Child Language Acquisition (P2 Q1) Flashcards
The four main theories
1) Behaviourism -> B.F Skinner -> children learn language through imitation ( via imitation/reinforcement/association)
2) Nativism -> Chomsky -> children have an innate capacity for language.
- LAD: language acquisition device -> specific part of brain responsible for language = Brocas and Wernicke’s
3) Social Interactionism -> Bruner + vygotsky -> children learn language through a specific type of interaction with their caretakers
- ‘scaffolding’ -> adult helping child to talk
- LASS : language acquisition support system
4) Cognitivism -> Piaget + Vygotsky -> Children develop, linguistically, in stages which correspond to their intellectual development.
+ Vygotsky = the zone of proximal development (the space between child independence and scaffolding = what a child can learn with guidance)
- comprehension is better than production
CDS
child directed speech
-how we talk to children
= long vowels : , high intonation, simplified vocabulary,repetition , commands etc
Pre verbal stages
- Vegetative (0-4months) -> biological noises lof discomfort (coughing + crying)
- Cooing (4-7months) -> comfort and vocal play (vowel sounds ‘oo’ and laughter)
- Babbling (7-9months) -> repeated patterns, syllable like sequences (consonants appear -> reduplication baba’ + variegated ‘bada’)
- Proto-words (9-12months) -> word-like vocalisations but are not real words (e.g ‘mmm’ for ‘i like that’ for pointing)-> aided by pragmatics
(Very Cool Babies Poo)
Place of articulation
= Where the airstream is manipulated. The restriction is caused by movements of the tongue and lips (articulators)
PALATALS MOST DIFFICULT
- Bilabials: /p/b/m/w/
- Labiodentals: /f/v/
- Interdentals: /θ/ð/ = THin/then
- Alveolar: /t/d/n/s/z/
-Palatals : /ʃ/ʒ/tʃ/ dʒ/l/ r/ j/
-Velars: /k/g/ɲ/
-Glottal: /ʔ/h/
Bats Like Icecream And Pickles… Very Good!!!
Manner of articulation
= How the airstream is manipulated
AFFRICATES AND LATERALS HARDEST
Nasals: m/ŋ/n/
Plosives: /p/b/t/d/k/g/
Affricatives: /dʒ/ (judge)/tʃ/ (church).
Fricatives: /v/ð/ (this), /z/ (hose), /ʒ/ (leisure). /f/, /θ/ (fourth), /s/, /ʃ/ (sash), /h/ (had).
Lateral: /l/
Approximants: /w/r/j/
NicePeopleAlwaysFinishLastAww
types of vowels (3)
1) pure vowels (monopthongs) -> single sounds
2) dipthongs -> combo of two sounds (ie eu, ai)
3) long vowels -> a: ar (father)
i: -> ee (bee)
3: -> ir (word)
): -> aw (taught)
U: -> uu (you)
= long vowels are common in child directed speech
Early phonological errors made by children (10)
- deletion = dog(g), cu(p) -> CVC preferred so delete consonant
- substitution = ‘pip’ for ‘ship’ (if nth else use this error)
- addition = doggie (only learnt error; behaviourism)
- assimilation = ‘gog’ for ‘dog’ (anticipates end phoneme)
- reduplication = ‘dada’ ‘mama’
- consonant cluster reductions = ‘pider’ for ‘spider’ when you get rid of 2+ consonants
- deletion of unstressed syllables = ‘nana’ for ‘banana’
-fricative avoidance = ‘doto’ as ‘photo’
- voicing = voice>voiceless when meant to be voiceless etc
- variegated babbling = ‘daga’
fiz phenomenon
=when children believe that they are saying words phonetically correct because they hear it differently to how they say it (ie ‘fix’ for ‘fish’)
Stages of phonetic acquisition
= Shriberg
early-8 = /m/n/j/b/w/d/p/h/ easiest (1-3yrs)
middle-8 = /t/n/k/g/f/v/ts/d3/ (3-5)
late-8 = weird s/3/l/r/s/z/th/TH + clusters. hardest (5- 7)
= determined phonetics norms using monosyllabic words
- Found that acquisition of phones in longer words come
last
My Nice Yellow Ball Washed Down Prince Harry’s
Thi- Ng Keeping God From Various Challenging Jokes
Shaming Leizurely Lives Really Slowly Zooming Through Them + clusters
Nelson’s first 50 words (1yrs) meaning
- Made a study of 18 children’s first 50 words noticing following patterns…
1) 60% = nouns (concrete most prevalent as its observable)
2) 20% = verbs
3) adjectives and social words were the next largest groups
lexical creativity (meaning)
suffixing : “ I like mouses”
prefixing : “ I unlove you ”
conversion : “ I’m darking the sky”
compounding : “ a hit boy”
= children use these to create new words in conversation
Rescorla’s semantic errors
-over extension
-categorical over extension
- under extension
(semantics)
over extension -> when a word is given a broader, more general meaning than it should have (ie all men are “daddy”. = main error (1/3 out of 50words = over extended).
categorical over extension -> the baby over extends in the basis of a category (so anything round is a ball).
under extension -> when a word is given a narrower meaning than it has in adult language (ie yellow rubber duck not the same as an acc duck)
= against cognitivism as they are not really aware of the meanings but continue to use them
Jean Aitchison (semantics)
= Identified 3 stages that occur during a child’s acquisition of vocabulary…
1) labelling -> naming
2) packaging -> understanding a words range of meaning ie to an alien (under ext and over ext negotiated here)
3) network building -> grasping the connections between words, some words are opposite in meaning (ie difference between hypernyms (ie flower) and hyponyms(rose)
hypernyms vs hyponyms (semantics)
hypernyms -> flower (main category/ general)
hyponyms -> rose (sub category/ specific)
hyponyms are learnt first by children
REMEMBER: E comes before O so the main category comes before the sub category!!
productive vs receptive vocabulary (grammar)
productive -> active vocab (what you can produce)
receptive -> what you can understand (what you can receive)
= supports cognitivism
