Child language acquisition

Child language acquisition
How children learn to talk

Adult interview Share your half term homework with a partner:
What sounds does a baby first make before actually talking? What were your first spoken words? What types of words do children tend to speak first? Do children understand language before being able to speak it themselves? At what age do children tend to speak in fuller sentences, as opposed to single words? How common is it for adults to correct a child if they make a mistake when speaking?

What comes before words?
“The Beginnings of Language Development” EMag p.44 Summarise the article into five main points: Pre-linguistic skills 0-5 months include crying, cooing, babbling and gesture. Body language is as important, if not more important, than words at this stage. At 11 months, the more pointing/gestures a baby makes, the more words they understand at 15 months. At 15 months, the more consonants a child can utter, the more words they can speak later.

How do you think we learn how to talk?
introduction The ability to talk is one of the main features that distinguishes humans from other mammals in the animal kingdom. It also remains one of the biggest mysteries, since there is on definite explanation as to how language is learned. How do you think we learn how to talk?

The process of spoken acquisition
In this unit, you will learn about the developmental stages that characterise a child’s acquisition of speech. As well as exploring what a child learns in order to gain communicative competence, you will also think about the key arguments that have been put forward about how and why a child learns language. = the ability to form accurate and understandable utterances using the grammar system, and to understand social context for using them.

early speech Watch the video of a child starting to talk:
What words can the child speak fluently? What sounds/words cause more difficulty? Proto words = ‘made up’ words that a child will use to represent a word they might not yet be able to pronounce, for example, ‘ray rays’ for ‘raisins’.

My early speech What was your first word? What were you spoken characteristics as a child? Did different situations affect the language you used? What were your frequent words and why? Did you have any proto words? What were your first memories of conversations? Were there any family nicknames for people/things? Proto words = ‘made up’ words that a child will use to represent a word they might not yet be able to pronounce, for example, ‘ray rays’ for ‘raisins’.

Stages of acquisition Although every child will learn language at a slightly different rate, there are a number of accepted stages that a child will progress through before becoming a fluent speaker. Ages have been added to the stages below but every child is unique, which means they will reach stages at different points. There will often be times when a child will exhibit characteristics of more than one stage as they start to move on to the next stage.

Pre-birth You may have heard about research that suggests that even before a baby is born it will recognise its mother’s voice (or indeed can hear music). It is thought that nearly six months before birth, the ear bones have already formed and so hearing goes on.

Pre-birth: research Research exists that explores a child’s ability to recognise its mother’s voice and to differentiate between its native language and other languages even before it is born. This has been explained by the different rhythms and intonations of every language that a baby is attuned to from a very early age. Investigate the ‘Mozart effect’ and how babies listen in the womb: Listening in the womb Babies remember music played when in the womb Can classical music make a baby smarter? The Mozart effect

Pre-verbal (crying – cooing – babbling)
Stages of development Pre-verbal (crying – cooing – babbling) holophrastic Two word telegraphic Post-telegraphic

Pre-verbal stage After birth, a child’s pre-verbal stage can be broken down into sub-sections. The first noise that a baby will make is crying. There is often a physical reason for the crying, like hunger, wind or tiredness. Parents might suggest they are attuned to the different cries for different reasons but it has been suggested that parents actually just recognise when crying changes in intensity. What has made this baby stop crying? Different baby cries

Pre-verbal stage Through crying, a baby is beginning to exercise its vocal cords/folds and even to understand that making a noise will gain the attention of the people around them. This is the first stage in understanding the nature of discourse and interaction with others. Pre-verbal stage = a period of time that involves experimenting with noises/sounds but without producing recognisable words – usually lasting for the majority of the baby’s first year.

Cooing & babbling Cooing begins from about 2 months old. A baby experiments with the noises that can be made when the tongue and back of the mouth come into contact. These noises are distinct from crying and more experimental. This is a forerunner to babbling, which appears from about 6 months. This resembles the vowel and consonant sounds familiar in spoken language. = distinct from crying but not yet forming recognisable vowels and consonants. = vocal play that involves forming vowel and consonant sounds, which can be reduplicated or variegated.

Cooing & babbling Babbling resembles the vowel and consonant sounds familiar in spoken language. There are two different kinds of babbling – reduplicated babbling is simpler, appears first and involves a child repeatedly creating the same sounds (e.g. babababa). Variegated babbling emerges slightly later and involves varying the consonants/vowel sounds being produced. This babbling still doesn’t resemble recognisable words on the whole (e.g. daba, manamoo). = vocal play that involves forming vowel and consonant sounds, which can be reduplicated or variegated.

Baby’s first year A baby passes various milestones in its first year. Listen and note down what a baby ‘should’ be doing by the various key milestones.

CLA Terminology Quiz What is communicative competence?
What are proto words? Bonus point for an example. What are the five stages of language development? What does each stage mean?

Pre-verbal (crying – cooing – babbling)
Quiz Answers Pre-verbal (crying – cooing – babbling) holophrastic Two word telegraphic Post-telegraphic = the ability to form accurate and understandable utterances using the grammar system, and to understand social context for using them. Proto words = ‘made up’ words that a child will use to represent a word they might not yet be able to pronounce, for example, ‘ray rays’ for ‘raisins’.

