Stages And Grammar Acquisition

Question 1

Holophrastic stage

Answer 1

Mainly communicating in holophrases but gain more concrete nouns as they can sit up alone, their field of vision increases, which has a correlation with words they use. Gradually understanding syntax.

Question 2

0-1 year

Answer 2

Lack of grammatical structure as utterances are not really words, basic turn taking patterns are established but child cannot contribute properly.

Question 3

Two word stage, 18 months to 2 years

Answer 3

Emergence of grammar stage. By 18 months, grammatical sequences are being formed and present participle ing being used. At the end of the stage the very first negative words used, “no” and “not”

Question 4

Telegraphic stage, 2 to 3 years

Answer 4

Omission of grammatical function words eg determiners, auxiliaries and prepositions. Produce longer utterances so that they are less likely to delete clause elements. Embedding of subordinating clauses, more complex utterances than in early reading books. Coordinating conjunctions. Overgeneralisation, suffixes ‘s’ and ‘ed’ initially overused because the child applied the grammatical rule to exceptions. Auixllary verbs often omitted and come more accurate by 3. Modal auxiliaries used more frequently. Question words. Negatives ‘can’t’ and ‘won’t’ used. Pronouns used inaccruately, often use second person pronouns to refer to themselves and first person to refer to others. Passive voice not mastered but progress in this stage is rapid. MLU becoming longer.

Question 5

3 years onwards

Answer 5

After the age of three, telegraphic speech is replaced by more fluent, sophisticated language use. Grammatically more varied, subordination increasingly used. Irregular past tense forms are still over generalised, may use both standard and non standard forms. Auxiliaries often still missed. “Didn’t” and “won’t” used, as are multiple negatives for emphasis. Last negative form to be acquired is usually “isn’t”

Question 6

Older children

Answer 6

Tenses accurately formed, including irregulars. Negatives accurate and consistent. Complex utterances with subordinating conjunctions. Passive mood understood/used? Range of pre and post modification and accurate pronoun usage.