Child Language Acquisition Flashcards
What is the main idea in piagets theory of cognitive development
children think in concrete terms and need names of objects to understand the world more
What are the 6 language functions in piagets theory
naming objects, describing using adjectives, expressing feelings, asking questions, getting attention, explaining needs
What is Noam Chomsky
a nativist
What device did Chomsky suggest
the innate ‘language acquisition device’ (LAD)
What term did Chomsky use for words that all babies use
universal grammar
What do non nativists argue
that the LAD assists rather than creates
What type of studies support Chomsky’s idea
feral child studies, genie and the critical period
What ages did Chomsky suggest is the critical period
2-7
What type of words do babies find easiest to pronounce
plosives as they can see the lips
What type of words do babies find hardest to pronounce
fricatives as you can’t see them
What is the difference between vowels and consonants
consonants have a obstruction
What types of phonemes do children acquire last
at 48+ months they get fricatives last as they require teeth
What did Berko and Brown do and find
used a plastic fish to stimulate convo’s with children
a fis!
is this your fis
no
a fis!
is this your fish
yes
finds that children are able to comprehend and understand sounds before they produce them
When are children’s first words
12 months
What is a first word also known as
proto word
What are early words usually about
content eg nouns
What is overextending
to give the name of 1 thing to many things
What is underextending
giving a word a narrower meaning than it has
What did Eve Clark find that makes children overextend
physical factors
features such as taste and sound
What are the three types of overextending according to rescorla
categorical, analogical, mismatch statements
What is categorical overextension
name of one member of the category to all in that category
apple for all round fruit
What is analogical overextension
a word for one thing is extended to a different category based on similar features
apple for a ball
What is mismatch statements
using a word for something random
What percentage of overextensions are categorical
60%
What percentage of overextensions are analogical
15%
What percentage of overextensions are mismatch
25%
What are Aitchinson’s 3 stages of lexical and semantic development
labelling
packaging
network building
What did Piaget emphasis with children’s language learning
that they are active learners
Name Piaget’s 4 stages of lexical development
Sensorimotor
pre-operational
concrete operational
formal operational
What is the Sensorimotor stage
0-2 years old
child experiences world through their senses
lexical choices tend to be concrete rather than abstract
What is the pre-operational stage
2-7 years old
language and motor skills become more complete
language is ego-centric
What is the concrete operational stage
7-11 years old
children begin to think logically about concrete events
What is the formal operational stage
11+ years old
abstract reasoning skills develop
What is a hypernym
a word that is general and can have more specific words under it
What is a hyponym
a more specific word within a category or under a hypernym
Name 3 reasons why it is hard for children to learn grammar
irregular grammatical structures
limited vocab
poor grammar of parents
What does syntax allow children to do
order words and phrases
allows sentences to have different functions
What does morphological grammar allow children to do
add inflections to create tense
What is the difference between a free and bound morpheme
free - makes sense on its own
bound - doesn’t make sense on its own
Explain the wug test by Jean Berko Gleaston
one wug two ? (wugs)
children can attribute suitable suffix’s to pseudo words
can be done in any language therefore universal
What is mean length utterance
total number of morphemes divided by number of utterances
used because complexity of utterance is better represented by number of morphemes
What are Roger Brown’s (1970) two word utterances
different combinations of two words that children use (look at table in chat)
What did Brown (1970) look at
the u shaped development in correct use of comparatives and superlatives
found that children learn a rule, then over generalise a rule then learn the exceptions
How does Chomsky link to the u shape theory
they say things that they dont learn from adults such as feetsies so much have their own understanding of grammar
How many words makes the child in a telegraphic stage
3 or more words
What stages did Bellugi (1966) suggest children ask questions in
1 - rising intonation (bedtime?)
2 - inversion of auxillary verbs (are you coming)
3 - ‘w’ questions (where, who)
4 - tag questions
What order do children learn the w words in
What (want to learn things around you)
Where
Why
When (concept of time yet to come)
What stages did Bellugi (1966) suggest children learn negations in
1 - no or not at the start of sentence
2 - no inside sentence
3 - attaches negative to auxiliary
What does Bellugi’s negation stages not account for
doesnt account for inconsistencies and dialect variation
What stages did Bellugi (1966) suggest children acquire pronouns in
1 - uses name rather than pronoun
2 - recognise object and subject differences but don’t use them consistently
3 - use correct pronouns consistently
What are the stages in Brown’s grammatical development
holophrastic /one word
two word
telegraphic/three or more word
post telegraphic (noticing irregularities)
Name 8 features of child directed speech
higher pitch more pronounced intonation simplified vocab repetition shorter utterances/simplified grammar concrete nouns exaggerated pauses childs name instead of pronouns
Name 3 physical characteristics that support CDS
actions that accompany speech
more obvious lip and mouth movement
exaggerated facial expressions
What does echoing mean
repeating what a child has said
What does recasting mean
phrasing sentences in different ways such as making it a question
What social factor can have an effect on CDS
differetn cultures
What culture did LeVine (1992) look into
Kenyan mothers
found that they believe their children do not undertsand speech so do not interact with them or make eye contact until they are older
What study did Vihman do in 2019
individual acquisition paths
What does this study aim to show
that no two children acquire sounds or language at the same time
What did Vihman suggest were the three main factors affecting different development paths
individual differences
linguistic input
physiology of infant vocal tract
Why is the child an active learner in this study
as they learn language from their unique enironment
What is a word template
cause of regression in accuracy of words
What is locution
the literal meaning in pragmatics
What is ilocution
the implied meaning in pragmatics
What is perlocution
the perceived in prgamatics
What are Hallidays 7 functions of child language
instrumental regulatory interactional personal representative imaginative heuristic
What is instrumental function
fulfil a purpose
What is regulatory
influence behaviours of others
What is interactional
develop and maintain social relationships
What is personal
convey opinions and identity
What is representative
convey facts and info
What is imaginative
creating an imaginary world
What is heuristic
learn about the environment
What did Vygotsky (1978) say about play
that social interaction with others is crucial for development
What did Gray (1977) say about pretend play
that it can lead to vocabulary growth
Which role did Vygotsky emphasis
the caregiver as the more knowledgable other (MKO)
What does the MKO do
support and scaffold the child into the zone of proximal development (ZPD)
What theory did Bruner (1957) come up with
social interactionalist theory
What did Bruner believe
that lanuage is used to mediate between emotional stimuli and a persons response
that children must learn language themselves through making sense of their environment
Who does Bruner go against
Chomsky
as Bruner is about environment and Chomsky is a a nativist
What are Bruners three models of representation
enactive, iconic, symbolic
Explain the enactive model
active based (0-1 years) witnessing actions and storing them in memory
Explain the iconic model
image based 1-6 years
stored in the mind visually
Explain the symbolic model
language based (7+ years) stored in the mind in symbols such as language
What is Bruner’s scaffolding theory
builds on Vygotsky
believes that children need an adult to help them build on what they are learning
What does Tomasello believe with language
we dont need an innate ability
we need to comprehend intention to learn language
What is Tomasello’s usage based theory
According to this theory language structure emerges from language use, and children build their language relying on their general cognitive skills
What are types of supportive language in CDS
re-casting and expansion