Holophrastic stage It is likely that a child’s first word will appear at some point around their first birthday. The holophrastic stage, usually between 12 an 18 months, is the stage when a child conveys a whole sentence worth of meaning in just a single word or labels things in the environment around them. The child is deliberately conveying meaning through word choice, which differentiates it from babbling. A child’s first word is often ‘Mummy’ or ‘Daddy’ and a large proportion of first words are concrete nouns. Why? = the point in a child’s development when a child uses just individual words to communicate.

Holophrastic stage In the very early stages of spoken language development, a child is likely to rely heavily on non-verbal communication in order to clarify their intended meaning to their caregiver. This could take the form of gestures, facial expression or noises. = the point in a child’s development when a child uses just individual words to communicate.

Non-verbal communication
What are these children trying to communicate do you think?

Holophrastic utterances
How do we know what a child is trying to say when they speak in holophrastic utterances? The next table contains a few of the words that frequently feature within a child’s first 50 words. Copy and complete it with as many different sentences as you can to convey the possible meanings that a child might be trying to communicate through the use of the single word. Finally, decide what other contextual information you would need for the meaning to be made clear. Let’s work through the first one (milk) together.

Word Possible Meanings Other necessary information Milk I would like some milk. I have finished my milk. I have spilt my milk. I do not like this milk. Where is my milk? I am enjoying this milk Does the child already have milk or are they waiting for some? The tone of utterance might allow us to understand whether they are happy (enjoyed it) of frustrated (spilt it). We would also need to know whether the child is directing this to anyone in particular.

Word Possible Meanings Other necessary information Mummy Ball Sit

Now consider: What conclusion can you draw about a child’s understanding of language whilst in the holophrastic stage? Looking at all the possible meanings you considered from the individual words, what purpose do you think language will primarily serve at this stage? What is the most important additional information that you need to fully understand a child’s meaning?

This activity demonstrates the importance of the caregiver in this early communicative process. It is their role to interpret the child’s meaning, based on the word used and other non-verbal cues that are offered. A caregiver will often expand on a child’s utterance to model the accurate form and lend clarity to what the child has said.

Phonological development
As children move from babbling to producing recognisable words, it is worth considering the way in which phonological development impacts on this process. Here is the usual order in which children learn phonemes broken into groups of 8. Early 8 Middle 8 Late 8 M, B, J (Y), N, W, D, P, H (by age 3) T, NG, K, G, F, V, CH, J (by age 4-5) SH, TH (this), TH (thigh) S, Z, L, R, ZH, (by age 6) Please can I have a yoghurt Mummy?

Do you notice any patterns in the sounds that children learn? Why? The main explanation for why children acquire some sounds before others is down to ‘articulatory ease’ and ‘perceptual discriminability’, that is to say, how easy it is for a child to create the sounds and how easily they can distinctly hear specific sounds.

As a child first begins to use language, there are a number of non-standard phonological features that will be present for some time. As an obvious connection between babbling and recognisable word production, a child might produce reduplicated words. E.g. moo moo (cow), pee pee. Such language would seem odd coming from an 8-year-old’s mouth but when a child is just acquiring language, these repeated syllables can facilitate easier pronunciation. = repeated syllables within a word (e.g. baa baa for blanket)

Both caregivers and children are likely to use diminutives as a child begins to acquire language, which ‘reduce’ the scale of an object by addition. One of the most common examples of this is when a dog is referred to as a ‘doggie’. Can you think of any other examples? (Mummy, dolly) = the reduction in scale of an item through the way this word is created. = adding an additional suffix to the end of a word to change the way in which it is pronounced/interpreted.

Other phonological simplifications that occur in children’s early language can be seen in table 14B. Try to identify the correct example for each phonological feature. Examples: Fink Borry flyin Tephone Dis

Feature Definition Example Substitution The process of swapping one sound for another (easier to pronoun) Assimilation One consonant/vowel is swapped for another Deletion (final consonant or weak syllable) Omitting a particular sound within a word Consonant cluster reductions Reducing phonologically more complex units into simpler ones – from two (or more) consonants down to one Examples: fink (think), borry (lorry), flyin(g) or tephone (telephone), dis (dish)

Berko and Brown (1960) Research has explored the extend to which children can hear the correct pronunciation of words but are unable to always articulate phonemes accurately for themselves, perhaps through physical limitations or the inability to recognise the errors that are occurring. Berko and Brown’s study showed a child rejecting an adult’s articulation of the word ‘fish’ as ‘fis’ in favour of correct pronunciation. The child however continues to articulate the word as fis. This demonstrates that even though a child is unable to articulate ‘sh’, they can differentiate between this and ‘s’ in other speakers.

Two-word stage Around 18 months, a child starts to put two words together to convey meaning, e.g. ‘Mummy sit’. This utterance is more refined than a child’s earlier holophrases, since the potential meaning has narrowed. In this example, it could mean ‘Please sit down here Mummy’ or ‘You come with me to sit down Mummy’. The further a child progresses, the clearer and more refined their language becomes and the need for non-verbal communication lessens. A child also understands grammar for the first time, since they are understanding the relationship between the two words used. = period of time when a child begins to put two words together (e.g. ‘kick ball’).

