Child Languge Acquistion

Question 1

What is the holophrastic stage?

Answer 1

One word utterances

12-18 months

Question 2

What is the two-word stage?

Answer 2

Two word utterances

18-24 months

Question 3

What is the telegraphic stage ?

Answer 3

Three or more words combined

34-36 months

Question 4

What is the post-telegraphic stage?

Answer 4

More complex grammatical constructions

36+

Question 5

What is stage 1?

Answer 5

Negative

-sounds of discomfort /reflexive actions (0-4 mths)

Question 6

What is stage 2?

Answer 6

Cooing
- comfort sounds and vocal play using open mouthed vowel sounds
(4-7mths)

Question 7

What is stage 3?

Answer 7

Babbling

-repeated sounds or constant and vowel sounds ( 6-12 mths)

Question 8

Stage 4?

Answer 8

Proto-words
-word- like vocalisations, Not matching actual words but consistently used for the same meaning using actions eg. pointing
(9-12mths)

Question 9

What is Skinner’s theory? ( behaviourist theory)

Answer 9

• Chomsky believed children imitate adults and will get positive and negative reinforcement for their verbal behaviour.
• Positive reinforcement – behaviour is rewarded to encourage repeated behaviour
• Negative reinforcement – undesirable behaviour is unrewarded with the intention it won’t be repeated

Question 10

Arguments for/against skinners behaviourist theory

Answer 10

For:
•children imitate accent and dialect
•learn politeness and pragmatic aspects of language
•repeat spoken language and incorporate it into theirs

Against:
•they form sentences they’ve never heard before - don’t just imitate
• Hear ungrammatical spoken language around them but learn it correctly
• Don’t always listen to correction
• WASN’T TESTED!

Question 11

What is Chomsky’s theory? ( universal language)

Answer 11

LAD= learning takes place through innate brain mechanism which is a pre-programmed ability to acquire grammatical structures

•Language is universal; anyone can learn it

WASN’T TESTED!

Question 12

Key points for the Genie Wiley case study on feral children?

Answer 12

• Kept in a isolated environment with no stimuli (light, toys)
• lack of stimuli hindered development and lacks motor skills
• had no relationship or caregiver - lack of interaction

Question 13

What was the outcome of Genie Wiley’s childhood regarding her language acquisition?

Answer 13

• Able to pick up words and associations ( large vocabulary ) but couldn’t learn grammar as she had gone beyond her critical period
• her brain has not developed capacity for language - was smaller and malformed due to lack of interaction and development

Question 14

What does “ overextending mean” mean?

Answer 14

• Children often overextend meaning of words such as calling all 4 legged house hold pets “ dogs”

Question 15

What does “ under-extending” mean?

Answer 15

• They May under -extend anword by giving it a narrower meaning eg calling cartoon ducks “ ducks” but not real ducks “ ducks”

Question 16

What is Eve Clark’s theory? ( meanings)

Answer 16

Studied babies first words and they say the over extend meanings
• she found that the over extension is based on physical features of objects
TESTED!!

Question 17

What was Jean Piaget’s theory?

Answer 17

•Emphasised children were active learners & their cognitive development has been very influential in language
e.g ‘wassat’ shows a child wanted more labels to describe the objects around them (active learner) > heuristic
•Children can’t be taught til they are ready

Question 18

What is stage one in Piaget’s Stages of Lexical Development?

Answer 18

Sensorimotor stage - up to 2 years

• child experiences physical world through their senses and classify things in it
• concrete lexical choices

Question 19

What is stage 2 of Piaget’s Stages of Lexical Development?

Answer 19

Pre-operational- 2-7 years

• language and motor skills are more competent
• Language is egocentric - focused on the child

Question 20

What is deletion?

Answer 20

Omitting the final consonant in words do(g) , cu(p)

Question 21

Substitution

Answer 21

Substituting one sound for another

Pip for ship

Question 22

Addition

Answer 22

Adding an extra vowel sound to the ends of words creating a CVCV pattern

DOGGIE

Question 23

Assimilation

Answer 23

Changing one consonant or vowel for another

Gog for Dog

Question 24

Reduplication

Answer 24

Respirating a whole syllable

DADA

Question 25

Consonant cluster reductions

Answer 25

Reducing consonant clusters to be smaller

Pider for spider

Question 26

Deletion of unstressed syllables

Answer 26

Omitting the opening syllable on polysyllabic words

Nana for “ banana”

Question 27

What are plosives?

Answer 27

Airflow is blocked for a short period of time

VOICED
PTK

UNVOICED
BDG

Question 28

Fricatives

Answer 28

Airflow is only partially blocked and air moves through the mouth in a steady stream

eg. F T

Question 29

Affricatives

Answer 29

Putting plosives and fricatives together eg ( church) and ( judge)

Question 30

Approximents

Answer 30

Similar to vowels eg W, R

Question 31

Nasals

Answer 31

Air moves through the nose eg M, N

Question 32

Laterals

Answer 32

The tongue is on the ridge of the teeth and air moves down the sides of the mouth eg “ i “

Question 33

What is Berko and Brown’s Fis Phenomenon theory ?

Answer 33

• Described how a child referred to a plastic fish as a “fis”
• The child continued to reject the adults mimicry of his speech until he was asked “ is this your fish?” The child replied “ yes my fis”
• Shows children are able to understand utterances but are unable to pronounce the fricatives sound “ SH”

Question 34

What does it mean “ children are born universal” ?

Answer 34

They are capable of creating any sound in the human language

Question 35

What is stage 3 of Piaget’s Lexical Development?

Answer 35

Concrete operational
7-11 years
Children begin to think logically and more concrete about certain ideas

Question 36

What is stage 4 of Piaget’s Lexical Development?

Answer 36

Formal operational
11+ years
- abstract reasoning skills begin to develop

Question 37

What are some features of CDS?

child directed speach

Answer 37

• higher pitch of voice
• simplified Vocabulary helps establish key words
• concrete nouns
• yes/ no questioning
• simplified grammar
• exaggerated pauses to encourage turn taking

Question 38

What are actions that accompany CDS?

Answer 38

• pointing, smiling, shrugging
• more obvious lip and mouth movement
• exaggerated facial expressions

Question 39

What do exaggerated prosodic cues mean?

Answer 39

• using more exaggerated intonation patterns and frequencies “ uh oh”

Question 40

What is recasting?

Answer 40

Phrasing sentences in different ways such as making it a question

Question 41

What is echoing?

Answer 41

Repeating what a child has said

Question 42

What is expansion?

Answer 42

Repeating what a child has said in a more sophisticated and linguistically correct format

Question 43

What is positive about baby talk?

Answer 43

• contributes to mental development as it helps the child learn and structure the basic format of language

Question 44

Why may it be difficult for children to learn grammar?

Answer 44

• irregular grammatical structure
• limited vocabulary
• overgeneralisation of rules
• poor grammar of care givers

Question 45

What does a child’s mean length utterance ( MLU) depend on in a transcript?

Answer 45

Depends of relationship with speaker

Depends on the context of the child as an individual , as every child is different