Child Language Acquisition Flashcards
Word class children usually first learn?
Nouns
Many early words are related to…
Child’s everyday routines
Some early words are clearly …
Context specific
What do infants prefer to attend to above all environmental sounds
Human voice
How old are babies before they can distinguish between their mothers voice and anyone else’s
3 days old
What does children being born universal mean
Capable of producing any sound in the human language
What’s acquired first, vowels or consonants
Vowels
When does the avg child acquire all vowels and 2/3 of consonants
2 and a half yrs old
When are children confident in using both vowels and consonants
6 or 7 years old
Infinite monkey theory
If you sit a monkey down at a typewriter for an info ur amount of time, eventually by randomly hitting the keys, the monkey will type out the words of Shakespeare
How can babies have a conversation without words
Turn taking
List of Halidays functions of language (8)
Instrumental Regulatory Interactional Personal Heuristic Imaginative Representational Performative
Instrumental - explanation and eg
Language needs to satisfy material needs
I want
Regulatory - explanation and eg
Language used to control others
Do as I tell you
Interactional - explanation and eg
Phatic communication
How are you
Personal - explanation and eg
Emotional language which releases stress, pain, fear etc
I don’t want to
Heuristic - explanation and eg
Language seeking information
What’s that for
Imaginative - explanation and eg
Language of creative writing, games etc
Let’s pretend…
Representational - explanation and eg
Language that communicates info/ideas
I live at 23 fleet flats
Performative
Language of curses, charms, prayers etc
Our father…
Steps of early phonological acquisition and at what age? 4
Step 1-vegetative 0-4 months old
Step 2 - cooing. 4-7 months old
Step 3- babbling. 6-12 months old
Step 4-proto words 9-12 months old
Phonemic contraction
The variety of sounds is reduced to the sounds of the main language used
Phonology
he study of sound patterns and their meanings
Ellipsis
knowing that an object still exists, even if it is hidden.
Over extension
a categorical term (a word used to describe a group of things) is used in language to represent more categories than it actually does
Irregular plurals
Eg
Words that don’t become plural by adding ‘s’ or ‘es’
Knife knives
Leaf leaves
Lexis
Vocabulary
Positive reinforcement
the process of encouraging or establishing a pattern of behaviour by offering reward when the behaviour is exhibited
Negative reinforcement
the process of encouraging or establishing a pattern of behaviour by punishing when the wrong behaviour is exhibited
CDS and meaning
Child directed speech
a simplified form of speech used by adults when talking to infants.
LAD and meaning
Language Acquisition device
a system of principles that children are born with that helps them learn language
LASS and meaning
Language Acquisition support system
the adults and older children who help a young child to acquire language.
Exaggerated prosodic cues
Using more exaggerated intonation patterns and slightly higher frequencies, greater pitch variations, extended pauses etc
Recasting
Phrasing sentences in different ways, like making it a question
Echoing
Repeating what a child said
Labelling
Providing the name of objects, using simpler vocabulary
Overarticulating
Using more precise sounds contained in the words, stretching out sounds, sounding out ‘super vowels’ and phonemes which are more challenging to articulate
Features of CDS. 8
Exaggerated prosodic cues Recasting Echoing Expansion Labelling Over-articulating Repetition Simplification
Behaviourists believe…
Language is developed through initiating others’ language and gaining positive and negative feedback from adults
Social interactionists believe…
Children’s early language can be influenced and improved by adult carers adjusting their own speech patterns
Nativist theorists believe
Language is innate; we’re pre programmed to acquire it
Cognitive theorists believe…
Language will grow when children’s ideas about the world develop
Name a behaviourist theorist
B.F Skinner
Name a nativist
Chomsky
Name a cognitivist theorist
Piaget
Piaget’s stages of cognitive development
Sensorimotor - senses and actions- birth to 2 yrs
Preoperational - language and mental images- 2 to 7 yrs
Concrete operational - logical thinking and categories- 7 to 12 yrs
Formal operational- hypothetical and scientific reasoning - 12 yrs onwards
Name a interactionist theorist
Bruner
Holophrase
A single word which functions pragmatically as the child’s whole utterance or sentence
When’s the holophrastic/one word stage
9-18 months
Features of semantic overextension. 2
Semantic features hypothesis
Functional similarities hypothesis
Types of babies according to how they learn new words. 2
Referential
Expressive
Features of referential ‘type’. 3
Early words linked to objects eg nouns
High proportion of nouns and adjectives
Few formulae
Features of expressive ‘type’. 3
Early words linked to social relationships eg greetings
Low proportion of nouns and adjectives
Many formulae
Deletion
Omitting the final consonant in words Eg do(g), cu(p)
Substitution
Substituting one sound for another
Eg pip for ‘ship’
Addition
Adding an extra vowel sound to the ends of words creating a CVCV pattern
Eg doggie
Assimilation
Changing on consonant or vowel for another
Eg gog for ‘dog’
Reduplication
Repeating a whole syllable
Eg dada, mama
Consonant cluster reductions
Reducing consonant clusters to be smaller
Eg pider for ‘spider’
Deletion of this unstressed syllables
Omitting the opening syllable in polysyllabic words
Eg nana for ‘banana’
When’s the two word stage
18 to 30 months approx
When’s the telegraphic stage
2 yrs 6 months/3 yrs onwards
Describe telegraphic stage. 2
Children acquire more ‘grammatical’ words
develop syntax and learn to apply inflections like ‘-ed’ for regular past tenses and “s” to signal pluralisation
Tabula rasa
Latin for black slate
Children born with fresh and undeveloped brains
Virtuous errors
Grammatical errors that are understandable and logical through an incorrect assumption being made about grammar rules
Egocentric
Thinking only of themselves, without understanding or regard for feelings of others
Object permanence
Sn understanding that objects continue to exist even they can’t be seen or touched
Zone of proximal development (ZPD)
Describes area between what a child can do and that which is beyond their rich