Two-word stage This stage coincides with the beginning of what is described as a ‘vocabulary spurt’ or ‘naming explosion’. It is believed that from around 18 months – or when a child has acquired between 50 and 100 words – a cognitive change occurs in children. As they begin to realise that all things around them have names and gain a ‘naming insight’, so they move from slower lexical development to a period of more rapid acquisition. During this time they might acquire 2/3 new words per day and it is generally thought that by the age of 2, a child will have 300 words.

Making sense of utterances
LAUREN: sit down MUM: you want me to sit down MUM: can you draw me a smiley face with eyes LAUREN: two eyes MUM: what else do you do at Sarah’s house LAUREN: making painting Try to explain what meaning 2 year old Lauren is trying to convey in each utterance and how she is doing so.

= words within a sentence that are vital to convey meaning.
Telegraphic stage At around 2, a child will move from placing two words together to producing longer and more complete utterances. Just like a telegram, so telegraphic speech will include the key content words within the sentence to convey meaning. = words within a sentence that are vital to convey meaning. = period of time when a child’s utterances will be three words and more; there might still be omission of some words, with key words included.

Telegraphic stage Children at this stage are likely to omit the grammatical words which are words required for structural accuracy but that are not necessary to convey meaning. For example, a child at 30 months might say ‘me going on trip’. What should they have said and what is missing? The child has used the object pronoun ‘me’ rather than the subject pronoun ‘I’ as well as omitting the auxiliary verb ‘am’ and the indefinite article ‘a’. Nevertheless, the meaning is clear. = words within a sentence that are necessary to demonstrate structural accuracy.

CLA Terminology Quiz What is non-verbal communication?
What are reduplicated words? What is a diminutive? What is addition? What did Berko and Brown research in 1960? What is the two word stage? What are content words (in the telegraphic stage)? What are grammatical words?

Grammatical and content words
Which of the words below are more likely to be a content word or a grammatical word? Think now, about what class of word each of these is. Do any patterns emerge? You may find that some words’ importance depends on the context of the utterance. E.g. Yes it is (the toy is in the box vs. the man is walking) Is Hat Run On Hop A Juice In We Sun Mummy They The Goes Hot Happy Seat

Post-telegraphic stage
By around age 3, a child will broadly start to speak like an adult, since grammatical words that were previous omitted now start to appear. It is likely that more subtle nuances of language such as contracted forms, verb inflexions and formation of pronouns will be increasingly accurate by this point. It is generally considered that by age 4 a child will be speaking in largely grammatically accurate and complete sentences. = period when a child’s language will include both content and grammatical words and more closely resemble adult speech.

Which stage? Which stage does each utterance belong to? Be ready to explain why you decided on this stage and think about what you find interesting, both grammatically and lexically. (As father leaves the house) Daddy bye-bye. (Whilst spitting out food) Me no like it Mummy. (When sitting at lunch) Can I have juice please? (Said to father pruning roses) What you doing? (Before afternoon nap) Teddy. (To neighbour on way out) We going to the park. (After a family friend has left) Sarah gone. (Whilst eating dinner) I don’t like this pasta.

History of acquisition theory
Nature vs. nurture debate

Nature or nurture? Spend some time considering your first impressions of this debate. Discuss possible reasons why one argument might be more compelling than the other. It is important to recognise there is no single definitive theory to explain how language is acquired but within modern linguistics, there has been an increased move to understanding language development within the broad context of other kinds of learning (Dr Paul Ibbotson’s discussion of cognitive linguistics and language development).

Skinner and behaviourism
B.F. Skinner ( ) – American psychologist published a highly influential book ‘Verbal Behaviour’ (1957). Using experiments through pigeons and rats, he proposed the theory that all behaviour is a result of the conditioning we have experienced rather than any freedom of choice. He proposed that children learn through imitation and introduced the concept of operant conditioning. = the idea that either a positive or negative response given by a caregiver can influence the way in which a child talks on future occasions.

Skinner and behaviourism
Operant conditioning was defined as behaviour that is spontaneous but the consequences of which will affect future behaviour, which in turn was then linked to positive and negative reinforcement. = the positive feedback given to a child which is thought to encourage similar performance. = the lack of feedback, correction or negative feedback that might prevent a child from making the same error repeatedly.

Problems with imitation?
e.g. ‘We runned away from the nursery’ Children are more likely to be corrected on the truth value of their utterances than the linguistic accuracy, so negative reinforcement does not occur very often. There is evidence that children do not respond to correction and that it can actually hamper their language development. One of the main arguments against the imitation theory is the fact that children do not suddenly produce grammatically complete Standard English sentences, which you might expect if the child was imitating those around them. Instead, they build up their language gradually, refining their speech as they develop.

Chomsky & nativism Noam Chomsky – American linguist, born 1928, responded to Skinner with an opposing view. He introduced the concept of Language Acquisition Device (LAD), which went against traditionally held view that the human brain might be like a blank canvas (Aristotle’s tabula rasa) at birth. = as proposed by Chomsky (the idea that all humans are born with an innate language learning capacity) = Latin for ‘blank slate’ and the term used to describe the idea that children are born with undeveloped, fresh brains.

Universal grammar Chomsky argued that the human brain has a naturally programmed ability to learn language, an ability to work out the systems in terms of grammar and syntax. The term universal grammar is used in relation to his theory to describe this global capacity for children to learn languages at similar rates and in similar ways. Evidence includes the similarities between world languages and their grammatical structures. = the notion that all human languages possess similar grammatical properties which the brain is ‘hard wired’ to be able to decode and use.

