child language acquisition Flashcards
what are Brown’s 8 stages of development
- before birth = detection of rhythm
- crying = distinction cries for hunger/distress
- cooing (6-8 wks) = experiment with phonemes
- babbling = reduplicated monosyllables, meaningless
- phonemic expansion and contradiction (9-10m) = occurs during babbling, child filters out phonemes
- intonation and gesture = intonate and gesture to communicate basic ideas
- understanding = understanding words earlier than producing them
- first word = occurs at 1
describe Skinner’s behaviourist approach
- children learn language through immitation
- monitored through praise and encouragement to repeat successful utterances to reinforce their knowledge of language
what are some arguments in favour of Skinner’s Behaviourist approach
- phonological development (accent of caregiver is acquired)
- children use words they don’t understand but have heard
what are some arguments against Skinner’s behaviourist approach
- children go through the same stages of development at roughly the same time regardless of adult interaction
–> Shieffelin and Ochs found that Papua New Guinea don’t use CDS yet kids develop typically - children produce original utterances they have not heard –> Burko’s wug test; overextension
- children are impervious to correction (fis test)
describe Chomsky’s Nativism approach
- children are born with ability to extract and apply rules to language around them
- brain has Language Acquisition Device which acccounts for fast learning of language structure
- LAD explains how fast children learn to speak, the fact they go through same stages at same time, existence of principles (eg grammar), creation of unheard sentences
what are some arguments agaisnt Chomsky’s Nativism approach
- theory underestimates the social relevance of CLA
- no biological proof of LAD
- genie failed to become a competent speaker; this can be explained by Lenneburg’s Critical Development Period –> effectively develops LAD by suggesting critical period whereby language has to learn (0-18)
-it may explain genie, but other brain damage cases dont necessarily prohibit language acquisition
describe piaget’s Cognitive approach
- suggest language aquisition is limited to a cognitive development
- suggests children can only use a linguistic strucuture when they fully understand concept ( eg to understand past tense u have to understand time)
- acquisition depends on 3 things;
1. object permanence
2. classification
3. serriation
what is an argument in favour of Piaget’s Cognitive approach
- on face value, link between language acquisition and cognitive development is likely
what are some arguments against Piaget’s Cognitive approach
- some children with impaired brain function can speak grammatically fluently
- language is more than a means of conveying thoughts; it creates relationships
- Vgotsy –> link between the two is too difficult to determine
describe Bruner’s Input theory
- stresses the role of interaction, suggesting that a Language Acquisition Support System (lass) is necessary in CLA
- they help by talking to a child and through shared reading to focus on child’s naming ability
what are some evaluation points of Bruner’s Input theory
- whilst how/why CDS works can be clear, direct links (how child uses structures of adult speech etc) arent
- doesnt appear to be essential that children are adressed in same way
–> in Papa New Guinea, adults dont alter speech for children but they still develop typically
what are some features of Child Directed Speech
- phonology = longer pauses, singsong notation, pitch range
- lexico-semantics = concrete nouns, dynamic verbs, use of child’s name
- pragmatics = gestures, fewer utterances, recastings
- Grammer = simple constructions, imperitives, repetitions, deixis etc…
what did Clark-Stewart say in regards to Child Directed Speech
children whose mothers talked more had larger vocabularies
what did Nelson say in regards to Child Directed Speech
at the holophrastic stage, correcting a child instead of accepting the non-standard form appeared to slow down CLA
what did Clark and Clark say in regards to Child Directed Speech
suggested children in cultures which dont use CDS (papa New Ginea) dont aquire same standard of language
what did Berko and Brown come up with regarding Child Directed Speech
- the ‘fis’ phenomenon
what are some beliefs of Child directed speech
- some suggest CDS is social rather that education as it doesn’t directly help the child learn language
- some argue CDS is harmful and archaic
- some argue that a child’s language improves when with parent is around
describe Halliday’s Taxonomy regarding pragmatic development
children use language for several purposes;
- instrumental (fulfil a need)
- regulatory (persuade, command)
- interactional: build relationships
- personal : express identity
- informative : request/give info
- heuristic : learning
describe Bancroft’s parallels regarding pragmatical development
- observed peek-a-boo parallels with children conversations
(turn taking, responding, understanding the progression of convo, pleasure in communication)
describe Yousef’s Trinidad study regarding Pragmatucal development
- saw group of children in Trinidad respond to different social contexts with different varieties of English
(pragmatic awareness)
describe the case study of Genie
- locked in isolation for 13 yrs with no contact outside of her father who barked at her
- she was rescued and went to rehab
- however, after 3 yrs she could only form 3 word utterances and had no standard use of questions and grammar
- she made no further progress
describe the case study of Jim
- raised by deaf parents and his only source of language was the TV
- a speech therapist does step in and Jim does learn to use language normally
- suggests importance of input and interaction
what are the features of phonological development
- drop final consonant
- delete unstressed syllables
- reduce consonant clusters (snake=nake)
- substitution (th for d)
- republication (dog–>gog)
describe Berko and Brown’s Fis scenario
- despite however the child simplifies, they still understand the standard pronunciation
- they say ‘fis’ but knew ‘fish’ was correct
describe Berko and brown’s Identification regarding phonological development
- whilst the child had indistinguishable sounds for mouse and cat, they could still match word to a picture
describe Mehler’s 4 days regarding phonological development
4 day old babies distinguish sounds of mother’s language from other language
describe Nelson’s Semantic development
Nelson believed that children learn the meaning of words in a specific order;
1. specific nominals (mommy
2. general nominals (semantic fields- juice)
3. action words
4. Modifiers
5. personal and social
describe Nelson’s first 50 words regarding semantic development
- nelson categorised the first 50 words a child learns; naming, action, social and modifying.
