Preschool semantic and pragmatic development Wk 6

Question 1

How does general development support speech/language?

Answer 1

-Exploring word: fine and gross motor skills
-Play in groups: conversation, turn-taking
-Increased memory: recount stories/events
-Storage of learned info: categorization, semantic knowledge, concept formation

Question 2

What can effect word learning

Answer 2

-Sound detection abilities: hearing sounds and holding in working memory
-Word frequency: mother use of content words. More freq. learned earlier
-Word segmentation: more easily learned in important/ salient positions e.g. final position in utterance.
-Fast mapping: initial rough word ‘meaning’ from child based on limited exposure. .Nouns easier (tangible)

Question 3

Describe extended/slow mapping in preschool

Answer 3

-Word knowledge gradually expanded
-Changes with each experience of a word -more words learnt= unknown word meanings figured out
-Better processing allows for rapid word acquisition

Question 4

What is a mental lexicon

Answer 4

mental dictionary holding all words that individual has acquired i.e. vocab

Question 5

What is meant by semantic connections? how does it occur?

Answer 5

-2-4yrs make mistakes substituting semantically related words e.g. puppy for kitten
-Shows lexicon organised according to semantic info as well as sounds
-Words then stored and linked to other words by semantic features/concepts

Question 6

what is a concrete noun

Answer 6

-Easiest to learn
-Can be seen and manipulated e.g. Dog, tree

Question 7

Define concept. What is conceptual development?

Answer 7

big ideas learnt as children engage in experiences
-Baby drinks milk then water too (concept of liquids drinkable will expand)
-Later concept that some liquids cant be drunk learnt, adding to concept of liquids

Question 8

Define relational terms

Answer 8

Growth in need for language around comparisons as children begin to compare items
-Begin using relational terms; allow relate entities
-terms abstract; no meaning on own

Question 9

What are the relational terms used to compare entities

Answer 9

-Shape
-Function
-Size
-Colour
-Behaviour/actions
-Quantity
-Time

Question 10

What are the 10 concept words

Answer 10

-Spatial/Locational: Inside/outside/behind/in front
-Directional: In/out, up/down Numerical: Numbers, counting
-Ordinal: First, second, third, last, next
-Shapes: Circle, triangle, straight, pointy
-Measurement: Size, weight, volume, length,
-Comparative: Big/bigger/biggest,
-Temporal: Before/after while/during, today
-Categorical: Types of fruit, vehicles, feelings
-Descriptive: Colour, pattern, texture, taste

Question 11

Describe acquisition of physical relations and describe how it occurs

Answer 11

-Positive/unmarked polarity learnt first, negative/marked polarity learned after
-Related to develop. of concept of same-different (must learn terms are opposite then dimensions which they refer to)
-Can often be incorrectly used due to route learning in one context

Question 12

Describe temporal relations. What information is conveyed and when are they acquired?

Answer 12

information on;
-Simultaneous time: ‘while’ ‘at same time’
-Order: before, after
-Duration: since, until
-First acquire order–>simultaneity–>then duration

Question 13

What is order of mention

Answer 13

-need to learn syntactic structure e.g. ‘before you walk across room, take off shoes”
-Preschool child will walk then take off shoes

Question 14

Describe how colour terms are learned

Answer 14

Initially route learn colour terms
-26to28mo can recognise name not meaning
-28to30mo comprehend/ understand meaning
-31to36mo match different objects based on colour

Question 15

What are spatial prepositions

Answer 15

Spatial relations understood before they are spoken
-first conveyed by gesture
-At 3yrs all 3 understood

Question 16

What are locational prepositions

Answer 16

-describe one target object in relation to landmark
-Understand support relations (in/on) before proximity relations (by/next to)
-Later learned configuration (between, across, along)
-Interpretations required consideration of perspective of another
-Syntactic development affects acquisition

Question 17

Define kinship terms. How do they develop/become understood?