Virtuous errors Often, the idea of virtuous errors is used as a justification for LAD: a child makes errors in their grammar, inflections and syntax because they are attempting to apply the rules that they recognise from the language around them. E.g. ‘I swimmed’ They are unlikely to have heard this construction from a caregiver, though they are applying the rules for the regular past tense. = grammatical errors that are understandable and logical through an incorrect assumption being made about grammar rules.

Problems with lad One of the main reasons why the LAD has been rejected is that is does not place sufficient emphasis on the role of caregivers to influence language acquisition. Evidence suggests that children who lack sufficient exposure to language and interaction will never really catch up with their language acquisition. E.g. feral children

Genie: a counter-argument
Between 20 months and 13 years, Genie, was locked up by her father and exposed to no social interaction or talk. When she was discovered in 1970, she was found to have no speech. Despite numerous interventions, she was not then able to acquire language beyond a very basic level. This is an extreme case that seems to reinforce another concept, of a critical period. Documentary on Genie: Wikipedia: The Guardian article: AND = the age at which a child will be most receptive to learn language (suggested by Lenneburg to be up to the age of 5)

Critical period Genie, having been rarely exposed to human contact, was no longer able to learn language with the same fluency. Eric Lenneburg coined the phrase ‘critical period’ and believed that the first few years of life, sufficient social interaction and exposure to language was essential in order that a child might gain full mastery of the language. = grammatical errors that are understandable and logical through an incorrect assumption being made about grammar rules.

Piaget’s stages of development
Jean Piaget ( ) was a highly influential developmental psychologist and a key figure in c20th thinking surrounding child development. The Language and Thought of a Child (1926) proposed stages through which children progress as their language and thought mature. He focused more generally on cognitive development and suggested that at the core of a child’s development of understanding is the learning that a child undertakes. Children do not develop until certain stages have been reached. = a child’s development of thinking and understanding

Stage (years) Key Features Sensorimotor (0-2) Child begins to interact with environment, using their senses and physical movement. A child remains egocentric and an understanding of object permanence appears. Pre-operational (2-6/7) Child learns to speak and develops imaginative focus. In play they become capable of representing the world symbolically. Child remains egocentric and struggles to see things from other points of view. They begin to question frequently and try to develop understanding. Concrete operational (6/7-11/12) Child stops being egocentric and begins to understand other points of view. They become more capable of logical thought. Formal operational (11-16+) There will no longer be a problem with logical thought and thinking becomes increasingly abstract.

Egoism Object permanence = an understanding that objects continue to exist even when they can’t be seen or touched. = thinking only of themselves, without understanding or regard for the feelings of others.

Piaget believed primarily in the notion that children develop their own understanding through exploring and questioning the world around them. He proposed that a child’s cognitive ability needs to be present in order for their language to reflect this. To provide a straightforward example, a child would not be able to use comparative adjectives unless they had first understood concepts of size and scale. Similarly, a child uses prepositions only when they have understood the concept of positions and movement. Therefore, Piaget’s approach focuses on the need for conceptual understanding to be present (e.g. tenses, sizes, positions) before language can reflect this).

Jerome bruner & social interaction
Bruner, psychologist born in 1915, rejected Chomsky’s LAD and focused his research on the importance of a child’s interaction with caregivers as the key to language development. He suggested the importance of a Language Acquisition Support System (LASS), to acknowledge caregivers/participants in a child’s life. Children require meaningful input in the shape of questions, encouragement and support through scaffolding to gradually develop speech. Bruner focused on quality input from caregivers to facilitate learning. Horse?

LASS and Scaffolding = system as proposed by Bruner (i.e. caregivers and other individuals who play a key role) = the support provided by caregivers through modelling how speech ought to take place, in order to help the child’s language development

Lev vygotsky & scaffolding
Vygotsky (1896–1934) was a Russian developmental psychologist whose ideas only became influential in 1970s. He suggested the importance of ‘doing’ for a child to learn and the role of a more knowledgeable other. Through supporting the child from a position of more knowledge and understanding, the adult (or even older child) can direct the child to move within the zone of proximal development. This is the area just beyond what a child is able to do already, so scaffolding enables them to venture beyond their current level.

MKO = the older participant able to offer support so the child can further than own learning
ZPD = the area between what can child can already do and that which is beyond their reach. Scaffolding allows a child to move into this zone.

A cognitive linguistic approach
A further rejection of Chomsky’s ideas on universal grammar comes from researchers working in cognitive linguistics. Michael Tomasello (2003) continues a usage-based model of language acquisition, arguing against language being a special ‘instinct’. Instead, the ability to learn language in both primarily social (driven by the human pre-disposition to be cooperative and collaborative), and relies on using the same kinds of cognitive processes as other forms of learning, for example drawing, walking etc.

Michael tomasello He identified that by 9-12 months, children make use of a pattern-forming ability (one not limited to language but used by a child in a range of other learning contexts) that enables them to learn about the different forms and functions of single words. From that, children build generalisations about how those words form larger syntactic constructions or schemas, which become the building blocks for using various grammatical patterns. A usage-based linguistics advocates the ‘bottom up’ approach with the child actively building, and then using, templates for grammatical structures based on sensory input and interaction with caregivers.

