Early multi-word speech: Constructivist approaches Flashcards
Children put words together to create…?
Multiword utterances/ multiword speech
At what age do children create multiword utterances/multiword speech?
Between 18-months to 2 years of age
What type of utterances do 18-months to 2 year olds create?
Multiword utterances/multiword speech
What are the 2 broad theoretical approaches which attempt to explain multiword utterances/ multiword speech?
1) Nativist (or
generativist) accounts
2) Constructivist (or usage-based) accounts
Simply = Nature vs Nurture
What is syntax?
The ways in which a language allows words to be combined
Simply = rules and regulations of putting words together in sentences
The ways in which a language allows words to be combined
Simply = rules and regulations of putting words together in sentences
This is known as…?
Syntax
What does syntax help us understand?
Understand between speakers
e.g. ‘who did what to whom’
Enables understanding between speakers
e.g. ‘who did what to whom’
What does this statement apply to?
Syntax
What allows grammar productivity (with a finite set of words we can produce an infinite number of possible sentences)?
Syntax
What are the 2 main purposes of syntax?
1) Enables understanding between speakers
e.g. ‘who did what to whom’
2) Allows grammar productivity – with a finite set of words we can produce an infinite number of possible sentences
Name the 3 types of sentence structure
1) Grammatical category of words
2) Grammatical role of participants
3) Meaning
What does a grammatical category of words sentence structure look like?
Noun phrase -> Verb -> Noun Phrase
What does a grammatical role of participants sentence structure look like?
Subject —> Object
What type of sentence structure follows this pattern?
Subject —> Object
Grammatical role of participants
What does a meaning sentence structure look like?
Agent -> Action -> Patient
What type of sentence structure follows this pattern?
Agent -> Action -> Patient
Meaning
What type of sentence structure follows this pattern?
Noun phrase -> Verb -> Noun Phrase
Grammatical category of words
What is an agent?
The one doing the action
What is a patient?
The reciepient of the action
Language is _____ specific
Species-specific
Language is _____ universal
Species-universal
What are the 2 characteristics of language?
1) It is species-specific
2) It is species-universal
How is language species-specific?
There is little evidence that other primates can acquire syntax even with intensive training
There is little evidence that other primates can acquire syntax even with intensive training
This is evidence for…?
Species-specific (language)
How is language species-universal?
Virtually all children have
acquired the majority of the grammar of their
language by 5yrs
Virtually all children have
acquired the majority of the grammar of their
language by 5yrs
This is evidence for?
Species-universal (language)
What are early word combinations like?
List 4 points
1) Mainly content words
2) Refers to here-and-now, easily understood in context
3) Creative (e.g. More sing, All gone sticky, other one spoon)
4) Observes adult word order (e.g. truck gone vs. gone truck)
Early word combinations are mainly content words
What are these?
Words that communicate the essence of the meaning but are missing little words that are less critical (e.g. a, is, the)
Words that communicate the essence of the meaning but are missing little words that are less critical (e.g. a, is, the)
This is known as…?
Content words
In early word combinations, children observe word order
What does this mean?
Children typically put words in the order they’ve heard adults say them in
Thus, sentence/word order is not entirely random
Children typically put words in the order they’ve heard adults say them in
Thus, sentence/word order is not entirely random
This is known as…?
Observing adult word order
Early word combinations involve:
1) Mainly content words
2) Refers to here-and-now, easily understood in context
3) Creative (e.g. More sing, All gone sticky, other one spoon)
4) Observes adult word order (e.g. truck gone vs. gone truck)
What does this suggest?
Suggests children have some kind of organising principles
What are lexical (word-based) rules?
Rules that are item-specific/ based on individual words or
schemas (sets of words)
Rules that are item-specific/ based on individual words or
schemas (sets of words)
This is known as…?
Lexical (word-based) rules
Give 2 examples of lexical (word-based) rules
- “Get” + X item
- “Where’s the” + X item
When children hear an adult say the phrase “Get” + X item, what can they assume from it?
If you want something, you can put the word “get” first in front of the item you want
Children experience a limited variety of utterances until …?
They are able to generalise between schemas
Children experience a limited variety of utterances until they are able to generalise between schemas
How do they do this?
