positive reaction, they repeat it — this is how learning happens.

Question 21

What is reinforcement in CLA?

Answer 21

When a caregiver gives positive feedback (like praise) or negative feedback (like correction) to encourage correct language use.

Helps shape and guide the child’s speech.

Question 22

What is operant conditioning?

Answer 22

A learning process where behaviour is controlled by rewards or punishments.

Skinner applied this to language — children repeat language that gets rewarded.

Question 23

What is interactionism?

Answer 23

Bruner’s theory that language develops through social interaction, especially with caregivers.

Children learn best when adults help them through routines, games, and conversations.

Question 24

What is the LASS (Language Acquisition Support System)?

Answer 24

Bruner’s idea that caregivers provide support (like repetition, questions, routines) to help children learn language.

This works with the child’s inbuilt ability to acquire language (LAD).

Question 25

What is constructivism?

Answer 25

Piaget’s view that children build knowledge through experiences. They learn language as they understand the world around them — it happens alongside cognitive development.

Question 26

What is the ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development)?

Answer 26

Vygotsky’s idea that children learn best when doing tasks just slightly above their level — with help. Language develops when adults guide children through harder tasks (this is scaffolding).

Question 27

What is the critical period hypothesis?

Answer 27

Eric Lenneberg The theory that there is a limited time window (usually early childhood) when the brain is most ready to learn language. If children don’t learn language in this period, it becomes much harder or even impossible later.

Question 28

SECTION 4: CAREGIVER LANGUAGE What is Child Directed Speech (CDS)?

Answer 28

A style of speech that adults use when talking to young children. It includes: Higher pitch and exaggerated intonation Slower pace and clearer pronunciation Repetition of words and phrases Simplified vocabulary and grammar Use of questions and commands Lots of praise and encouragement CDS helps children understand language patterns, stay engaged, and learn how to take turns in conversation.

Question 29

What is scaffolding in CLA?

Answer 29

Scaffolding is when adults give structured support to help children learn language. It means breaking things down into smaller, manageable steps and helping the child until they can do it alone. Examples of scaffolding include: Asking guiding questions Rephrasing the child’s speech correctly Expanding their sentences Encouraging them to speak more As the child improves, the support is gradually reduced, helping them become more independent with language use.

Question 30

What is expansion in CLA?

Answer 30

Repeating and adding detail to a child’s speech (e.g. “Doggy” → “Yes, the doggy is running”).

Question 31

What is recasting?

Answer 31

Rephrasing a child’s incorrect sentence correctly.

Question 32

What is framing?

Answer 32

Using routines to support language learning (e.g. during meals, stories).

Question 33

What is turn-taking in CLA?

Answer 33

Learning to wait and respond in conversation.

Question 34

What is the game "Peek-a-boo" used for in CLA?

Answer 34

Teaching turn-taking, repetition, and prosody.

Question 35

What is a vocative?

Answer 35

A word or phrase used to address someone directly (e.g. “Mummy”, “John”).

Question 36

What is a content word?

Answer 36

A word that carries meaning, like nouns, main verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.

Question 37

What is a function word?

Answer 37

A word that helps with grammar rather than meaning (e.g. “the”, “and”, “in”, “is”).

Question 38

Ursula Bellugi – Pronoun Development Stages

Answer 38

Stage 1: Child uses their own name "Tom play", "Me want juice" Stage 2: Child switches between "I" and "me" but not always correctly "Me do that", "I going home" Stage 3: Child uses "I", "me", "my" correctly depending on sentence position "I am playing", "Give it to me", "That’s my toy"

Question 39

Stages of Negative Formation in CLA:

Answer 39

Stage 1: Use "no" or "not" at the beginning or end of sentence “No go bed”, “Not milk” Stage 2: "No" or "not" moves inside the sentence “I no like it”, “I not going” Stage 3: Use of correct auxiliary verbs for negatives “I don’t want it”, “She isn’t playing”

Question 40

Inflectional Morphology Q: What is inflectional morphology?

Answer 40

A: It’s when word endings change to show tense, number, person, or possession, but the word's core meaning stays the same. Example: walk → walked (past tense) dog → dogs (plural) Lucy → Lucy’s (possession) 📌 It changes grammar, not meaning.

Question 41

Derivational Morphology Q: What is derivational morphology?

Answer 41

A: It’s when we add parts to words (prefixes or suffixes) to create new words or change word class. Example: happy → unhappy (prefix changes meaning) teach → teacher (suffix changes verb to noun) kind → kindness (adjective to noun) 📌 It changes the word’s meaning or type.

Question 42

Phonemic expansion:

Answer 42

the variety of sounds produced increases A baby goes from saying just "ba ba" to making lots of different sounds like: "ba da ma ga na"

Question 43

Phonemic contraction:

Answer 43

the variety of sounds is reduced to the sounds of the main lang used A baby who used to say sounds like "da, ba, ka, nga, sha" may now mostly say sounds common in English, like: "ba, da, ma"