CHILD LANGUAGE ACQUISITION- 8
8.1 Features of spoken language
DEFINITIONS:
Discourse- any spoken or written language that is longer than a sentence
Utterance- words which are followed by silence or a change of speaker
Turn-taking- in a conversation when people wait their turn to speak. Some people may
interrupt out of eagerness or rudeness
Conversational floor- speaking until you have finished what you wish to say or until someone
interrupts you
Status- the perceived position of a person's authority
Topic shift- the point at which speakers move from one topic to another
Prosodic and paralinguistic features
● Paralinguistic features are the unspoken elements of communication such as body
language, gestures and facial expressions
● Prosodic features comprise intonation, stress, tone and speed involved in spoken
language
8.2 Conversational interaction
DEFINITIONS:
Back-channelling- feedback in words and sounds which a listener gives a speaker to show they
are listening
Metalanguage- when someone realizes their error and corrects themselves
Phatic communication- communication mainly in the form of greetings which has social
functions to help build a relationship between participants
, 8.4 The main stages of early language development
DEFINITIONS:
Caretaker language- the simple style
Stages of language acquisition
1. Before birth
2. The first year- The babbling stage
3. One to two years- The holophrastic stage
4. Two to three years- The telegraphic stage
5. Three to five years- continuing development: post telegraphic stage.
1. Before birth: Several studies have shown that newborn babies recognise the language
they have heard their mother speak in the later stages of pregnancy. In 2013 a study was
carried out and it looked at babies born in Sweden and USA, under two days old, 40
infants, They were given pacifiers the researchers analysed how interested each baby
was in the vowel sound of their mother's native language and a foreign language, the
babies sucked on their pacifiers much quicker when they heard their mother's native
language.
2. The babbling stage:
● The similar pattern of language development across cultures suggests a universal
sequence of events in the process of language acquisition
● Recent research appears to contradict the long-held belief that the cries of newborn
babies are not language-specific
● A German study in 2009 found that the melodies of the newborn babies' cries followed
the same intonations as the languages the babies had heard in the womb
● The baby's first smile at around 6 weeks is accompanied by ¨cooing¨ or ¨baba¨ as the
vocal cords develop the motor skills needed for the eventual production of speech
● This is followed at about 3-4 months by more sustained babbling, where the child's
sounds more closely resemble the language they will speak.
● At this stage, and at every stage, parents and family will help the child's development by
speaking to them. This caretaker language initiates and teaches turn-taking
8.1 Features of spoken language
DEFINITIONS:
Discourse- any spoken or written language that is longer than a sentence
Utterance- words which are followed by silence or a change of speaker
Turn-taking- in a conversation when people wait their turn to speak. Some people may
interrupt out of eagerness or rudeness
Conversational floor- speaking until you have finished what you wish to say or until someone
interrupts you
Status- the perceived position of a person's authority
Topic shift- the point at which speakers move from one topic to another
Prosodic and paralinguistic features
● Paralinguistic features are the unspoken elements of communication such as body
language, gestures and facial expressions
● Prosodic features comprise intonation, stress, tone and speed involved in spoken
language
8.2 Conversational interaction
DEFINITIONS:
Back-channelling- feedback in words and sounds which a listener gives a speaker to show they
are listening
Metalanguage- when someone realizes their error and corrects themselves
Phatic communication- communication mainly in the form of greetings which has social
functions to help build a relationship between participants
, 8.4 The main stages of early language development
DEFINITIONS:
Caretaker language- the simple style
Stages of language acquisition
1. Before birth
2. The first year- The babbling stage
3. One to two years- The holophrastic stage
4. Two to three years- The telegraphic stage
5. Three to five years- continuing development: post telegraphic stage.
1. Before birth: Several studies have shown that newborn babies recognise the language
they have heard their mother speak in the later stages of pregnancy. In 2013 a study was
carried out and it looked at babies born in Sweden and USA, under two days old, 40
infants, They were given pacifiers the researchers analysed how interested each baby
was in the vowel sound of their mother's native language and a foreign language, the
babies sucked on their pacifiers much quicker when they heard their mother's native
language.
2. The babbling stage:
● The similar pattern of language development across cultures suggests a universal
sequence of events in the process of language acquisition
● Recent research appears to contradict the long-held belief that the cries of newborn
babies are not language-specific
● A German study in 2009 found that the melodies of the newborn babies' cries followed
the same intonations as the languages the babies had heard in the womb
● The baby's first smile at around 6 weeks is accompanied by ¨cooing¨ or ¨baba¨ as the
vocal cords develop the motor skills needed for the eventual production of speech
● This is followed at about 3-4 months by more sustained babbling, where the child's
sounds more closely resemble the language they will speak.
● At this stage, and at every stage, parents and family will help the child's development by
speaking to them. This caretaker language initiates and teaches turn-taking
