Child Language Acquisition

Question 1

Who theorised the Developmental Stages Model?

Answer 1

David Crystal

Question 2

What are the five stages of the Developmental Stages Model?

Answer 2

Pre-Verbal
Holophrastic
Two word
Telegraphic
Post Telegraphic

Question 3

Highlight some key features of the Pre-verbal Stage

Answer 3

Noises including:
Biological - 0-2 months, instinctual noises such as crying
Cooing - 2-6 months, experimental. noises such as laughter
Babbling - 6-12 months, playing with sounds both reduplicated and variegated

Intonation is being learnt

Question 4

Highlight some key features of the Holophrastic Stage

Answer 4

12-18 months
Reliant on non-verbal (gestures) and is often referred to as the one word stage.
Content words with no grammar (concrete nouns eg cat account for 60% of first words according to Katherine Nelson’s study)
Have vocabulary of around 30-60 words
Understand stop it and come here
Express no

Question 5

Highlight some key features of the Two Word Stage

Answer 5

18 months onwards
Demonstrate semantic relations between two words
Vocabulary expands leading to a vocab splurt/ naming explosion
30 months onwards begin to understand and apply syntax

Question 6

Highlight some key features of the Telegraphic Stage

Answer 6

Begin to string more than two words together - 2-5 words or longer
Missing grammar words
3rd person

Question 7

Highlight some key features of the Post Telegraphic Stage

Answer 7

At around 3 years old theres a dramatic change as they begin to use and to link ideas
Around 4 years more conjunctions (but, because) are introduction
Non-fluency - struggle to produce more complex sentences leading to stammering and repeating as they find what to say
Telling stories - using and then

Question 8

What are the two common semantic errors in the Holophrastic Stage

Answer 8

Over extension
Under extension

Question 9

Define Over extension, give an example

Answer 9

Misunderstanding the use of the word and using it in a wider context eg all men = dad

Question 10

Define Under extension, give an example

Answer 10

Restricting the application of the word due to misunderstanding eg white being only associated with snow

Question 11

What is a phoneme?

Answer 11

The sounds/blends of letters

Question 12

What is a grapheme?

Answer 12

The visual representation of a sound

Question 13

Which sounds restrict air flow?

Answer 13

Consonants

Question 14

What sounds do not restrict air flow?

Answer 14

Vowel

Question 15

Which type of development is slower than grammatical and lexical?

Answer 15

Phonological

Question 16

What are the common phonological errors?

Answer 16

Deletion
Consonant cluster reduction
Substitution
Addition

Question 17

Define deletion

Answer 17

A tendency in early speech where a child will drop/remove a consonant

Question 18

Define consonant cluster reduction

Answer 18

The dropping of multiple consonants to simplify a word

Question 19

Define substitution

Answer 19

When a child changes a consonant for a vowel

Question 20

Define addition

Answer 20

The adding of a vowel

Question 21

What is a morpheme?

Answer 21

The smallest grammatical unit

Question 22

What are the two types of morpheme and the difference between them?

Answer 22

Bound and Unbound

-bound morphemes need to be attached to something here as unbound morphemes can stand alone and make sense

Question 23

What are the two forms of of bound morpheme?

Answer 23

Derivational - changes the meaning of the word
Inflectional - alters the grammatical function of the word (tense, word class, plurals)

Question 24

What did Halliday theorise?

Answer 24

Hallidays 7 functions of language