Two words

Question 1

Whats fast mapping?

Answer 1

the ability of children to connect new words to their meanings so rapidly that they cannot possibly be considering all the possible meanings

Question 2

Whats joint attention?

Answer 2

the process of sharing one’s experience of observing an object or event, by following gaze or pointing gestures

Question 3

How many words learnt a WEEK between 10-18 months?

Answer 3

10 words a week

Question 4

How many words learnt a DAY between 18-24 months?

Answer 4

10 words a DAY

Question 5

Why is there a vocabulary growth spurt from 10/18 to 18/24 months?

Answer 5

Developing control over articulatory movements

Increasing use of social information

Underlying growth in cognitive capacities

Question 6

When does syntax appear?

Answer 6

At first children produce sequences of single words, each with its own intonational contour.

On the verge of producing multiword utterances, children gradually:
- shorten distance between words

• then extend intonational contour over more than one word (intonational “umbrella”)

Question 7

What comes before two word utterences?

Answer 7

word + gesture combo

Question 8

When do children start to put together 2 or 3 word combos?

Answer 8

18 months

By 24 they use two-word utterences frequently

Question 9

Whats speech of an 18 month old like?

Answer 9

Telegraphic:

• contains content items
• emits grammatical markers
• emits some function words (except more, this, off, down)

Question 10

What meanings do children express at the two word stage?

Answer 10

Substantive : refer to specific entities e.g. doggy (arguments)

Relational: relations that an entity shares with itself or others e.g. more, allgone (predicates)

Question 11

What are relational words?

Answer 11

Words that make references across entities

Are states or events

Question 12

Most frequent relational words in early language relate to ‘existence’ states. What are these states?

Answer 12

relational + entity word that relates to its existence, e.g.

• existence, this cup
• non-existence, no juice
• disappearance, allgone (ba)nana
• ## recurrence, more upTheme + location (Baby bed, Teddy table)

Theme + possession e.g. mine/my (Baby mummy)

Attribute + theme e.g. (funny Daddy, yukky one)

Question 13

EVENTS: What are events? Some examples

Answer 13

the way that different entities relate through movement or action

• change of location
• change of state (eg. ‘there’ for completion of activity)

Question 14

EVENT CONSTRUCTION: what is an agent?

Answer 14

precceds verb (e.g. doggie eats)

Question 15

EVENT CONSTRUCTION: What are themes?

Answer 15

Follow verbs (e.g. find mitten, broke that)

Question 16

Why does telegraphic speech occur?

Answer 16

Could be that children:

• • use words with greatest perceptual salience, or
• • use words with greatest informational relevance
• • content versus function words

Could be that adults:
– tend to expand telegraphic utterances, either as
a declarative, as though modelling the statement, or
with questioning intonation as if checking they have understood correctly.

Question 17

When might children start to produce longer utterences?

Answer 17

When ~half of a child’s utterances contain 2 words, they start to use 3 and 4 word combinations

Recombination:
[agent + event] + [event + theme] = agent + event + theme e.g. Daddy throw ball

Expansion:
[action + object] e.g. eat that —> [action + (attributive + entity)] e.g. Eat big one