Answer 17

First treated as part of person’s name
-Then, child gains knowledge of def. but not relationship e.g. Grandma is old
-Less complex relationship learned 1st, related to number of shared semantic features (mother= female+parent, uncle= male+brother+parent) and reciprocity (e.g. If you have a sister, you are also a sister/brother)
-Most are understood and used by school age

Question 18

What are deictic terms? Give brief summary of the types

Answer 18

Point to particular reference in surroundings to a listener
-Personal (who)
-Spatial or local (where)
-Temporal (when)

-On own words have no meaning (meaning given by context i.e. Speaker, listener, place, topic)
-meaning shifts (makes difficult for learning)

Question 19

Describe the 3 phases in which deictic terms are learnt

Answer 19

1st phase: here/there, this/that – no distinction between

2nd phase: this/here correct, still can use terms in place of ‘that’ and ‘there’

3rd phase: correct use of terms (school years)

Question 20

Provide examples for the three types of deictic terms

Answer 20

-Personal (who): I, you, we, he, she, they
-Spatial or local (where); here, there, that one there, this one here
-Temporal (when): now, then, tonight, last month

Question 21

Describe what occurs in noun acquisition. What will it include?

Answer 21

-often include: Shape, Size, Colour, Functional, use and locational properties
-will not include: Subordinate categories – “it’s a type of..”, Relationships with other entities – “its like a…” (synonym), Internal constituents/parts – “its got wheels”, Metaphorical uses – “it could be a weapon if it had points”

Question 22

Describe verb acquisition. What will it include?

Answer 22

May be initially mapped based on number/type of morphological ending (e.g. Ing on action verbs, ed results)
-will include: Who/what does action, To what/whom it’s done, Where, when, with and what its done
-Not include: How done, Why done

Question 23

What are the 6 types of interrogative terms and how are they answered

Answer 23

-what: knowledge of name and semantic features
-where: knowledge of physical spaces and body awareness
-when: concepts of time and words relating to it
-who: semantic knowledge of names
-how: knowledge of patterns of routines/steps, functions of objects
-why: observation and understanding causality

Question 24

Describe the typical ages of acquisition of response to interrogatives (comprehension)?

Answer 24

-What (easiest), where
.early forms (Stage 1 - 27-28 months)
-Who, whose, which
.later forms (Stage 2-3, 28-32 months)
-When, how, why (hardest)
.last forms (Stage 4-5, 35-47 months)

Question 25

What is meant by environmental factors? Provide examples

Answer 25

-Extreme individual variability
-Individual: memory, understanding of concepts
-Contextual: home, caregiver, classroom, peer interactions, exposure

Question 26

What occurs in preschool pragmatic development

Answer 26

develop and extend use of the pragmatic skills during preschool years including:
-Directive+requests: politeness
-Conversational skills
-Play schemas
-Decontextualized language: narrative skills

Question 27

What are directives and requests? Differ between direct and indirect using examples

Answer 27

get others to do things.
-direct: stop that, stop that please
-Indirect: Can I have the phone, Those chips look nice!

Question 28

What are the three major communication skills

Answer 28

-use language to greet, inform, request
-adapting language to diff. persons and situations, maximise understanding
-Following rules in conversation

Question 29

What skills should be learned in conversation

Answer 29

-Initiation: bring up topic of conversation. Context dictates how/what are appropriate.
-Turn Taking – equal shares, current ‘speaker’ dictates next
-Repair: if mistake happens, how do we fix it? Do we fix others?
-Changing topics: how? How long do we have to talk until we change topics?
-Presupposition – keep track of what other person knows
-Closure: how to end conversation?

Question 30

Describe turn taking/topic maintenance in younger children

Answer 30

-at 2 contingent utterances
-can maintain topic in two adjacent utterances (e.g. 2 turns)
-By 3 can engage in longer dialogues beyond 2
-Repetition used to remain on topic
-increased age=topic maintenance easier

Question 31

What is presupposition

Answer 31

listeners knowledge. Theory of mind develops slowly across childhood-allows them to consider what the speaker knows
-questions used to gain more info about presupposed fact by partner