Child Language Acquisition Flashcards
What is the holophrastic stage?
One word utterances
12-18 months
What is the two-word stage?
two-word utterances
18-24 months
What is the telegraphic stage?
Three or more words combined
34-36 months
What is the post-telegraphic stage?
More complex grammatical constructions
36+
What is stage 1?
Vegative
-sounds of discomfort/reflexive actions (0-4 mths)
What is stage 2?
Cooing
-comfort sounds and vocal play using open mouthed vowel sounds
(4-7mths)
What is stage 3?
Babbling
-repeated sounds or consonant and vowel sounds (6-12 mths)
What is stage 4?
Proto-words
-word-like vocalisations, not matching actual words but consistently used for same meaning using actions eg pointing
(9-12mths)
What is Chomsky’s theory? (universal language)
•LAD = learning takes place through innate brain mechanism which is pre-programmer with ability to acquire grammatical structures
•Language is universal; anyone can learn it
(Did no experiments, just theorised)
What is Skinner’s theory? (behaviourist theory)
- Believed children imitate adults and will get positive and negative reinforcement for their verbal behaviour
- Positive reinforcement = behaviour is rewarded to encourage repeated behaviour
- Negative reinforcement = undesirable behaviour is unrewarded with the intention it won’t be repeated
Arguments for/against Skinner’s Behaviourist theory?
For:
•Children imitate accent and dialect
•Learn politeness and pragmatic aspects of language
•Repeat spoken language and incorporate it into theirs
Against:
•They form sentences they’ve never heard before- don’t just imitate
•Hear ungrammatical spoken language around them but learn it correctly
•Don’t always listen to correction
•WASN’T TESTED!
Key points from the Genie Wiley case study on feral children?
- Kept in a cage, isolated with no light available - lack of stimulation
- Had no toys - hinders development and lacks motor skills
- Had no relationships or care giver - lack of interaction
What was the outcome of Genie Wiley’s childhood regarding her language acquisition?
- Able to pick up words and associations (large vocabulary) but couldn’t learn grammar (gone beyond critical period)
- Her brain had not developed capacity for language - was smaller and malformed due to lack of interaction and development
What does ‘overextending meaning’ mean?
•Children often overextend meaning of words such as calling all 4 legged house hold pets ‘dogs’
What does ‘under-extending meaning’ mean?
•They may under-extend a word by giving it a narrower meaning eg calling cartoon ducks ‘ducks’ but not real ducks ‘ducks’
What is Eve Clark’s theory? (meanings)
•Studied babies first words and they way they over extend meanings
•She found that the over extension is based on the physical features of objects
(tested her theory)
What is Jean Piaget’s theory? (cognitivism)
•Emphasised children were active learners & their cognitive development has been very influential in language
e.g ‘wassat’ shows a child wanted more labels to describe the objects around them (active learner) > heuristic
•Children can’t be taught til they are ready
What is stage one in Piaget’s Stages of Lexical Development?
Sensorimotor stage - up to 2 years
- child experiences physical world through their senses and classify things in it
- concrete lexical choices
What is stage 2 of Piaget’s Stages of Lexical Development?
Pre-operational- 2-7 years
- language and motor skills are more competent
- Language is egocentric - focused on the child
What is stage 3 of Piaget’s Stages of Lexical Development?
Concrete operational- 7-11 years
-children begin to think logically about concrete events
What is stage 4 of Piaget’s Stages of Lexical Development?
Formal operational - 11+
-abstract reasoning skills begin to develop
What are some of the features of CDS? (child directed speech)
- higher pitch of voice
- simplified vocabulary helps establish keywords
- concrete nouns
- yes no questioning
- simplified grammar
- exaggerated pauses to encourage turn taking
What are some actions that accompany speech in CDS?
- pointing, smiling and shrugging
- more obvious lip and mouth movement
- exaggerated facial expressions
What does exaggerating prosodic cues mean?
-using more exaggerated intonation patterns and higher frequencies eg ‘uh oh’
