 Early Speech

Protowords  A protoword is not a proper word but used to mean something by children e.g. “nana” meaning banana  In order for a word to be a protoword the child must use the same word every time to describe an object/action e.g. a baby says “dada” every time his dad walks into the room not just as a one off which would suggest that the baby is simply babbling

Babies' First Words  David Crystal argues that babies’ early words consist of mostly concrete nouns and dynamic verbs  This may be due to parents communicating with their child by labeling objects as most of the language that children hear is from daily routine in the “here and now” (Crystal)  Parents also use lots of directives and imperatives (Glietman and Glietman) and comment on children’s actions to show care and acknowledgement as a form of praise

The One Word Stage  Occurs around 12 months and lasts around 6 months  In this time children: o Build vocabulary o Begin to use words for a variety of functions o Do not use any bound morphemes  60% of one word utterances have a naming function (nouns)  20% express actions (verbs and prepositions)  Some linguists consider one word utterances to be similar to sentences and refer to them as holophrases e.g. “more” might mean “I want some more”  By 18 months most children can use a spoken vocabulary of around 50 words

The Two Word Stage  Occurs around 18 months and lasts around 6 months  Children often string together a series of one word sentences/holophrases e.g. “daddy car”  It is this stage that grammar begins as they start to learn word order and vocabulary develops quickly  At this stage, the child also starts to use ‘s’ for plural and ‘ing’ on verbs (bound morphemes)  They are also getting to grips with grammar by using prepositions, pronouns and possessives

Sounds made in the Two Word Stage  Bilabular – consonants appear very early [m], [b], [p] due to eating and drinking  Stopped consonants such as [b] and [d] also appear early  Children are more likely to use consonants correctly at the beginning of words – consonants at the end appear later  Fricative consonants such as [f] and [s] are the consonants which first tend to appear at the end of words

Commonly changed sounds in the Two Word Stage (Crystal)  Replacing fricatives e.g. replacing [s] with a stopped sound so “sea” becomes “tea”  Prefer front of mouth sounds to back of mouth sounds e.g. “don” rather than “gone”  Prefer [w] and [j] sounds to [l] and [r] e.g. “wan” rather than “ran”  Harmonisation/assimilation e.g. “dog” pronounced as “gog”  Avoidance of consonant clusters e.g. “tree” pronounced as “tee”  Leave consonants off the end so that “hat” becomes “ha”  Leave out unstressed syllables e.g. “giraffe” becomes “raff”  Syllables repeated e.g. “moo” becomes “moo moo”

The Telegraphic Stage  At around the second birthday children begin to expand two word utterances into three or more words  The utterances are like telegrams and children use the words essential to the meaning and avoid the function words (grammatical items)  As children’s language develops they begin to use more grammatical items and a wider range of vocabulary  They can use lexical items such as nouns, verbs, adjectives and pronouns  They can use grammatical items such as determiners, prepositions and connectives

Homophones  Some children pronounce a variety of words in exactly the same way  E.g. a child may pronounce “rock” “clock” and “cock” in the same way  The child would only understand them if the adult pronounced them in the same way, suggesting that they know more words than they can articulate

Acquisition of Bound Morphemes - Katamba From the earliest to the latest learned by children From the most to the least frequently used by parents 1.–ing (present continuous) 2.Plural –s 3.Possessive –s 4.The, a 5.Past tense –ed 6.Third person singular –s 7.Auxiliary be (is, am, was, were, will) 1.The, a 2.–ing 3.Plural –s 4.Auxiliary be 5.Possessive –s 6.Third person singular –s 7.Past tense –ed

Pronouns  The function of a pronoun is to replace/represent a noun Subject pronouns (thing doing action) Object pronouns (thing receiving action) Demonstrative pronoun (points) Possessive pronoun (belongs to someone) IMeTheseMine You ThoseMy He/SheHim/HerThatYour It ThisYours TheyThemHis/hers UsWeTheres Ours Its

Observations on Pronouns Acquisition  Children learn pronouns that stand for things they havent already named – these things tend to be in the immediate environment (‘here and now’)  Children frequently tend to omit the subject from their sentences e.g. “don’t want to”  Adults compensate for lack of pronouns by using names excessively  Earliest pronouns appear to be ones which refer to things – it, this, that  Personal pronouns appear in third year but confusions continue for a long time  He/she comes next and you last

Negation Stage 1 - Bellugi  The baby produces affirmative sentences with “no” added to the beginning or end:  No sit there  No fall  Not my bed

Negation Stage 2  Baby understands how to use negated contractions  There is more variety in method with “can’t” and “don’t” being used but variation of word tense  No is also retained but now appears mid sentence  I can’t catch you  He no bite you

Negation Stage 3  There is more variety in the tense of the auxiliary very which now appears to be used appropriately  This can’t stick  Donna won’t let go  I not crying

Auxiliary Verbs  Not the main verb, gives you an indication of the tense/possibility  Is, am, were, was, can, could, do, might, may, ought  Modal auxiliary verbs: could/can, would/will, should

Halliday’s Functions Speech actExplanationExample InstrumentalLanguage needs to satisfy material needs I want RegulatoryLanguage used to control others Do as I tell you InteractionalPhatic communicationHow are you? PersonalEmotional language which releases stress, pain, fear etc. I don’t want to HeuristicLanguage seeking informationWhat’s that for? ImaginativeLanguage of creative writing, games etc. Let’s pretend… RepresentationalLanguage that communicates info/ideas I live at 23 Fleet Flats PerformativeLanguage of curses, charms, prayers etc. Our Father…

John Dore Speech ActExample LabelingTouches a doll’s eyes and says “eyes” RepeatingSays what an adult has said AnsweringAnswers question Requesting actionUnable to push peg and says uh uh while looking at parent CallingShouts parent across the room GreetingShouts “hi” ProtestingShouts when parent tries to put on shoe PracticingUtters word when person/object is not present