Phonology In CLA

Question 1

Phonological Simplifications

Answer 1

Deletion, assimilation, consonant clutter reduction, addition, substitution

Question 2

Deletion

Answer 2

• A child drops a consonant from a word when it is surrounded on one or both sides by vowels.
• This usually (but not always) occurs at the end of words. For example, a child may say /dɒ/ instead of /dɒg/ - they have deleted the end-position voiced velar plosive (/g/) from the word.

Question 3

Assimilation

Answer 3

• This is when a sound later on in the word has an influence on other sounds in the word.
• For example, the /b/ sound in ‘rabbit’ might assimilate to the front-position of the word to form ‘babbit’.

Question 4

Consonant cluster reduction

Answer 4

This is when a child reduces a set of consonants that are all together. For example, in the word ‘spider’, they may reduce the ‘sp’ digraph (two letters) by removing the ‘s’ from the cluster.

Question 5

Addition

Answer 5

This is when a child adds a spurious consonant or vowel to a word. For example, adding the ‘y’ sound onto words like ‘dog’ to form the diminutive ‘doggy’.

Question 6

Substitution

Answer 6

This is when a child changes one sound for another (usually one easier to say). For example, children often substitute the voiced palatal approximant (/j/) for the voiced alveolar lateral approximant (/l/) in the word ‘yellow’.

Question 7

The ‘fis-fish’ phenomenon

Answer 7

The ‘fis-fish’ phenomenon proved that children can notice mistakes, but not recognise that they are making these mistakes.

• Conducted by Berko and Brown, the ‘fis-fish’ phenomenon happened when a child was talking to their caregiver about what they called their plastic ‘fis’.
• When the caregiver repeated this to them, they were able to recognise that the caregiver had said ‘fis’ and not ‘fish’, but could not then pronounce ‘fish’. This shows that comprehension precedes competency

Question 8

17-week-old-foetus

Answer 8

• From around seventeen weeks, a foetus can hear sounds in utero. This is often shown when a child reacts more when they hear a certain voice or when they hear a certain piece of music.
• This is often shown again after birth.

Question 9

Mehler

Answer 9

In 1988, Mehler found that French babies had a stronger reaction to French sounds at four days old than they did to English, Spanish or Italian.
* This proved that babies become accustomed to their native language before birth.

Question 10

Pre-lingual stage 1 and 2

Answer 10

Stage 1: Biological noises – 0-2 months
Stage 2: Cooing and laughing – 2-5 months
We begin to see a control of vocal chords, but the sounds are meaningless, like ‘coo’,’ hoo’ and ‘ga’.

Question 11

Pre-lingual stage 3

Answer 11

Stage 3: Vocal play – 5-8 months
The child begins to experiment with different vowel and consonant sounds.
* The child begins to play with pitch.
* There is no meaning behind these noises – they are playing.
* Parents may respond very positively to certain sounds and as a result, the child may produce these again and again.

Question 12

Pre-lingual stage 4

Answer 12

Babbling – 6-12 months

There are two types of babbling – reduplicated and variegated.

• Reduplicated babbling happens when the sound is repeated. For example, ‘mamama’.
• Variegated babbling happens when the sound is differed, like ‘dabama’.

Question 13

Phonemic expansion and contraction

Answer 13

To start with, a child will try as many new sounds as they can – this is called phonemic expansion. At roughly 9/10 months, the child narrows their range to those found in their native language. This is called phonemic contraction. At this point, a parent can recognise a child of the same nationality. A child gains more control over their body and face at this point, and so paralinguistic features develop (gesturing and facial expressions). A child also develops intonation as of real speech. This includes rising intonation at the end of the interrogative mood

Question 14

Pre-lingual stage 5 and 6

Answer 14

Stage 5: Melodic utterances – 9-18 months

• A child lets out utterances containing rhythm.
• Tone is developed.

Stage 6: protowords – around a year
A child starts to use protowords. These are utterances which resemble words and are word-like ‘dap’ for a phone. These protowords would not make sense outside of the context of primary caregivers.

Question 15

Phonology - Consonant Acquisition

Answer 15

In the 1980s, Pamela Grunwell’s research examined rates of acquisition of consonant sounds. Her research details that generally, children will learn these phonemes at certain ages

Question 16

Grunwell age 2

Answer 16

• 2: /p, b m, d, t, w, n/

Question 17

Grunwell age 2.6

Answer 17

• 2.6: /k, g, h/

Question 18

Grunwell age 3

Answer 18

• 3: /f, s, j, l/

Question 19

Grunwell age 3.6

Answer 19

• 3.6: /dʒ, v, z, r, tʃ, ʃ/

Question 20

Grunwell age 4

Answer 20

• 4: / θ, ʒ, ð/

Question 21

Halliday

Answer 21

M. A. K. Halliday’s theory states that a child will learn language so that they can achieve things. To do this, the child will use language for seven main functions.

Question 22

Halliday 1

Answer 22

1: Firstly, the child needs language to satisfy their primary needs and urges:
1. Instrumental – language used to show needs and desires (‘want food’)

Question 23

Halliday 2,3 and 4

Answer 23

Following this, the child starts to explore the world around them. This is a reflection of the child’s reduction in egocentrism.

2. Regulatory – language used to get people to do something (‘tickle me’)
3. Interactional – language used to interact with other and form relationships (‘hi Anna’).
4. Personal – explores feelings and identity (‘me like juice’).

Question 24

Halliday 5, 6 and 7. children begin to explore a world which doesn’t involve them:

Answer 24

5. Heuristic – language used to explore the world and the environment that surrounds the child (‘what Emma doing?’).
6. Imaginative – language used to be imaginative (tell stories, play pretend etc – ‘I’m a doggie! Woof!’).
7. Representational – language used for facts (‘coat is yellow’).