Steven pinker Steven Pinker: What our language habits reveal

Positive/negative reinforcement
Key Theory Main Theorist Key Concepts Arguments for Arguments against Behaviourism Skinner Imitation Operant Conditioning Positive/negative reinforcement Recognises importance of input from speakers around child. Explains features like accent and dialect. Children do not simply imitate or construct grammatically complete sentences as soon as they begin to talk. There needs to be pragmatic awareness of social conventions; these can’t just be ‘imitated’. Nativism Chomsky Stages of development Piaget Social interactionism Bruner Cognitive/usage-based linguistics Tomasello YouTube video describing the debate:

Applying theories to data
Read the transcript between Edward (2 years and 6 months) and his mother, engaged in imaginative play and ‘having a tea party’. What theories can you draw on here to explain the way language is developing?

MOTHER: what are you making me
EDWARD: what’s that MOTHER: Are you going to make me a cup of tea EDWARD: yep (1) ok MOTHER: what are you making EDWARD: a cup of tea MOTHER: is it going to be a cold cup of tea or a hot cup of tea EDWARD: ho (.) cu (.) hot cup of tea MOTHER: oh that would be lovely thank you EDWARD: cup of tea you MOTHER: thank you that’s lovely ((pretend sipping sounds)) delicious (1) have you tried it EDWARD: yes MOTHER: is it tasty EDWARD: thank you (.) yes MOTHER: what do you like to have with your cup of tea EDWARD: Ma MOTHER: a biscuit EDWARD: biscuit yerr MOTHER: do you want to pass the biscuit out

Environmental factors
How exactly does a caregiver support?

My caregivers Write down a few ideas about key caregivers in your life and the language that they have used with you. Are there any particular words/expressions with which you are familiar that come from a particular person? Can you remember how this caregiver spoke to you/type of spoken interaction engaged with? Were interactions different according to gender? Are there any words that you were not permitted/specific pronunciation encouraged? Were you corrected on word choices or pronunciation?

How do people usually talk to children?
Act out how you would talk to a child about: A: the need to eat their vegetables. B: them throwing their vegetables on the floor. C: growing vegetables in the garden.

Child directed speech The specific way in which caregivers talk to children is described as child directed speech (CDS). In the past, this might have been described as ‘baby talk’ but this has connotations of parents oversimplifying their grammar and talking in a childish voice.

Key features of cds Higher or melodic pitch
More frequent, longer pauses Slower and clearer speech Repetition Grammatically simpler sentences More questions (including tag questions and known answer questions) as well as providing the answer Use of diminutives (these can also suggest affection) Use of nouns rather than pronouns More frequent use of plural pronouns Expansion – where caregivers elaborates on child utterance Recast – where caregiver might repeat child utterance but provide a correct version Politeness features Mitigated imperatives – where a command is given but disguised as a question

Key features of cds = the various ways in which a caregiver unconsciously adapts their speech to aid a child in their language development CDS Expansion = where a caregiver might develop the child’s utterance to make it more grammatically complete = the grammatically incorrect utterance is spoken back to the child but in the correct form Recast = an instruction given so that it does not appear to be a command but more a gentle suggestion Mitigated Imperatives

Analysing cds Read the next text, which consists of 25 utterances spoken by a mother to her daughter Emily during a period of nine minutes. During this time, the mother was getting her 3 year old out of the bath (into which Emily had tipped half bottle of bubble bath!) and ready for bed. This process involved drying and dressing the child, reading a story and providing bedtime milk. Identify any general features of the mother’s speech and specific features of CDS.

Ok, shall we get you out of the bath
You’re very bubbly young lady I’ll do that milk in a minute Now are we going to find you these new pyjamas Shall we have a look at what’s on them What is on your new pyjamas What do you think it is Is it a fairy Look you’ve got some lovely trousers. They’ve got pink on them haven’t they What do you think, will you wear them tonight We need to get you dressed ready for bed and then you can have some milk, hey What have you enjoyed today What did you put into the bath, young lady How much Matey did you put in the bath I think you put a lot in, didn’t you What do we need to say Are you doing your trousers (1) putting your trousers on Are you going to go and find it [your milk] Do you want to choose a story Choose a book (2) there we are We’re not having another book Do you want to go and say night night to Daddy Go and find him and say night night Hop into bed (1) hop hop Are you a tired teddy bear tonight

Male vs. female caregivers
A number of studies have investigated the differences between male and female caregivers. Jean Berko Gleason (1975) identified that fathers tended to use more commands and teased children a little more. She also found that they referred the children to their mothers, should any domestic need arise. Mothers tended to use less complex constructions and were more sensitive and responsive to their children. It is important to recognise that Gleason’s study was written approximately 40 years ago and in that time there has been much cultural change regarding gender roles in the home.

Research point Although it is generally regarded as important that caregivers employ CDS, this phenomenon is not quite universal. The Kaluli tribe in Papua New Guinea has been identified as not using specific CDS and yet the children do not experience late or impaired language development. Shieffelin and Ochs have written extensively about language acquisition and socialisation across different cultures. E. Ochs and B.B. Schieffelin’s ‘Language Acquisition and Socialisation: Three Developmental Stories and Their Implications’ (1984).

