Key Terms

Question 1

Define Phonemic Expansion.

Answer 1

Phonological Development: 6 - 9 Months
- Phonemic expansion: the variety of sounds a child can produce increases.

Question 2

Define Phonemic Contraction.

Answer 2

Phonological Development: 6 - 9 Months
- Phonemic Contraction: the sounds a child can make are reduced so that they can only make the sounds of their own language.

Question 3

Define a Reduplicated Monosyllable.

Answer 3

Phonological Development: 6 - 9 Months
- Reduplicated monosyllable: the repetition of a sound such as ‘ba ba’.

Question 4

Define Proto-words.

Answer 4

Phonological Development: 9 - 12 Months
- Proto-words: clusters of sounds (e.g. ‘da’) that represents the baby’s attempt to articulate specific words when their motor coordination is still in early stages of development.
- Sounds that may not be recognisable out of context, but which are accurate enough for those around to identify what the baby means

Question 5

Define Consonant Clusters.

Answer 5

Phonological Development: 9 - 12 Months
- Consonant clusters: groups of consonants (e.g. ‘str’ or ‘gl’) that demand more muscular control than single consonants or vowels, so tend to appear later in the baby’s utterances.
- Children transpose sounds/omit them, because their capacity to form specific phonemes is not yet in place.

Question 6

Define Addition.

Answer 6

‘Virtuous Error’ in a Child’s Phonological Development
- Addition: adding to words; reduplication of sounds also occurs commonly
- E.g. ‘Moo moo’

Question 7

Define Deletion.

Answer 7

‘Virtuous Error’ in Child’s Phonological Development
- Deletion: method of simplification ‘Pi’ for ‘pig’; ‘ca’ for ‘cat’. Unstressed syllables may be removed, e.g. ‘banana’ becomes ‘nana’.
- Consonant clusters may be reduced: ‘nail’ for ‘snail’; ‘seep’ instead of ‘sleep’.

Question 8

Define Substitution.

Answer 8

‘Virtuous Error’ in a Child’s Phonological Development
- Substituting easier sounds for harder ones
- Examples: r in rock become w, t as in toe becomes d, p as in pig becomes b

Question 9

Define Assimilation.

Answer 9

‘Virtuous Error’ in a Child’s Phonological Development
- Assimilation: different kind of substitution whereby child repeats a neighbouring sound (rather than using an easier one)
- Example: ‘doggie’ becomes ‘goggie’

Question 10

Define Holophrase.

Answer 10

Grammatical Development: Holophrastic Stage (9 - 18 months)
- Holophrase: a single word representing a more complex thought
- Example: the word ‘juice’ may be used to signify ‘I want some juice’- in this context, ‘juice’ would be a holophrase.
- ‘Up’ is another commonly used holophrase, usually signifying ‘please lift me up’ or ‘I want to get up’.

Question 11

Define Over-Generalisation.

Answer 11

Grammatical Development: Using inflections
- ‘Virtuous Error’
- Over-generalisation: the over application of rules about the formation of words; shows a child has internalised a grammatical rule + is applying it to create a new logical word form.
- Applying -ed suffix, used to indicate past tense, to irregular verbs
- Example: ‘Mummy wentED out’ or ‘my toy got brokened’

Question 12

Define Productive Vocabulary.

Answer 12

Development of Meaning: Lexis + Semantics
- Productive Vocabulary: term used to describe the words a person is able to use, either in speech or writing.

Question 13

Define Receptive Vocabulary.

Answer 13

Development of Meaning: Lexis + Semantics
- Receptive Vocabulary: relates to the words a person recognises/understands (but doesn’t use)
- Likely to be larger than their productive vocabulary.

Question 14

Explain Over-Extension + the different kinds.

Answer 14

Development of Meaning: Lexis + Semantics
- Over-Extension: virtuous semantic error: widening the meaning of a word so that it extends to apply not just to the actual object but also to other objects with similar properties/functions.
-Leslie Rescorla (1980) stated overextension can be divided into 3 kinds: categorical, analogical + predicate.
- Categorical Overextension: most commonly occurring form of overextension, + relates to confusing a hypernym (broad category, e.g. fruit) with a hyponym. (E.g. apple for all fruit)
-Analogical Overextension: associating objects which are unrelated but which have one or more features in common (e.g. both being the same colour)
-Predicate Overextension: conveying meaning that relates to absence (e.g. making the utterances ‘cat’ when looking at the cat’s empty basket)

Question 15

Define Under-Extension.

Answer 15

Development of Meaning: Lexis + Semantics
-Underextension: When meaning ascribed to a word is narrower than the meaning it has in adult language; using a hyponym instead of a hypernym
- E.g. child may use the word ‘cat’ instead of ‘pet’

Question 16

Define Labelling.

