Language development Flashcards
Naming explosion
- 18 - 24 months
- Words learnt at rapid rate
- Correct word order but grammar often dropped
Grammar improvement
- 24 - 36 months
- Grammar increasingly correct
Complex sentences
- 36 - 48 months
- Construction of complex sentences
- Sensitivity to more complex conversational rules
Phonological development
Learning about the sound system of a language
Semantic development
Learning about expressing meaning
Syntactic development
Learning rules for combining words
Pragmatic development
Learning how language is used
Overextention
Using same word for many things
Underextention
Using a word in a restricted and individualistic way
Parental influences
Use of infant directed speech to emphasise support word learning
* Parental scaffolding to improve vocabulary
First sentences and grammar
Start as two word sentences but get more complex as time goes on
Learning grammatical rules
If rule is acquired, overregularisation occurs
Development of pragmatics
Language is a social behaviour, conversational skills take longer to develop than word production
Development of conversation skills
As children get older, they speak more
* Increase in same topic utterances
* Reduction of irrelevant utterances
Developing conversations
By age 3-4 years turn taking, eye contact and responding appropriately to others speech
Fast mapping
Known and new object, new object must relate to new word
Pragmatic clues
Social contexts to identify word use
* Adult attention or emotional response
Linguistic context
By using known grammatical cues, influences what a child understands by a certain word
Differences in children’s exposure to language
Evidence to link social class and exposure to child vocabulary based on how many words they hear
Sensitive period
Period in development during which an organism is most sensitive or susceptible to the effects of external factors
Critcal period
Limited period of development during which an organism requires certain conditions in order for it to grow to maturity
Second language development
- Learning a second language before age 7 is as good as native speaker tests of grammar
- Later language learning is associated with poorer grammar recognition
Nativism
- Chomsky and Pinker
- All languages have similar roots
- Universal grammar
Support of nativist view
Children in most cultures develop language at the same time
Limitations of the nativist view
Concentrates on syntax development, not the social relevance of language
Interactionist view
Children have some natural predispositions to learn language, so the environment is important
