Child Language Acquisition Flashcards
Which language level is developed by children first?
Phonology (sounds)
How early do children start to hear and recognise words?
26 weeks in the womb
What and when is the first stage of phonology development?
Vegetative state
0-2 months
What are the key features of the first stage of phonological development?
Crying Coughing Burping Sucking Sensitivity to reduplication
How is the first stage of phonological development beneficial to the baby?
Physically beneficial as adjusting to breathing in air rather than fluid
When is the second stage of phonological development? What is its key feature?
4-7 months
Cooing= sounds around 6-8 weeks as babies discover their vocal chords
What are two other features of the second stage of phonological development?
First laughter
Changes in pitch and loudness
When is the third stage of phonological development? What is its key feature?
6-9 months
Babbling= experimenting with articulate sounds but no recognisable words, meaningless
Define phonemic contraction. How does it fit into phonological development?
Up to nine months, all sounds international
Sounds of language around them then start to dominate, some emphasised, others discarded
What are two other features of the third stage of phonological development?
Extending sounds so like syllables
Repeated patterns- reduplicated monosyllables
Define phonemic expansion. How does it fit into phonological development?
Baby’s capacity to produce sound becomes more wide-ranging and complex
In the third stage
When is the fourth stage of phonological development? What is its key feature?
9-12 months
Protowords= clusters of sounds that represent baby’s attempt to articulate specific words
What does learning in the fourth stage of phonological development rely on?
Babies gain more control over sounds and respond to feedback mechanisms- children feel satisfaction when they speak so continue to speak
How does the development of vowels and consonants compare to each other?
By 30-40 months, 2/3s of consonants but a whole range of vowels
Vowels are easier than consonants
Combinations of the two
Why are consonant clusters more challenging for children to learn than consonant sounds?
Requires more muscular control
Give three ways children make words easier to say using deletion
Final consonants may be dropped
Unstressed syllables
Consonant clusters reduced
Give one way and two examples of how children make words easier to say using substitution
Reduplication of sounds= sounds in a word are pronounced in the same way
‘r’ becomes ‘w’
‘t’ becomes ‘d’
Describe Berko and Brown’s (1960s) theory
Children don’t have ability to pronounce certain phenomes but can perceive them accurately
Can hear and distinguish more than they can say
Describe the Cruttendens (1974) experiment and its conclusions
Adults and children listened to recording of football results
From intonation used, adults able to predict accurately whether result was home win, away win or draw
Children aged 7-11, had little success
Suggests although children are able to reproduce main patterns of intonation from an early age, understanding their meaning still developing up to early teens
What follows the development of phonology?
The development of grammar
Define holophrase
Single word representing a more complex thought
When is the holophrastic stage?
9-18 months
What word class makes up most of an infants first 50 words?
Nouns
Describe Nelson’s (1973) theory. What is some endorsement for this theory?
Babies vocab in first utterances falls into 4 categories:
Naming occurred most frequently
Action
Modifying
Social
Most concrete nouns fit into four categories (cohesion, continuity, solidity, contact_- children like clearly defined shaped objects, don’t disappear and solid
What is the second stage of grammatical development? When is this?
Two-word stage
18-24 months
What are three key features of the two-word stage?
Introduction of expressions means whole new range of expressions
Mostly subject + verb but others possible as begin to shape meaning
Ambiguity because inflectional affixes absent
What are the three combinations of words at the two word stage that occur?
Subject + verb
Subject + complement
Verb + object
What stage of grammatical development follows the two-word stage? When is it?
Telegraphic stage
2 years old
What are the two main features of the telegraphic stage?
Focus on lexical essentials
Omission of auxiliary verbs, determiners and prepositions
Give three grammatically complete sentences formed in the telegraphic stage
Subject + verb + object
Subject + verb + complement
Subject + verb + adverbial
What follows the telegraphic stage? When is it?
Post-telegraphic stage
3 years old
How has the post-telegraphic stage developed from the telegraphic stage?
Early reliance on lexical words gradually expands to include auxiliaries, prepositions and articles
What are two features of the language used in the post-telegraphic stage?
Sentences with more than one clause, coordinating conjunctions
Inflexional affixes
By what age are most language rules learnt? Give an example of one that hasn’t been
5 years old
Passive voice
What are the three challenges for children to learn?
Pronoun challenge
Asking questions challenge
Negatives challenge
How do children get confused with the pronoun challenge?
Pronouns ‘you’ and ‘i’- use ‘you’ for themselves and ‘i’ for others- imitation
Possessive determiners ‘my’ and ‘yours’
How does children’s language develop to overcome the questions challenge?
18 months, two word stage- intonation with rising inflection
Two years- question word but telegraphic auxillary verb omitted
Three years- auxillary verbs and varied syntax
How does children’s language develop to overcome the negatives challenge?
15-18 months- reliance on words ‘not’ and ‘no’
Age 3- modal verbs ‘don’t’ and ‘can’t’ and no in mid-sentence
Age 4- understand and use more subtle forms of negative construction including implied negatives
Define plosive sounds. Give six examples and what age they develop.
Airflow blocked for a brief time
24 months b, d, p, t,
30 months k, g
Define fricative sounds. Give nine examples and what age they develop.
Airflow only partially blocked and air moved through mouth in stead stream
30 months h
36 months f, s
42 months v, z
48+ months Θ (think), ʒ (leisure), ð (the)
Define affricative sounds. Give two examples and what age they develop.
Outing plosives and fricatives together
42 months tʃ (church), dʒ (judge)
Define approximants. sounds. Give three examples and what age they develop.
similar sounds to vowels 24 months w
36 months j
42 months r
Define nasal sounds. sounds. Give three examples and what age they develop.
Air moving through the nose
24 months m, n
30 months ŋ (sing)
Define lateral sounds. sounds. Give an example and what age it develops.
Placing tongue on the ridge of the teeth and then air moves down the side of the mouth
36 months l
Define whole object assumption
Word refers to whole object
Define type assumption
Word refers to type of thing, not one of them in particular
Define basic level assumption
Word refers to objects alike in basic ways
Describe the research of Brown 1973
Conducted research on children aged 20-36 months
Identified a sequence of learning morphemes that is typical
Over generalisation
Unconsciously recognise existence of inflections but correct usage of irregular verbs takes time
What is the order of morphemes that Brown suggests children learn in?
-ing
-s (plural)
-‘s (possession)
‘a’ ‘the’
-ed
-s (third person singular verb ending)
‘be’ primary auxillary
Describe the research of Berko 1958
Children between 2.5 and 5 years old able to create plurals showing awareness of grammatical rules in the errors they make
Children learn by listening
Define productive vocab
Words a person is able to use in speech or writing
Define receptive vocab. How does it compare to productive vocab?
Words a person recognises/understands, likely to be larger than productive
Describe the types of overextension as described by Rescorla 1980
Categorical= confusing hypernym with hyponym Analogical= associating objects unrelated but have one or more features in common Predicate= relates to absence
What are the three stages of semantic development according to Aitchison 1987?
Labelling= process of attaching words to objects as they learn more
Packaging= to ascertain boundaries of a label, confuses hypernyms and hyponyms giving rise to over and under extensions
Network building= having labelled objects children start to identify connections between, recognising similarities and differences
