Spoken Language Development Flashcards
What is the purpose of child directed speech
- To attract and hold a child’s attention
- Help the process of breaking down language into understandable chunks
- Make the conversation more predictable by referring to the here-and-now.
Phonological features of child directed speech
- Separate phrases more distinctly, leaving longer pauses between them
- Speaking more slowly
- Use exaggerated ‘singsong’ intonation, which helps to emphasise key words. Also to exaggerate the difference between questions, statements and commands
- Use a higher and wider pitch range
- Rising intonation
Lexis and semantic features of child directed speech
- Use of concrete nouns (cat, train) and dynamic verbs (give, put)
- Adopt child’s own words for things (doggie, wickle babbit)
- Frequent use of child’s name and an absence of pronouns
Grammatical features of child directed speech
- Simple constructions
- Frequent use of imperatives (bring, don’t, give, take)
- High degree of repetition
- Use of personal names instead of pronouns (e.g. ‘Mummy’ not ‘I’)
- Fewer verbs, modifiers and adjectives
- Present tense bias
Pragmatic features of child directed speech
- Lots of gesture and warm body language
- Fewer utterances per turn – stopping frequently for child to respond
- Supportive language (expansions and re-castings)
Other examples in child directed speech
- Deixis used to point child’s attention to objects or people
- Repeated sentence frames e.g. “that’s a ……”
- Use more simple sentences and fewer complex and passives
- Omission of past tenses, inflections (plurals and possessives)
- Use more commands, questions and tag questions
- Use of EXPANSIONS – where the adult fills out the child’s utterance
- Use of RE-CASTINGS – where the child’s vocabulary is put into a new utterance
What are the four different grammatical stages
- Holophrastic stage
- Two word stage
- Telegraphic stage
- Post telegraphic stage
Holophrastic stage
12 - 18 months, single words utterances, holophrases (These single words are called HOLOPHRASES. For example, the child may say “go” to mean “I want to leave now,” or “mine” to say “This is my toy and I don’t want you to play with it.”).
Two words stage
Starts at around 2 years old, two word utterances, no inflections (the addition of endings to words to mark distinctions such as tense, person, number, gender, mood, voice and case). Pronouns are rare.
Telegraphic stage
3 - 4 words utterances, grammatical items may be omitted, syntax is usually accurate.
Post - telegraphic stage
More than 3 - 4 words utterances, more sophisticated constructions and noun phrase expansions present. (Adding more detail to the noun by adding adjectives). There may still be errors with pronouns, question formations, forming negatives, inflections all being used more.
Bruner - Language acquisition support system
Bruner says that the LASS works in conjunction with the LAD. The scaffolding provided by adults allows the LAD to be triggered. Adults support linguistic development in social situations.
They point things out and ask questions - “what’s that? Is that a doggy?”
LASS - Scaffolding
Linguistic support; adults provide child with conversational material and patterning.
LASS - Proto conversation
A basic form of scaffolding before the child can perform as an effective producer of language; it can include non - verbal responses.
LASS - framing
Conversation or making utterances that allow the child to fill in the blanks
LASS - Recasting
The rephrasing and extending of a child’s utterance. E.g. Child: I want to eat. Parent: What do you want to eat?
Grammatical features
- Types of sentences (interrogatives, also simple, compound, complex sentences).
- Omission of words - be specific
- Accuracy with pronoun usage
- Stages of negation and questioning
- Use of tense
- Noun phrase expansion
- Virtuous errors or overextension in inflections.
Phonological development
Age 2 and a half - all vowels and 2/3 or consonants are mastered
Age 4 - difficulty with only a few consonants
Age 6 -7 - confident use.
Plosives and stops are easiest to use - p, b, t, k, d, g.
Fricatives are most difficult - s, sh, z, th, f.
What are the different difficulties with production of particular sounds
- Deletion
- Substitution
- Addition
- Assimilation
- Reduplication
- Consonant cluster reduction
- Deletion of unstressed syllable
Deletion
When children drop the tough sounds which they can’t yet pronounce.
Substitution
Replacing tough sounds that they can’t pronounce with sounds they can produce.
Addition
A child places an additional vowel sound on the end of words in order to create a consonant, vowel, consonant, vowel construction- as with ‘doggie’ and ‘mummy’.
Assimilation
Assimilation occurs when a consonant sound starts to sound like another sound in the word (e.g. “bub” for “bus”).
Reduplication
The repetition of consonants and vowels from one part of a word.
E.g. banana = ‘nana’, daddy = ‘dada’, mummy = ‘mama’.
Consonant cluster reduction
Cluster Reduction occurs when a child simplifies a cluster of consonant sounds into a single sound or a more manageable combination of sounds. (e.g. “poon” for “spoon”, “tuck” for “truck”).
Deletion of unstressed syllable
A phonological pattern where children will omit the weak or unstressed syllable in a multisyllabic word.
Lexis and Semantics
- Hypernyms and hyponyms. A hypernym is a broad term for a group of products. A hyponym is a term for an item in the group that the hypernym describes.
- Content words, grammatical function words. Words like “of,” “the,” “to,”
- Use of concrete and abstract nouns
- Sophisticated and technical vocabulary
- Diminutive forms, proto - words
- Categorical over extension: the child applies the same word to all items within the same category.
- Analogical over extension: when a child makes connections between items that have similar characteristics e.g. calling socks, tea towels and oven gloves ‘blankie’ because they’re all made of fabric.
- Under extension: when a child limits the way a words is used and doesn’t recognise its full meaning.
- Mismatch statement: labelling an object completely different to what it is. e.g. calling a pond a duck.
Pragmatics
- Does the child understand when to speak, how to respond to others and how to use appropriate register
- Halliday’s 7 functions: instrumental, regulatory, interactional, personal, heuristic, imaginative, representational.
- Who initiates the conversation, is there turn-taking or adjacency pairs?
Halliday’s functions - instrumental
Child expresses their need e.g. “more food!”
Halliday’s functions - regulatory
Child instructs someone to do something e.g. “give ball”
Halliday’s functions - interactional
Child forms relationships with others e.g. “hello daddy”
Halliday’s functions - personal
Child expresses emotions and opinions e.g. “carrots not nice”
Halliday’s functions - heuristic
Child enquires about the environment e.g. “where is cat?”
Halliday’s functions - imaginative
Child uses language during play e.g. “the monster is coming!”
Halliday’s functions - representational
Child uses language to convey information e.g. “it is raining!”
Declarative
Making a statement e.g. “I like cheese.”
Imperative
A command e.g. “Remember…”
Which theory would direct copying and correction of the child by an adult support
Behaviourism - Skinner
Which theory would trial and error and virtuous errors support
Nativism - Chomsky
A virtuous error
A logical error