They gradually link schemas together to develop adult grammar
What are syntactic (grammatical) rules?
Rules abstract (based on grammatical categories)
Rules abstract (based on grammatical categories)
This is known as…?
Syntactic (grammatical) rules
Grammatical rules are known as…?
a. Syntactic rules
b. Lexical rules
a. Syntactic rules
Word-based rules are known as…?
a. Syntactic rules
b. Lexical rules
b. Lexical rules
Rules item-specific
a. Syntactic rules
b. Lexical rules
b. Lexical rules
Rules abstract
a. Syntactic rules
b. Lexical rules
a. Syntactic rules
What do nativists believe about syntactic rules?
Children are aware of these rules from birth
What do constructivists believe about syntactic rules?
Children learn there rules over time and experience
Give 2 examples of syntactic (grammatical) rules
1) Verb + Object
e.g. Get truck, Causes problems
2) Subject + Verb
e.g. She laughs, It’s raining, Confident people succeed
Allow all utterances possible in the adult language
a. Syntactic rules
b. Lexical rules
a. Syntactic rules
Limited variety of utterances
a. Syntactic rules
b. Lexical rules
b. Lexical rules
Syntactic (grammatical) rules are not restricted
What does this allow children to do?
Allow all utterances possible in the adult language
True or False?
Children’s early multiword utterances are random and are simply imitations of what they have heard
False
Children’s early multiword utterances are not random, nor simply imitations of what they have heard
True or False?
Children learn language, but other species do not
demonstrate the same impressive abilities
True
What is the Constructivist approach to language?
List 3 points
1) Grammar is used for communication
2) Infants are motivated to learn to communicate
3) Grammar can be learned using general cognitive learning mechanisms
1) Grammar is used for communication
2) Infants are motivated to learn to communicate
3) Grammar can be learned using general cognitive learning mechanisms
Are these following the Nativist or Constructivist approach?
Constructivist approach
Grammar can be learned using general cognitive
learning mechanisms
What are general cognitive learning mechanism?
Mechanisms used to learn other things other than grammar
Mechanisms used to learn other things other than grammar
This is known as…?
General cognitive
learning mechanisms
Grammar can be learned using general cognitive
learning mechanisms
Give 3 examples of this
1) Communicative intention-reading
2) Drawing analogies
(simply = drawing similarities between things)
3) Distributional learning
(simply = pattern finding)
What happens when children draw analogies?
They draw similarities between things
What happens when children perform distributional learning?
They find patterns in grammar/sentences
Which approach emphasises on the role of routines in language learning?
a. Nativist
b. Constructivist
b. Constructivist
How can routines help children learn languages?
Routines allow children to predict what happens next and therefore what the language they are hearing might refer to
How can repetitive chunks of language help children learn linguistics and meaning?
After routines, repetitive chunks of language can then be learned in context where the relation between linguistic form and meaning is more transparent
Repetitive chunks of language can be learned in context where …?
The relation between linguistic form and meaning is more transparent
It is best to repeat what the child says when they are reading a picture book
Why?
Because it allows the infant to connect the pictures in the book to the words they are saying
What kind of evidence would support a
constructivist/ usage-based approach?
List 3
1) Children begin with lexically-based linguistic
representations
2) High frequency items are learned early
3) Only gradual generalisation across exemplars to create more abstract syntactic categories and rules
Children begin with _______ linguistic representations
a. Lexical based
b. Syntactic based
a. Lexical based
________ items are learned early
a. High frequency
b. Low frequency
a. High frequency
Children experience only ___________ across exemplars to create more abstract syntactic categories and rules
Gradual generalisation
What is the verb island hypothesis?
It claims that young children’s verbs are islands, each developing its own mini-syntax independently of other verbs.
It claims that young children’s verbs are islands, each developing its own mini-syntax independently of other verbs.
This is known as…?
The verb island hypothesis
According to the verb island hypothesis, knowledge of grammar are tied to individual verbs until …. years old?
2 1/2-3yrs old
According to the verb island hypothesis, 2 1/2-3 year olds have knowledge of …?