Answer 16

Development of Meaning: Lexis + Semantics
Aitchision (1987): 1st stage
- Labelling: process of attaching words to objects; as child learns more about the world their capacity to connect words with an increasing range of objects grows.

Question 17

Define Packaging.

Answer 17

Development of Meaning: Lexis + Semantics.
Aitchison (1987): 2nd stage
- Packaging: in trying to ascertain the boundaries of the label the child sometimes confuses hypernyms + hyponyms, giving rise to over- + underextensions.

Question 18

Define Network Building.

Answer 18

Development of Meaning: Lexis + Semantics
Aitchison (1987): 3rd stage
- Network Building: having labelled objects children start to identify connections between them, recognising similarities (synonyms) and differences (antonyms).
- E.g. hot/cold, little/small

Question 19

Define Hyponyms + Hypernyms.

Answer 19

Development of Meaning: Lexis + Semantics
- Hyponyms: examples within categories (e.g. pony, truck + sherbet lemons) are all hyponyms.
- Hypernyms: categories (e.g. pets, vehicles + sweets) are all hypernyms

Question 20

Define a Mismatch Statement.

Answer 20

• Child makes assumption based on what is usually the case
• But is not in this case

Question 21

Explain what a Consonant Cluster Reduction is.

Answer 21

• Cluster of consonants reduced/simplified into a single consonant
• Example: ‘stop’ to ‘top’, ‘friend’ to ‘fren’

Question 22

Define a Gestalt Expression.

Answer 22

• Mistaking 2 separate words, that are often said together as 1 word
• Example: ‘anotherone’

Question 23

Define Function Words.

Answer 23

• Carry only grammatical meaning
  Example: prepositions, auxiliaries, quantifies, e.t.c

Question 24

Define Content Words.

Answer 24

• Carry real meaning
  Example: nouns, verbs, adverbs
• Content words carry stress + function words are weak/unstressed

Question 25

Define a Virtuous Error.

Answer 25

Phonological Development
- Logical mistake made by children based on rules they already know
Example: forgeted

Question 26

Define Schema.

Answer 26

• Bundle of knowledge about a concept, person, or event
• Built up from our experience in the world + are dynamic (can be amended + enlarged)
  Example: ‘I’d love to travel to Brazil’, we can use our schematic knowledge to know someone might travel to Brazil as of: carnivals, festivals, football, e.t.c.

Question 27

Define Conditioning.

Answer 27

Behaviourism (Nurture)
- Conditioning: process by which humans (+ animals) are taught or trained to respond, + learn by receiving positive reinforcement (e.g. praise from an adult) for whatever is deemed to be appropriate learning within that specific context- for choosing the correct word, or for politeness, for example.

Question 28

Define Positive Reinforcement.

Answer 28

Behaviourism; Nurture
- Positive reinforcement: when a behaviour is rewarded + therefore encouraged to be repeated.

Question 29

Define Language Acquisition Device (LAD).

Answer 29

Nativism; Nature
- Language Acquisition Device (LAD): term coined by Chomsky to denote the inherent capacity of humans for learning language.

Question 30

Define Universal Grammar.

Answer 30

Nativism; Nature
- Universal Grammar: a theory, attributed to Chomsky, which proposes that there are properties + rules shared by all human languages that are ‘hardwired’ into the brain, i.e. they exist innately rather than being taught.

Question 31

Define Scaffolding.

Answer 31

Interactionism; Nurture
- Scaffolding: Adults, through their interactions, provide the child with conversational material + patterning
- Example: parent may say ‘What did we buy at the shop today? Did we buy apples?’, thus providing the child with some key lexis + grammatical structures, supporting them in continuing the conversation.
- Basic form of scaffolding starts before the child can function as an effective producer of language- even non-verbal responses may be elicited by parents/carers; these exchanges are known as ‘proto-conversations’.

Question 32

Define Framing.

Answer 32

Interactionism; Nurture
- Framing: controlling the agenda of a conversation (its direction + subject); or making utterances that encourage the child to fill in the blanks.

Question 33

Define Recasting.

Answer 33

Interactionism; Nurture
- Recasting: rephrasing + extending a child’s utterances

Question 34

Define Language Acquisition Support System (LASS)

Answer 34

Interactionism; Nurture
- Language Acquisition Support System (LASS): the support provided by parents + other carers to the child’s language development.

Question 35

Define Child Directed Speech (CDS)

Answer 35

Interactionism; Nurture
- Child Directed Speech (CDS): speech patterns used by parents + carers when communicating with young children; form of adapted language whereby adult speaker helps child to learn language by making their own input accessible for the child, in terms of grammar + semantics.

Question 36

Define Privation.

Answer 36

Interactionism; Nurture
- Privation: absence of social relationships.

Question 37

Define Object Permanence.

Answer 37

Cognitive Theory; Nature
- Object Permanence: ability to recognise that an object still exists even when the baby cannot actually see it, thus it requires the capacity to form a mental representation of the object.