The magic word and the importance of politeness
pragmatics The magic word and the importance of politeness

The magic word When considering the role of caregivers, it is useful to think about politeness features that are learned behaviours, which are encouraged from a very early age. Remind yourself of the politeness strategies and positive and negative face needs. These elements of social interaction begin to develop as soon as a child starts to engage in conversation and interact with others.

Politeness options Scenario: Person A is reading quietly on a train and person B is playing their personal music very loudly. Direct request Indirect request Potential FTA Positive politeness p.48 in the textbook Politeness strategy Negative politeness Say nothing

Politeness features What type of politeness feature might a caregiver reinforce with a child? Use of the word please Asking for permission to leave the table Not shouting at other family members Not using taboo language Now compare your list with someone else. It is likely that no two lists are the same.

List of Politeness features
Use of the word please Asking for permission to leave the table Not shouting at other family members Not using taboo language Saying ‘thank you for having me’ Saying Sir/Madam Offering to help Hedging (maybe) Opening doors?

What’s the magic word? Parents have a range of prompt questions or imperatives that provide children with clues as to what behaviour is expected of them, thereby offering clear guidance about socially acceptable behaviour. Can you think of other prompts? Politeness moves beyond the words used, however, and extends to accepted discourse conventions and ways in which conversations are maintained. Pragmatic awareness is also important within the notion of politeness. E.g. ‘How are you?’ is a polite way of showing interest in the person being spoken to and isn’t meant to be taken literally…Politeness features are subtle and may therefore take longer to learn that other facets of speech development.

Grice’s conversational maxims
Discuss situations in which a child might find it difficult to follow one of the following maxims: The maxim of quantity: do not say too much or too little The maxim of quality: speak the truth The maxim of relevance: keep what is being discussed relevant to the topic in hand The maxim of manner: be clear and avoid ambiguity

Suffer the little children…
With all these situations it is worth remembering that young children can usually get away with it! It is understood that developing conversational prowess is not something that occurs as soon as a child acquires language.

Research point Although children might identify sarcasm at the age of 6, they are not thought to fully understand the intended humour of it until the age of about 10. The reason for this could be connected to the complex processes that have to take place for the humour to be understood. Before understanding a sarcastic comment, we must first process the literal meaning of what has been said. We then have to consider the link between the literal and the true intention of the statement, through other factors like situation, non-verbal communication and relationships. It is only then that we can sometimes perceive a mismatch and appreciate humour. Read more: Melanie Glenwright Getting Sarcastic with Kids (2007)

What effect might all this have on their language?
Other influences Write a quick list of other ways (apart from main caregiver) that a child is likely to be exposed to spoken (and perhaps written) language. Children’s books Children’s television Radio Children’s toys (technology) Children’s Apps (iPads/tablets) What effect might all this have on their language?

What are the four maxims?
Grice’s Maxims What are the four maxims?

Children and ipads Read the article and discuss.

Ipads: Pro and Con Pros Access to educational apps
Learning technical know-how early (computer literate) Independence (find information for yourself) Cons Lack of exposure to hand writing experience Potential negative effects on eyes/vision Lack of social interaction (loss of discourse practice) Lack of confidence (don’t ask for help)

Television influences
Listen to ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ theme tune and try to answer the following: What lexical, grammatical and phonological features appear in this song that might appeal to younger children? Are there any features in this song that resemble CDS? How does the content of the song reflect topics of children’s early learning? Thomas theme song:

Homework Find another popular children’s television programme and transcribe the lyrics of the theme song. You can also find a suitable clip to show the class that demonstrates features of language development in young children.

Other children and importance of play
A child who spends time alongside other children (siblings or peers, at home or at nursery) is more likely to engage in play that will, in turn, support language development. Both Piaget and Vygotsky considered the importance of exploration of environment in cognitive development. Vygotsky proposed that social interaction with others was absolutely critical in developing and understanding and that play facilitated learning: “A child’s greatest achievements are possible in play, achievements that tomorrow will become her basic level of real action” (1978)

1977 – Catherine Garvey wrote Play, the Developing Child – she considered the importance of play to language development. She focused particularly on the value of pretend play, which can help vocabulary growth – Susan Ervin Tripp wrote Play in Language Development – she considered the importance of play to language development, since children can learn from each other and have to work collaboratively in a way that doesn’t occur in adult-child interactions. She also argued that imaginative play is critical to experiment with language in unfamiliar and different ways.

Playing peekaboo and other games that encourage discourse

From an early age, playing peekabo can be seen as one of the first ways that children engage in discourse and turn-taking. No words are needed but as they grow older, it is likely that they will contribute words, to become more fully engaged. Children can progress to more powerful discourse roles by for example, while walking with others, saying ‘stop’ suddenly to her companions. They waited until the child recognised that it was her turn within the ‘discourse’ so she said ‘go again’ and adults responded by walking again. Through CDS, children will quickly become familiar with question and answer adjacency pairs.

