Child Language Acquisition Theories SPEECH Flashcards
Why can humans make a wide range of sounds and what does this suggests
Based on head and neck shape. This suggests that humans are designed to be able to speak, since they’re the only animals who can. This supports the nature argument.
What is the example of speech deprivation that supports the nurture argument?
1200AD Emperor Frederick II arranged for twins to be sent into an isolated house in the forest with a non-verbal foster mother and they never started speaking.
Who were the two feral children examples?
Victor of Aveyron and Oxana Malaya
What happened to Victor of Aveyron?
He was abandoned by his alcoholic parents aged 12 in 1799. He was sent to a Deaf Institute in Paris where he learnt limited sign language but never learnt to speak. This supports nurture argument.
What happened to Oxana Malaya?
Crawled in a dog kennel to escape her father. After a fire everyone evacuated and she was raised by dogs. She barked, howled and ate on the floor. She was eventually found aged 7, she learnt how to speak and is now a doctor. This supports the nurture argument.
Explain Bard and Sachs case study about Jim. (nurture)
Jim’s parents were deaf, so no one spoke or watched TV in the house. In school his speech was very underdeveloped but once he started to interact with others he began to speak perfectly normally.
What was the lost language of the cranes?
A baby was abandoned, tried communicating by making sweeping motions to copy the birds movements.
Explain the Suriname Creoles.
1600’s there were Dutch and African slaves who escaped into the Amazon jungle and spoke different languages. However in a single generation of children a fully functional creole. This suggests a natural desire to communicate.
Explain the Tsimane people.
Won’t speak to child unless it can talk, however they are also always carried by their mums until they can try walking, so they hear conversations. To begin with their speech is underdeveloped however once being spoken to they can speak without any issues
Who did the 50 First Words study? (1972)
Katherine Nelson
What were the four categories in Nelson’s 50 Words Study?
Naming e.g. ball, dog, juice, cat
Personal e.g. yes, hi, no, bye-bye
Actions e.g. give, put, sit, up, down
Modifying e.g. dirty, nice, more, this, all gone
What is a ‘Rich interpretation’ in the holophrastic stage?
Parents create a ‘rich interpretation’ of a child’s holophrase in order to figure out what the child means and respond correctly. They judge the child’s reaction to their response whether or not they have interpreted the holophrase correctly.
If a child uses the holophrase ‘bunny’, what 5 things could it mean?
I’m frightened
I want the bunny
Oh look, a bunny
Take it away
That looks like a bunny
What is an over-extension during the holophrastic stage?
Children over-extending the meanings of words. This means they use a word to apply to a much bigger group of things than an adult would.
e.g. e.g. daddy- used for: the child’s father, postman- means all men
What is a conjunction in two word stage grammar?
Joining two things together.
e.g. cup glass (a cup and a glass)
What is a description in two word stage grammar?
One word describes another.
e.g. yellow teddy (the yellow teddy)
What is locating in two word stage grammar?
Showing where something is.
e.g. coat chair (the coat on the chair)
What is possession in two word stage grammar?
One thing belongs to another.
e.g. daddy hat (daddy’s hat)
What is an object in two word stage grammar?
One thing is acting on another
e.g. mummy book (mummy is reading a book)
What are pivot class words?
They have a set function and can be used to modify a number of open class words.
e.g. mummy (pivot) allgone (open)
In the telegraphic stage, what two things do children learn about questions?
Child learns interrogative pronouns such as ‘what’, ‘where’, ‘why’ but they don’t use them with the auxiliary as an adult would e.g. ‘Where is daddy?’
Child learns the rule of inversion, auxiliary verb comes before the subject e.g. Are we going?
What do children learn about negative sentences in the telegraphic stage?
- the child learns to insert negator in middle of the utterance e.g. ‘I want no drink’
- then the child learns to use an auxiliary verb with the negator e.g. ‘I don’t want a drink’ but may not always get the auxiliary right. e.g. ‘He don’t want a drink’
- finally the child learns to use the right auxiliary consistently e.g. ‘I don’t want a drink’
What do children learn about tense in the telegraphic stage?
At first the child always uses the simple present e.g. I eat biscuit
Next child learns the present progressive by inserting the auxiliary verb ‘to be’ e.g. I am eating. initially may get this wrong e.g. ‘I is eating’
Next child learns the simple past. e.g. i walked. children initially do this by copying adults to get it right. will figure out that you form the past tense by adding ‘ed’ to the end of the verb. the child will over-apply the rule and begin to make mistakes e.g. I seed, I goed
Finally the child will learn the exceptions e.g. I walked, I went.
What is the final thing children learn to use in the telegraphic stage?
Learn to use determiners accurately and consistently.
