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Children's Language Development - Coggle Diagram
Children's Language Development
Lexis and semantics
Overextension-where a child might use a word more broadly to describe things other than the specific items to which the word actually applies e.g. all buildings are a house
Categorical-all objects in same categoryhave same name - all fruit=apple
Analogigical -child makes links between different objects with similar uses or properties e,g all spheres are a ball
Underextension-where a child might use a word more narrowly to describe something without recognising the wider use of the word e.g. only the childs home is a house
Hyponym-specific word within a category e.g.collie, labrador
Hypernym-generic term describes cateogory e.g. dogs
Catherine Nelson (1973)-childrens first words. 60%=nouns used to name animals, people or things. Other words were verbs, adjectives and adverbs and personal and social words (e.g. bye. sorry)
Functions of Child Language MAK Halliday 1975
Personal-used to express views and preferences
Representational-used to exchange/give/recieve information
Heuristic-used to explore the world around them
Instrumental-where a child is trying to fufil a need
Imaginative-used to explore something creatively or during play
Interactional-used to develop relationship with others
Grammar
Brown(1973)-grammatical development-in terms of morphology, syntax, morphemes and MLU
Mean length utterance-the average utterance length of speakers. Broad way of exploring a participants input and can be linked to power
42-53 months-compound sentences that are joined. MLU of 4
40-46 months-regular past tense with-ed suffixx. MLU of 3.5
36-42 months-use of possessives. MLU of 2.75. Adjectives and adverbs appear. Articles 'a' and 'the'
28-36 months-bound morphemes appear. Progressive tense with -ing, -s plurals appear. MLU of 2.5
15-30 months-no bound morphemes. MLU 1.75. Word order generally correct
Belllugi (1971)-Pronouns
Recognicion of difference between subject andobject pronouns but wont understand completely
Correct application of subject and object pronouns
a child will use a name rather than a pronoun e.g.Megan go now
Bound and free phonemes
Bound-units of meaning that depend on other morphemes to make sense e.g. -est
Free-morphemes that aren't dependant e.g. light
Younger child is more likely to use simpler, shorter and grammatically incomplete sentences
Copula verb- a verb that joins a subject to an adjective or noun compliment e.g. to be, look, feel or seem
Question formation-Bellugi (1966)
Invention of auxillary verbs e.g. is it bedtime?
Formulaic 'wh' questions- more difficult to pair with auxillaries e.g. when is it bedtime?
use of rising innotation of single then multiple words e.g. bedtime?
Tag questions e,g its bedtime isnt it
The wug test-Berko (1958)-childrens understadning of linguistic morphology. Children knew what the plural of wug would be despite never hearing the word before
Negatives-Bellugi(1966)
Stages that a child goes through when learning to use negatives
negative within body of utterance e.g me not eating
Capable of attatching negatives to auxillaries or copula verbs e.g im not hungry
Negative word of beginning of utterence e.g. no like food
Stages of acquisition
Two word uttererences-around 18 months, conveys meaning through 2 words . needed for non verbal communication . Isnt as apparent. Beginning of grammar . Vocabulary spurt/naming explosion. 50-100 word known. Maylearn 2-3 new words everyday. 2 years old=300 wordson thier vocab
Telegraphic-around the age of 2. Use content wors and the ommission of grammar words
Holophrastic-between 12-18 months. Child conveys whole sentence using one word
Post telegrpahic-Age of 3. Adult speech. More grammatical words. By 4 the child will be speaking in largely grammatical, accurate sentences
Pre-verbal (crying-->cooing-->babbling
CDS-the various ways in which a caregiver ubconsiously adapts speech to help child learn
Key Features of CDS- -higher/melodic pitch
-more frequent/longer pauses
-slower and clearer speech
-repetition
-grammatically simpler sentences
-more questions-tag questions as well as providing the anwser
-use of diminutives
-nouns rather than pronouns
-frequent use of plural pronouns rather than singular
-expansion
-recasts
-politeness features
-mitigated imperatives
Mitigated imperatives-an instruction given in the form of a
Recast=grammatically incorrect utterence is spoken back to teh child but in standard form
Educational discourse and early conversations-IRF structure-Sinclair and couthard (1975)
Response-Child provides response to question-'thank you'
Feedback-mother praises child-'well done'
Initiation-mother asks child question-'what do we say?'
e.g. Kaluli tribe-didnt use CDS but childs language skills are not hindered
Jean Berko Gleason (1975)-found that fathers use more commands and teased more whereas mothers were more sensitive
Expansion-where a caregiver develops the childs utterance to make it grammatically correct
Nature or nurture
Bruner-Social interactionism- Rejected chomskys LAD theory-importance of LASS (language acquisition support system). Refers to care givers who help children through scaffolding
Piaget-Cognitive development-proposed the stages children go through when developing language. Piaget suggested that children would not develop until certain stages of cognitive behaviour have been reached.
Sensorimotor 0-2-interaction with environment senses and physical movement. Child is egocentric. Later-object permanence.
Preoperational 2-6/7-Learns speech and imaginative focus. Remains egocentric. Struggles to emphathise. More capable of logical thought.
Concrete operational 6/6-11/12-Stopsz being egocentric. Able empathise. More capable of logical thought.
Formal operational stage-11/12-18-Completely capable of logical thought. Able to think in an abstract way.
Cognitive development-childs development of thinking and understanding.
Egocentric-thinking of only themselves without knowing or understanding feelings of others.
Object permanence- Understanding that objects comntinue to exist even when they cant be seen or touched
BF Skinner-Behaviourism- Operant conditioning-idea that positive or negatiev response given by a caregiver can influence the way in which a child speaks on later occasions.
Positive reinforcement-Lack of feedback , correction or negative feedback that may bprevent a child from making the same mistake again
Negative reinforcement-Positive feedbackj given to a child which is thought to influence similar performance
1904-40. American pyscologist. Experiments on rats and pigeons. Claimed all behaviour result of conditioning we have experienced rather than any fr4eedom of choice
-Children learn through imitation. Porcess of operant comditioning.
Tabula rasa-blank slate
Noam Chomsky-Nativism-Support theory. Child makes grammatical errors because they are attempting to apply the rules of language e.g I runned --> not imitated --> wouldnt have heard before
Concept of language acquisition device (LAD)-human has ability to understand languages naturally. Language is innate.
BUT nativism doesnt place sufficent importance on role of caregiver for help
Universal grammar-coined by Chomsky. Notion that all human language possess a similar grammatical properties that the brain is programmed to use
Virtuous errors-Grammatical errors that are logical and understandable
Critical period-the age which a child can learn language the most effectively. Suggested by Lenneberg to be up to the age of 6 Genie-deprived of language. Missed critical period and couldnt learn language effectively.
Vygotsky-Scaffolding-also focused on the importance of more knowledgeable other (MKO) through help, the child can move through the one of proximal development (ZPD)-just beyond what a child can do alone-caregiver provides support for the child to progress
MKO-The older participant. Supports child in order to develop.
ZPD-the area between what a child can already do and what is out of each. Area in which a caregiver may enable the child progress by helping