IRF structure The IRF structure (initiation, response, feedback) was suggested by Sinclair and Coulthard (1975) as a way of analysing educational discourse. It can also be evident in early childhood conversation. Initiation Response Feedback Mother asks a question Child provides a response to the question. Mother praises child for giving an appropriate answer. What do we say to Granny? Thank you for the sweets Granny. Well done Charlie. = three-part conversational exchange (1st speaker starts, 2nd speaker responds and 1st speaker provides feedback)

Language functions Halliday (1975) identified 7 different functions of child language. He suggested that by having an intended outcome/motivation for using language, a child will be motivated further to use language. Function Description Instrumental Where the child is trying to fulfill a need Regulatory Used to control someone’s behaviour Interactional Used to develop relationships Personal Used to express views and preferences Heuristic Used to explore the world around them Imaginative Used to explore something creatively or during play Representational Used to exchange (give/receive) information

Language functions Think of examples for each function on the previous table. Match the following utterances to their functions. What Daddy doing there? Me like sausages Mummy. Need juice now. We’re going on a trip to the moon today. Got new shoes Granny. Love you Ruthie. Don’t do that.

The discrepancy between understanding and speaking
Lexis and semantics The discrepancy between understanding and speaking

The discrepancy Do you speak a foreign language? If so, how well can you speak, understand and write it, and is there a difference between these types of knowledge? Before a child says ‘Mummy’, they will have a clear idea of who Mummy is. This can be demonstrated by their ability to look towards Mummy when the name is spoken. Recap: What were your first words?

First words Katherine Nelson (1973) studied 18 children’s first words and found that they could be categorised according to their function. Approximately 60% of words that children acquired first were nouns used to name people, animals or things. The other 3 categories were words that expressed or demanded actions (verbs), modifiers (adjectives and adverbs) and personal and social words (words like bye-bye, please and sorry).

Top 25 words A 2012 Daily Mail article focused on top 25 words that a 2 year old ‘ought’ to know: 1. List these words under Nelson’s four headings: Name people, animals or things Express or demand actions Modifiers Personal and social words 2. Do theses essential 25 words follow Nelsons’ pattern? 3. Can you deduce anything about the number of syllables that tend to appear in children’s first words? Mummy, Daddy, baby, milk, juice, hello, ball, yes, no, dog, cat, nose, eye, banana, biscuit, car, hot, thank you, bath, shoe, hat, book, all gone, more, bye bye

vocabulary The Daily Mail article was highlighting the work of linguist Leslie Rescorla who studies 78 children from the age of 2-15 years and published her findings in She found that there was a link between later vocab development in toddlers and continued language issues as they got older. If a child has fewer words in their vocab aged 2, it could also be a sign of other problems, such as deafness or autism. The article also found that ‘overheard speech’ (e.g. television and videos) is no substitute for real human interaction. Why is that?

Vocabulary and lexical development
Rescorla responded to this newspaper article by saying that the list of 25 words was not the most important element of the Language Development Survey. However, it was the most popular in the media, because it offered a tangible way for parents to check whether their child’s development was ‘normal’. Those children with delayed language aged 2 were seen to be more likely to have language problems in their late teens.

Over- and under-extension
Eve Clark is a prominent linguist who has often focused on the ways in which children attribute meaning to their lexical choices. She has researched extensively the way children develop semantic understanding and make sense of the new words they encounter. Their precise understanding has to be refined once the actual word has been initially acquired. There are two main areas of confusion. Overextension occurs when a child uses a more specific word to label a more general noun, e.g. calling all men ‘Daddy’ or all four wheeled vehicles ‘car’. = where a child might use a word more broadly to describe things other than the specific item in question

Analogical and categorical overextension
How could the following words be overextended? Garden doggie toast Overextension can be categorised further into two distinct groups – analogical and categorical. Analogical – child tries to make links between different objects according to similar properties/use (e.g. ball = all spherical objects and bath = water-filled containers) Categorical – when a child refers to all objects within the same category with the same name (e.g. all types of outerwear – ‘dress’)

underextension The opposite is true, which appears to occur less frequently, in underextension. This might be when a child uses a more general word but will only apply it to a very specific situation or thing. For example, ‘apple’ might be used but only applied to green apples, not red ones. Another example might be ‘car’ only being used to describe Mummy’s car. = where a child might use a word more narrowly to describe something without recognising the wider use of the word.

Hypernym and hyponym One of the reasons why such confusion occurs is because children are beginning to make connections between objects with similar qualities/features and trying to make sense of how each of these things differ. Hypernym: fruit Hyponym: bananas, grapes, pears, apples, berries. = the more specific words that can be defined within the more generic hypernym. = the more generic term that is connected to more specific word choices that are all within the same semantic field.

Hyponymy Using the following hypernyms, identify 5 hyponyms for each of them and use one of the groups for discussion as to how over- and underextension might occur on the basis of similar qualities and features appearing within groups. Family toys animals Conduct some research into what linguist Jean Aitchison has called the labeling, packaging and network-building stages of a child’s acquisition of vocabulary. How does this research fit in with what you have already learnt about children’s lexical development?

How do children learn it?
grammar How do children learn it?

grammar The term ‘grammar’ can encompass a broad range of features within children’s speech. At its most familiar, you might think about types of sentence used. A younger child is more likely to use simple, shorter, grammatically incomplete sentences within their utterances. Whilst it is essential to recognise the grammar of sentences as a whole, it is also critical to understand that grammar incorporates a child’s growing understanding of how words can be altered to convey different meanings. It will not be immediately obvious that plural nouns are made by adding the inflection –s. However, through repeated exposure to a pattern, the child will being to understand and apply patterns to their own speech.