Grammar that are tied to individual verbs
According to the verb island hypothesis, a child initially is unable to …?
Generalise between verbs with similar meanings or used in similar sentence types
With familiar verbs (e.g. chasing), 2-yr-olds are able to describe actions correctly to explain who is chasing, and whom is being chased
e.g. Frog is chasing the lion
e.g. Lion is chasing the frog
This is evidence for…?
The verb island hypothesis
With ________ verbs (e.g. chasing), 2-yr-olds are able to describe actions correctly to explain who is chasing, and whom is being chased
e.g. Frog is chasing the lion
e.g. Lion is chasing the frog
a. Unfamiliar
b. Familiar
b. Familiar
With familiar verbs (e.g. chasing), ____ are able to describe actions correctly to explain who is chasing, and whom is being chased
e.g. Frog is chasing the lion
e.g. Lion is chasing the frog
a. 1 1/2 year olds
b. 6 month olds
c. 1 year olds
d. 2 year olds
d. 2 year olds
With familiar verbs (e.g. chasing), 2-yr-olds are able to …?
Describe actions correctly to explain who is chasing, and whom is being chased
e.g. Frog is chasing the lion
e.g. Lion is chasing the frog
With unfamiliar (novel) verbs (e.g. weefing), before 3yrs old, children struggle to explain who is doing what to whom
e.g. Frog is weefing the lion
e.g. Lion is weefing the frog
This is evidence for…?
The verb island hypothesis
With ______ (novel) verbs (e.g. weefing), before 3yrs old, children struggle to explain who is doing what to whom
e.g. Frog is weefing the lion
e.g. Lion is weefing the frog
a. Familiar
b. Unfamiliar
b. Unfamiliar
With unfamiliar (novel) verbs (e.g. weefing), before _____ old, children struggle to explain who is doing what to whom
e.g. Frog is weefing the lion
e.g. Lion is weefing the frog
a. 2 years old
b. 3 years old
c. 4 years old
5. 5 years old
b. 3 years old
With unfamiliar (novel) verbs (e.g. weefing), before 3yrs old, children …?
Struggle to explain who is doing what to whom
e.g. Frog is weefing the lion
e.g. Lion is weefing the frog
True or False?
Children under 3 years old are great at generalising verbs
False
Children under 3 years old are not great at generalising verbs
Children under 3 years old are not great at generalising verbs
This is evidence for…?
The verb island hypothesis
What are the 4 evidence for limited lexical constructions?
1) Children’s early utterances are based around individual lexical items (words) but not exclusively verbs
2) ‘X’ represents a set of possible words used in the slot
3) Any high frequency word / group of words can form the basis for organisation of the child’s linguistic system
4) The constructions children learn reflect the frequency of particular patterns in the input
The constructions children learn reflect …?
The frequency of particular patterns in the input
Any _______ frequency word / group of words can form the basis for organisation of the child’s linguistic system
a. High
b. Low
a. High
There is good evidence that children’s early
utterances are more restricted than those of
adults
True or False?
True
How do children link up their lexically-based
constructions to form a more adult-like grammar?
List 3 points
1) Structure combining
2) Semantic analogy
3) Distributional learning
1) Structure combining
2) Semantic analogy
3) Distributional learning
These strategies help children form more adult-like grammar by…?
Linking up their lexically-based construction
What is structure combining?
Learning mini utterances and joining them up to create larger utterances
Learning mini utterances and joining them up to create larger utterances
This is known as…?
Structure combining
How do children’s utterances build on what they have previously said?
Describe an experiment that investigated this
1) Dense diary study of a single child for 6 weeks at 2;0
2) Recorded for 5 hours/week, and the child had a written diary of all new their utterances kept by their mother
3) All utterances on the last hour-long recording noted – ‘Target’
4) All previous recordings searched for the closest match – ‘Source’
5) Experimenter identified what changes required to change closest matching utterance - the ‘source’ - into the ‘target’ utterance (operations)
Experimenter identified what changes were required to change the closest matching utterance - the ‘source’ - into the ‘target’ utterance (operations)
e.g.