- 60% of words were naming
describe De Velliers’ over/under extension regarding semantic development
- overextension = children identify the meaning of a word by a characteristic of its referent (size) etc.
then uses that word to refer to all things that share this property (eg calling a rabbit a mouse because of their similar size) - underextension = less common, when child uses a word too specifically (eg using ‘animal’ to only refer to mammals and not reptiles)
describe Rescorla’s types of overextension regarding semantic development
- categorical = using a term for one word of a category to describe all members of that category
- analogical = word for one object extended to mean a word from a diff category by same size/shape
- predicate statement = abstract single words can be related to something else
give an example of categorical over-extension
saying ‘apple’ when referring to all fruit
give an example of analogical overextension
saying ‘apple’ for all round objects
give an example of Predicate Statement
saying ‘duck’ when seeing an empty pond
describe Aitchison’s vocabulary acquisition
3 stages :
- labelling = linking word to object
- packaging = exploring what the labels can refer to (over/under extension)
- network building = making connections between words; learning similar and opposites
Describe Thomson and Chapman’s statement regarding understanding
they found that children knew and understood far more words than they could produce
what are the stages of grammatical development
-one word/ holophrastic stage (12-18m)
-two word stage (18+m)
-telegraphic stage
describe the holophrastic stage
- 12-18 months
- single word utterances
- holophrases are words that carry the meaning of complex structures
- eg “my food has all gone” —> “gone”
describe the two word stage
- 18+ months
- 2 word grammatically correct sequence (SV/VO)
- eg “want juice”
describe the telegraphic stage
- similar to 2-word but with 3
- sometimes grammatically complete (SVO) but can be missing key elements like auxiliaries
- progression is now rapid
what are the 6 types of two-word utterances stated by Brown regarding syntactical development
- doer and action (daddy go)
- action and undergoes (eat dinner)
- doer and undergoes (dolly dinner)
- possessor and thing (may dolly)
- property and thing (small dolly)
- action and location (come here)
describe Braine’s pivot words regarding syntactical development
- words from which a child forms two word utterances around
“all gone” —> “dinner all gone”
describe Bellugi and Mcneill’s questions regarding syntactical development
believed there were 3 stages to forming questions
- intonation
- question words
- manipulation of word order and auxiliaries
describe Crystal’s 6 stages to forming negatives regarding syntactical development
- negative words (no)
- combining these with other words (no like)
- negatives in clause-medial position (me no like)
- increased accuracy/contractions (it isn’t right)
- increased complexity (i havnt got any)
- saying “no without no” (i don’t think that’s a good idea)
describe Crystal’s 6 stages to forming negatives regarding syntactical development
- negative words (no)
- combining these with other words (no like)
- negatives in clause-medial position (me no like)
- increased accuracy/contractions (it isn’t right)
- increased complexity (i havnt got any)
- saying “no without no” (i don’t think that’s a good idea)
describe Brown’s order of inflections regarding Inflectional Development
- -ing
- -s (plural)
- -s (possessive)
- determiners (the/a)
- -ed (past tense)
- -s (3rd person agreement)
- be (auxiliary verb)
describe Brown’s Regression regarding inflectional development
A child gets an inflection right, then wrong, then right again
describe Berko’s Wug test regarding inflectional development
proved that children understand grammatical rules by asking them to pluralise ‘wug’, a word they hadn’t heard before
- success after 4 yrs
describe Addition as a virtuous error
adding an extra vowel sound
describe Deletion as a virtuous error
deleting the last consonant
describe Reduplication as a virtuous error
repeating particular sounds
describe Substitution as a virtuous error
swap a phoneme for an easier one
describe Consonant Cluster Reduction as a virtuous error
removing a sound from a cluster (grape –> gape)
describe Assimilation as a virtuous error
substitute to accommodate surrounding phonemes (bus –> bub)
what are some arguments in favour of Skinner’s behaviourist theory
- learn politeness and pragmatic aspects
- repeat language they have heard around them and incorporate it into theirs —> lexical knowledge must be gained from being told the right labels
what are some arguments against Skinner’s behaviourist theory
- imitate but don’t necessarily understand
- aren’t always corrected by parents
- form sentences they havnt heard before
what are some arguments for Chompsky’s Natividt theory
- experiences the same stages of development and at the same pace
- create forms of language adults don’t use (overgeneralisations)
- make their own rules for language
- wug test
what are some arguments against Chomsky’s Nativist theory
- kids stop overgeneralising and learn to use language correctly
- need input to give more skills than grammar eg: pragmatics
- kids who have been deprived of contact can’t achieve can’t achieve complete communicative competence
