language and communication

Question 1

what are the 5 kinds of linguistic knowledge psycholinguists distinguish

Answer 1

1. phonology (basic unit of sound and child’s ability to distinguish)
2. morphology (how words are formed from phonemes e.g suffixes like childish)
3. semantics (meaning of words + child’s ability to understand) there are free morphemes (stand alone) and bound morphemes (cannot stand alone)
4. syntax (how words combine to form sentences)
5. pragmatics (how lang is used, social context, cultural politeness etc)

Question 2

how do we help children learn to talk

Answer 2

-parentese/CDS: speech slowed and higher intonation so infants able to hear sounds more clearly, CDS adapts w. age
-turn taking from young age
-few direct corrections of grammar: give negative feedback (expansion/recasting)
-conversations, instead of Tv, Tv not as effective for lang. development as having a converstation

Question 3

what are the stages of lang development

Answer 3

pre linguistic (0-12 months)
one word/holophrastic (12-18 months)
telegraphic (18-24 months)
nursery development (2-5 yrs)
school age (5yrs +)

Question 4

features of the pre linguistic stage

Answer 4

-newborns/neonates respond to/ prefer speech
-3 days old: infant prefers mother’s voice
-1 month: prefer native lang
-2 months: recognise phonemes spoken by diff people
-early: discriminate non native phonemes, this ability disappears with exposure to one lang
-infants respond to/repeat intonational cues
-7-9 months: dislike unnatural speech e.g lang pauses

Question 5

pre linguistic stage vocalisation

Answer 5

-cooing: 2 months
-babbling: 4-6 months
-canonical babbling: 6-10 months e.g dadada
-modulated babbling: 10-12 months
(up to 6 months deaf infants sound alike to hearing ones when babbling)

Question 6

features at the end of yr 1 (pre linguistic)

Answer 6

-turn taking at 8 months
-8-10 months: manual and facial gestures 1. imperative, 2. declarative (showing)
-perception before production (12-17 months)

Question 7

features of one word/ holophrastic

Answer 7

-12 months +
-use of single words where adults use full sentences
-first words around 12 months, usually object words
-first words usually restricted by production limitations e.g repetitive (mama), shortened (ba for ball), distorted (apo for apple)
-cultural diff: western cultures usually begin w object words/nouns

Question 8

features of telegraphic stage

Answer 8

-strings of two or more key words
-gestures and intonation
-children monitor other’s responses and correct if needed

Question 9

telegraphic vocabulary growth

Answer 9

-naming explosion 18-24 months
-200 words by 2nd bday
-fast mapping in 2nd yr: link new words to object, overextension errors ( all animals are dogs), underextension (only child’s dog is a dog)

Question 10

how do children know what words mean (telegraphic)

Answer 10

-social and contextual cues e.g new label = new object
-processing constraints 1. object scope constraint (new label refers to whole object not part of it) 2. mutual exclusivity (if this is a dog it is also not a cat)
-syntactical cues: where in a sentence a new label occurs a child will look to the syntax e.g grammar may imply new label is a noun

Question 11

features of nursery/pre school development

Answer 11

grammatical development
- morphemes, transformational rules but use overregulisation errors at 3-4yrs e.g mouses, sheeps etc
- asking qs, negation, complex sentences
semantic development
- passive constructs are difficult to start with e.g boy was hit by the girl
development of pragmatics
- referential communication skills (generate clear messages, clarify, adjust)

Question 12

features of school age lang development

Answer 12

syntactical development
-9yrs: overregulisations corrected
-complex passive sentences understood (8-9)

vocab development
-6 yrs: understand 10,000 words
-10 yrs: understand 40,000 words
-fewer words produced than understood (perception before production)
-growing morphological knowledge allows them to analyse unfamiliar words e.g hopelessness

metalinguistic awareness
-knowledge of own lang use, understand properties and uses, school age children think more about lang
-further development of communication skills (children adjust speech according to context + partner’s ability in order to communicate effectively

Question 13

bilingualism

Answer 13

-bilingual children score higher on IQ and metalinguistic awareness tests than matched monolingual children
-bilingual toddlers produce mix of two languages
-3 yrs: good contextual awareness (which lang best for which context)
-young children learn second lang easily