The wug test Created by Jean Berko (1958) this test sought to test the notion that children have a more sophisticated understnading of linguistic morphology than they have been taught explicitly. This test uses pseudo words – like ‘wug’ – to ensure that the child has never been exposed to the word previously. Berko found that children are often able to deduce the plural of a noun (76% of 4/5 years old responded correctly) which seems to suggest that children have an ability to understand grammar rules and transfer them to other examples. The test also looked at other inflections (e.g. making adjectives from nouns).

The wug test This is a dog with QUIRKS on him. He is covered with QUIRKS. What kind of dog is he? He is a _______ dog. Go online and find a copy of the whole Wug test. Note down what is being tested in each of the questions and try to rank them in order of difficulty.

The wug test questions Link to Wug test. Link to illustrated Wug test.

Bound and free morphemes
What is a morpheme? = the smallest grammatical unit If one of these units of meaning does not make sense on its own, but relies on other elements of the word to make sense, then it is a bound morpheme. If the unit of meaning makes sense on its own then it is unbound or free morpheme. For example, the word ‘smallest’ consists of 2 morphemes, with ‘small’ being a free morpheme but ‘-est’ is a bound morpheme since it can’t make sense on its own as a complete word. It represents the way in which a word is transformed into a superlative. Can you create a Wug style question to test use of the superlative? (highest degree of quality)

Bound and free morphemes
For each of the following words, decide how many morphemes they are and whether they’re bound/free. Football Walking Unwillingness Bicycle Tables Uphill = units of meaning within a word that depend on other morphemes to make sense (e.g. –est) = units of meaning that do not depend on other morphemes to make sense (e.g. light)

Mean length of utterance
Roger Brown (1973) outlined five stages of language development that focused on the child’s grammatical development in terms of morphology and syntax. The appearance of bound and unbound morphemes, MLU (mean length of utterance) and grammatical words that slowly appear are all ways in which grammatical development can be charted. = the average utterance length of speakers calculated by adding up the total number of words spoken and dividing this total by the total number of utterances – it is a broad way of exploring a participant’s input and can be linked to discussion of dominance.

MLU Key features Stage Features 15-30 months (1:3- 2:6 years) No bound morphemes; MLU of 1.75; word order will generally be correct months (2:4-3 years) Bound morphemes and regular –s plurals appearing; present progressive tense with –ing suffix; MLU 2.25 months (3 – 3:6 years) Possessives appearing (e.g. Daddy’s car); MLU of 2.75; Emergence of adjectives/adverbs; Articles a/the months (3:4 – 3:10 years) Regular past tense with –ed suffix (e.g. we jumped); MLU of 3.5 months (3:6 – 4:5 years) Compound sentences that are joined; MLU of 4.0 Look at the table and recreate it as either a timeline or series of connected boxes. The aim is to become more fluent with Brown’s MLU features.

Pronoun acquisition Ursula Bellugi (1971) categorised the development of pronoun acquisition in terms of complexity, advocating 3 stages of acquisition: The child will use a name rather than pronoun (e.g. ‘Rachel go now’, not ‘I go now’) The child recognises a difference between subject and object pronouns but will not apply them correctly. (e.g. ‘I left him’ vs. ‘He left me’.) The child will correctly apply subject and object pronouns (e.g. Mummy: I do love you Thomas Thomas: You do love me Mummy).

Subject and object pronouns
Subject Pronouns, like I E.g. I, you, he, she, we, they, and who. Object Pronouns, like Me E.g. me, you, him, her, us, them, and whom.

Pronoun acquisition For each example, decide which stage of pronoun acquisition the child is likely to be in. Me no like it I do it Matthew do it I don’t want to see them We’re going on holiday.

Negative acquisition Bellugi (1966) also proposed a series of stages in a child’s acquisition of negatives. Look at the following examples and try to explain how a child has constructed negative sentences in different ways. No like book. Me not going. I’m not happy. Each of these utterances demonstrates one of the three stages. Children’s first attempt at constructing the negative will be to place a negative word (e.g. no/not) at the beginning of the utterance. The second stage sees the negative move within the body of the utterance. Finally, a child will master attaching negatives to auxiliary verbs or the copula verb ‘to be’.

Copula verb = a verb that joins a subject to an adjective or noun complement: for example, ‘I am happy’ joins the subject (I) to the adjective (happy), which can include not just the verb ‘to be’ but also verbs like ‘to look’, ‘feel’ or ‘seem’ (e.g. ‘She seems distressed’).

Using negatives For each example, decide which stage of negative formation the utterance corresponds to: We’re not going. No go. I can’t do it. Not happy. Me not very happy. No like chicken. I don’t like this food. You won’t help me. No help. I not helping.

Question formation Bellugi (1966) also tried to ascertain the process by which children learn to ask questions. It is believed that a child will develop questioning skills in a given way. Use of rising intonation of a single, then multiple words within an utterance to signify a question. Inversion of auxiliary verbs to signify question. Formulaic ‘wh’ questions might come earlier however more complex construction also involving inversion of auxiliary verbs takes longer. Use of tag questions. Later development of these may be because adults usually supply them to support the speaker, whereas a child doesn’t. Bedtime? Are you coming? What that? Where are you going? Isn’t it?

Child language acquisition

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