Target utterance = I got the butter
Source utterance = I got the door
What would be the operation needed to achieve the target utterance from the source?
a. Drop
b. Addition
c. Substitution
c. Substitution
Experimenter identified what changes required to change closest matching utterance - the ‘source’ - into the ‘target’ utterance (operations)
e.g.
Target utterance = It’s burning here
Source utterance = It’s burning
What would be the operation needed to achieve the target utterance from the source?
a. Drop
b. Addition
c. Substitution
b. Addition
Experimenter identified what changes required to change closest matching utterance - the ‘source’ - into the ‘target’ utterance (operations)
e.g.
Target utterance = And horse
Source utterance = And a horse
What would be the operation needed to achieve the target utterance from the source?
a. Drop
b. Addition
c. Substitution
a. Drop
What are the 3 operations to achieve target utterance from source utterance?
1) Substitution
2) Addition
3) Drop
Experimenter identified what changes required to change closest matching utterance - the ‘source’ - into the ‘target’ utterance (operations)
What were the results of this study?
List 8 points
1) 295 multiword utterances
2) 186 repetitions (63%)
3) 158 repetitions of something child said previously
4) 28 immediate repetitions of mother
5) 109 novel utterances (37%, of these ¾ single operation change)
6) 68 substitutions + 12 add on + 1 drop
7) 22 utterances required 2 operations, e.g. add on + substitution
e.g. Where’s Daddy’s work?
e.g. Where’s my Daddy’s cup of tea
8) 6 utterances required 3 or more operations (substitute, drop, add)
e.g. I can’t put it back on
e.g. I don’t put it (___) on there
In a study investigating multiword utterances, how many multiword utterances were there?
a. 295
b. 255
c. 235
d. 275
a. 295
In a study investigating multiword utterances, how many repetitions were there?
a. 155
b. 186
c. 202
d. 197
b. 186
In a study investigating multiword utterances, how many repetitions of something the child said previously were there?
a. 122
b. 179
c. 210
d. 158
d. 158
In a study investigating multiword utterances, how many immediate repetitions of the mother’s words were there?
a. 56
b. 28
c. 19
d. 32
b. 28
In a study investigating multiword utterances, how many novel utterances were there?
a. 98
b. 65
c. 109
d. 122
c. 109
In a study investigating multiword utterances, how many substitutions were there?
a. 59
b. 62
c. 68
d. 74
c. 68
In a study investigating multiword utterances, how many additions were there?
a. 12
b. 24
c. 7
d. 21
a. 12
In a study investigating multiword utterances, how many drops were there?
a. 10
b. 30
c. 9
d. 1
d. 1
In a study investigating multiword utterances, how many utterances required 2 operations?
a. 54
b. 38
c. 22
d. 19
c. 22
In a study investigating multiword utterances, how many utterances required 3 or more operations?
a. 2
b. 6
c. 9
d. 13
b. 6
Out of 295 multiword utterances, how may were repetitions?
a. 75%
b. 56%
c. 63%
d. 91%
c. 63%
Out of 109 multiword utterances, how may were 3/4 single operation change?
a. 25%
b. 12%
c. 49%
d. 37%
d. 37%
Many of the child’s apparently complex utterances are based around ______ or small changes to what
she has said before
Repetitions
Most changes involve simple _______ within a lexically-based frame, or the ______ or ______ of a single word
a. substitutions
b. addition
c. subtraction
Most changes involve simple substitutions within a lexically-based frame, or the addition or subtraction of a single word
What does this suggest?
Children operate with an extensive inventory of specific utterances, and fairly limited mechanisms for altering these utterances to match the demands of the discourse context
Children need to learn a number of verbs before they can recognise similarities between them and begin to build
more general schemas
This is known as…?
Semantic analogy
True or False?
It is more difficult for children to start joining things together if there is a similar meaning
False
It is easier for children to start joining things together if there is a similar meaning
What is semantic analogy in language learning?
Suggests children need to learn a number of verbs before they can recognise similarities between them and begin to build more general schemas
Commonalities reinforced, differences forgotten
What is the evidence for semantic analogy?
Repeating sequences
Describe an experiment involving repeating sequences to investigate semantic analogy
List 2 points
1) 2 & 3-yr-olds asked to repeat 4-word sequences
e.g.
