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.
In which stage do children learn about morphemes and create virtuous errors?
The post-telegraphic stage
What are virtuous errors?
virtuous errors are constructors that children use that would be considered mistakes in adult speech. This shows that the child has learned the rule successfully e.g. ‘runned’
What are the purpose of child-directed speech?
-to attract and hold the child’s attention
-to make language more easily comprehensible
-to make the conversation more predictable
10 Linguistic Features of Child-Directed Language:
- Repeated sentences frames
- Expansions
- Re-castings
- Repetition of the child’s own words
- Frequent use of the child’s name and fewer pronouns than in speech to adult (attention grabbing)
- Greater use of simple sentences (attention)
- Largely concrete nouns and verbs (comprehensible)
- Fewer past tenses than in adult speech (attention)
- A large number of one-word utterances
- As the child’s speech develops, the adult’s language becomes more complex
When and how do children learn the rules of turn-taking?
During the pre-linguistic stage. This is through ‘proto-conversations’. They learn to maintain eye contact, speakers take turns to speak and that conversations are enjoyable.
Explain children learning minimal responses.
Children learn the rules of turn-taking very early in their acquisition and make use of minimal responses as an adult would. Often minimal responses are used when a child fails to understand, or has lost interest in a topic, and before the child or adult shifts topic.
Explain children learning turn-taking.
- If a child fails to turn take when speaking to an adult, the adult may provide their turn for them
e.g. Adult: “Do you want a drink? (6) No? (6) No (.) Okay then ill put it away” - If a child fails to turn take when speaking to an adult, the adult may provide shifts to the topic to one which the child is more willing to cooperate with
e.g. Adult: “Did you have a nice time? Did you see the rabbits?”
Child: “Yeah” - If a child interrupts an adult, the adult will often cede their turn to the child. Adults rarely interrupt children. But if serious topic or child in trouble adult will follow standard turn taking rules.
What are the rules children learn about adjacency pairs?
- if your interlocuter initiates an adjacency pair, you have to complete it
- you have to complete an adjacency pair with the appropriate second pair part
- if you initiate an adjacency pair, you have to allow your interlocuter to complete it
Explain children learning about topics in conversation.
- when in conversation with young children, adults tend to choose topics in which the child will be interested and allow them to control the topic
- if the child suggest a topic, the adult will usually cooperate with it
- if a child rejects topic, e.g. not responding, adult will offer another topic to interest child until they respond
- child-initiated topic loops are usually cooperated with
Explain children and Grice’s Maxims.
- QUALITY- adults ignore utterances which break this maxim and treat it as if it were true/ correct the child’s utterance in a way that does not cause the conversation to fail
- QUANTITY- adults respect very long turns by children where with one adult speaker the conversation would fail. if children give excessively short responses adults often use questioning or topic shifts to encourage them to speak
- RELEVANCE- if a child makes an irrelevant utterance, adults often accommodate it as if it is relevant and shifting on to the topic of the irrelevant utterance. they may instead ignore the irrelevant utterance and loop back to the original topic
- MANNER- if child fails to obey this maxim, adults treat the utterance as if it is meaningful, e.g. providing minimal responses or attempt to clarify what the child means
Do young children understand implicature and what is it?
‘Implicature’ is the meaning of an utterance that isn’t made explicit but the listener is expected to figure out for themselves. Very young children don’t understand implicature and their speech tends to be very direct and explicit. As they get older, they learn to make more use of implicature.
In order to avoid Face Threats we use Lakoff’s Maxims. What are Lakoff’s Maxims?
- Don’t impose
- Make the listener feel good
- Give options
What is Politeness Theory?
When we have a conversation, we do as much as we can to protect the feelings of the person we are talking to. We are careful not to show the wrong relationship with our interlocutor.
What is Face Theory?
That we change our behavior in conversation to treat our interlocutors in the way that they want to be treated. We have a sense of self image and ideas about our status that, together are called our ‘face’.
What is the theory of Michael Halliday’s categorizing children’s utterances?
Halliday’s Taxonomy
What seven categories did Michael Halliday believe all young children’s utterances fit into?
Instrumental
Regulatory
Interactional
Personal
Representational
Imaginative
Heuristic
What is an instrumental child utterance?
Used to fulfil a need.
What is a regulatory child utterance?