[FRAME]
Back in the
[SLOT]
’box/case/town’ (higher similarity)
vs
[FRAME]
It’s time for
[SLOT]
‘lunch/soup/drums‘ (lower similarity)
2) Manipulated 3-word frame by similarity of meaning of items in 4th ‘slot’
1) 2 & 3-yr-olds asked to repeat 4-word sequences
e.g.
[FRAME]
Back in the
[SLOT]
’box/case/town’ (higher similarity)
vs
[FRAME]
It’s time for
[SLOT]
‘lunch/soup/drums‘ (lower similarity)
2) Manipulated 3-word frame by similarity of meaning of items in 4th ‘slot’
What were the results of this study?
Children made fewer errors when items that normally occur in the slot are more similar
Children made fewer errors when items that normally occur in the slot are more similar
What does this suggest?
Suggests an overlap in
meaning helps build flexible constructions
True or False?
Sentences with word slots that have similar meaning make it more difficult for children to learn construction
False
Sentences with word slots that have similar meaning make it easier for children to learn construction
What is distributional learning?
The ability to learn the co-occurrence characteristics of the input, i.e. which words occur together or in similar contexts
The ability to learn the co-occurrence characteristics of the input, i.e. which words occur together or in similar contexts
This is known as…?
Distributional learning
Give 4 examples of distributional learning
1) Verb-ing/-ed/s
e.g. walking/walked/walks
pattern = words ending with ing, ed or s indicate a doing word/verb
2) Noun-s/’s
e.g. dogs/dog’s; cats/cat’s
pattern = words ending with s or ‘s indicate plural or belonging
3) Plural
e.g. Why are the tigers eating?
pattern = use are when noun is plural
4) Singular
e.g. Why is the dog running?
pattern = use is when noun is singular
Describe experimental evidence for distributional learning
List 3 points
1) 2-yr-olds exposed to multiple transitive sentences of form X is Verb-ing Y with familiar verbs
2) There were 2 conditions:
- Noun Phrase only condition – all Xs and Ys are lexical nouns
e.g. The cat is chasing the mouse
- Mixed condition – Xs and Ys are combination of lexical nouns and pronouns
e.g. The cat is chasing the mouse / He is chasing him
3) Children taught novel verb (This is called dacking) to describe a new action between two participants
4) Asked What’s happening here? to elicit description
What were the results of the experimental evidence for distributional learning?
Pronouns helped children extract a more abstract representation of the Subject-Verb-Object sentence
structure for use with novel (unfamiliar) verbs
Simply = Producing partial utterance mentioning just one participant helped children show generalisation of the X is V-ing Y
e.g. The dog is dacking the lion
vs
e.g. He is dacking him
Pronouns helped children extract a more abstract representation of the Subject-Verb-Object sentence
structure for use with novel (unfamiliar) verbs
Why?
Because all you need to do is change the verb in the middle
If X is a pronoun and Y is a pronoun, all you need to do is substitute “dacking” to a different verb
Studies of children’s language production suggest early language is not organised around …?
The same categories and rules as used by adult speakers
Evidence for gradual generalisations are based on …?
List 2 things
1) Similarities in form
2) Meaning of sentences
Children begin to combine words together at ______ months
a. 12-14 months
b. 14-18 months
c. 18-24 months
d. 6-12 months
c. 18-24 months
Constructivist theorists argue that children access meaning and learn to combine words by…?
Interpreting the intentions of their interlocutors
Simply = From hearing language used in predictable contexts
Constructivist theorists argue that children are motivated by _____ to access meaning and learn
Communicative function
Children build up grammar by ….?
List 2 points
1) Starting with more limited scope rules (e.g. lexical rules) than those used by adults
2) Using general cognitive mechanisms to generalise
What are the 3 main critical evaluations of constructionist approach?
1) Production studies are difficult for children
2) Do production studies underestimate how abstract children’s knowledge of sentence structure really is?
3) Exactly how sentence structures become gradually more abstract over development is not clearly specified
Why are production studies difficult for children?
Because it requires children to produce utterances
It requires significant
memory load in remembering and recalling novel words,
planning entire sentences and not being too shy to speak