To influence the behavior of others.
What is an interactional child utterance?
To develop & maintain social relationships
What is a personal child utterance?
To express feelings, opinions and individual identity.
What is a representational child utterance?
To convey facts and information.
What is an imaginative child utterance?
To tell stories and create an imaginary world.
What is a heuristic child utterance?
To learn more about the world.
What eight categories did John Dore categorize young children’s utterances into? (Dore’s Functions)
Labelling
Repeating
Answering
Requesting action
Calling
Greeting
Protesting
Practicing
What is labelling in children’s utterances?
Naming a person, object or thing.
What is repeating in children’s utterances?
Repeating an adult word or utterance.
What is answering in children’s utterances?
Responding to an utterance of another speaker.
What is requesting action in children’s utterances?
Asking for something to be done.
What is calling in children’s utterances?
Getting attention by shouting.
What is greeting in children’s utterances?
Greeting someone or something.
What is protesting in children’s utterances?
Objecting to requests from others.
What is practicing in children’s utterances?
Using language that is not addressed to anyone present.
Who came up with the Behaviorist Theory (1950)?
B.F. Skinner
What does the Behaviorist Theory claim?
“Behavior is shaped and maintained by its consequences”- e.g. engagement in conversation
What is ‘Operant Conditioning’?
That children acquire language by imitating the speech of others and being rewarded for it. e.g. if child says “dada” then adults will clap.
If we do something and it has pleasant consequences, we’re more likely to do it again.
What does Behaviorist Theory suggest?
- Children will often copy words they’ve heard a parent say *look for this in transcript
- Children usually acquire the same pronunciation as their parents (e.g. accent, ‘scone’ as in ‘gone’ or ‘scone’ as in ‘moan’)
- Children usually acquire pragmatic features such as politeness from their parents
What was Jean Berko’s experiment called?
The ‘Wug’ Experiment.
What does the Wug Experiment suggest?
That language can’t be copied, as you’ve never heard the word ‘wugs’ before. This criticizes Skinner’s claims of children copying parents speech.
Bound morpheme ‘wugs’ - developed understanding of grammar.
What are the other unnamed criticisms of Behaviorist Theory?
- all children acquire language in the same order and usually at the same rate regardless of the parental attention they receive e.g. Katherine Nelson’s First 50 words, nouns & verbs
- the same idea can be expressed in many different ways e.g. ‘dont touch that’, ‘leave it alone’, ‘hands off’
- children often say things they’ve never heard an adult say e.g. Look at those mens- bound morpheme. Child has learned a rule and not copied a sentence. Virtuous error- applying grammatical rules without knowing exceptions
- Children can say completely original sentences and can understand an infinite number of sentences.
- Parents don’t usually correct grammar. They are more interested in politeness and truthfulness.
What were Chomsky’s criticisms of Skinner?
-Chomsky claimed that adult language when speaking to children is ‘impoverished’. Children would never learn to be adult speakers if they could only copy what adults say to them- language wouldn’t develop- criticism of COPYING
What was Braine’s (1971) criticism of Negative Reinforcement
Children can’t be corrected because they’re not at the next stage of their language development. negative reinforcement can’t be the driving factor here. e.g. Want other one spoon, Daddy?” — “You mean you want THE OTHER SPOON” — “Yes, I want the other one spoon please daddy.” — “Can you say ‘the other spoon’?” — “Other … one … spoon” …
What was McNeil’s criticism of Skinner? (1966)
Child uses “Oh!” after being corrected- understood the concept- know what is wrong- still can’t linguistically frame it
Who studied the Fis Phenomenon?
Berko and Brown
What is the Fis Phenomenon
-Child corrects the adult. They know the adult is getting it wrong.
Child: fis
Adult: this is your fis?
Child: no my fis
Adult: oh your fish
Child: yes my fis
-Child can’t pronounce the sound ‘fish’- the fricative sound is late developing
What theory did Noam Chomsky come up with in the 1960’s?
Nativism
What is Nativist Theory?
Chomsky believed that children have an innate ability to understand grammar. He claimed that our brain is a Language Acquisition Device (LAD) which enables children to listen to language and extract the rules of grammar from it.
What does Chomsky believe about all languages?
That they all share the same ‘deep structure’, e.g the difference between nouns and verbs. He called this ‘Universal Grammar’ and children are born with this knowledge
The existence of an innate LAD explains:
•the rapid speed at which children acquire language
•the fact that all children acquire language in the same stages
•the fact that some grammatical features are common to all language
•how children can use and understand new sentences without hearing them before
What does Isaac Slobin claim?
That human anatomy is specifically adapted for speech. Some ares of the brain are closely connected to language. If they are damaged by a stroke, language suffers
What did Pinker claim?
Chimpanzees can learn individual ‘words’ but not grammar.
What are the criticisms of Nativist Theory?
•just focuses on grammar. sentences can be grammatically correct but still semantically meaningless. e.g. colourless green dreams sleep furiously
•it ignores the role of language as a social phenomenon (like pragmatics, can’t learn language from recordings)
•suggests that the acquisition of language will happen automatically
Who was in Jean Butler’s case study?
Genie
What happened to Genie?
Until she was 13, she was locked up in isolation by her father. When she was finally rescued she was unable to speak. Despite intensive support, she was never able to learn to speak beyond a very basic level.
What did Eric Lenneberg propose?
The ‘critical period’. This is the age you must be exposed to language and social interaction or you will be unable to learn it. He suggested up to the age 5.
What did John Macnamara suggest?
rather than having an in-built language device, children have an innate capacity to read meaning into social situations. it’s this capacity that makes them capable of understanding and learning language not the LAD
How did Isaac Slobin oppose Chomskys LAD?
That it may be more like a mechanism for working out the rules of language, not that the LAD contains specific knowledge about language.
Who came up with the idea of Cognitivism? (1950s)
Jean Piaget
What did Piaget believe?
- That children develop mental skills and abilities, which he called a child’s Cognitive development, in predictable stages.
- Their development of language is a reflection of this wider development and not separate from it.
- Children can only acquire an aspect of language once they have the cognitive skills to understand the concept involved.
What is Object Permanence?
Children learn that objects continue to exist whether they can see them or not.
Language acquisition of Object Permanence:
Once children learn things are stable they learn their names more readily. Massive increase in children’s vocabulary
What is Classification?
Children learn to classify objects and actions. Some things are eaten, played with, sat on etc
What is Seriation?
Children learn that things come in a series or order. Dogs come in a variety of sizes etc.
Language acquisition of seriation:
Children learn to use comparative terms
Language acquisition of Classification:
Once children learn that things come in groups, they can divide words into linguistic categories such as nouns, verbs, adjectives etc
Arguments against Piaget’s Cognitivism
- Many people with language difficulties do not have poor cognitive development
- Some children with mental difficulties in other areas still learn to speak fluently
- It neglects the social function of language and its use to establish and maintain relationships e.g. pragmatics- adult impact still crucial
Who came up with the Input Theory?
Jerome Bruner
What does the Input Theory claim?
The language used by parents when talking to children (child-directed language) is specifically designed to help children learn.
What did Bruner claim Child-Directed Language works as?
A ‘Language Acquisition Support System’ alongside Chomsky’s LAD
Reasons why CDL operates as a support system:
- parents speak more slowly so its easier to understand and imitate
- parents introduce new words using repeated sentence frames
- parents use more pauses so child can absorb speech
- parents use a higher pitch to exaggerate/stress words to hold attention
- parents use imperatives and interrogatives to encourage engagement
What is in the four-stage structure when reading a book to a child?
- Gaining attention- pointing out a picture
- Query- asking the baby to identify the picture
- Label- telling the child what the object is
- Feedback- responding to utterance
What did Clarke-Stewart (1973) suggest?
That mothers who talk more have children with larger vocabularies
Criticisms of Bruner’s Input Theory:
- not all cultures use child-directed speech but their children still learn to speak (Tsimane tribe of Bolivia)
- child-directed speech does not explain how children progress. Care-givers don’t have a pre-planned teaching scheme for their use of language.
How did Vygotsky develop Bruner’s theory?
He noted that adults often provide ‘scaffolding’ to help children to form an utterance. Adult will often start a sentence and allow the child to finish it or will prompt them when utterance is incomplete.
What did Vygotsky say the adult acts as by supporting the child?
More Knowledgeable Other
What does the MKO help the child do?
Move within the ‘Zone of Proximal Development’, the area beyond what they can already do.
