Child Language acquisition

= vU Term 3 notes – child language acquisition


Question key figures
 P2 Q1
 0-7 year olds development in comparison to the adult
 Short transcript with IPA
 Analysis, theory, data interpretation
 A01 and A02
 20 marks


Main theories

Behaviourist (skinner) – imitation and praise helps language
development
Innateness (Chomsky) -brain contains mechanisms to learn from
birth
Cognitive (Piaget) – language is one aspect of overall intellectual
development
Interaction (Bruner) – interaction between child and caregiver



Feral children

Based on Romulus and Remus – myth of abandoned children raised by wolves before being
integrated back into human society
Proving of nature vs nurture

Oxana Malaya
 Left outside at 3 years old to be raised as a kenel dog for five years
 Couldn’t speak with purpose after found
 Now can talk in simple sentences
 Nurture

Victor of Averyon
 First documented case (1800s France)
 Attempt at escaping captures after found roaming in the wild
 Jean Atar studied him for scientific purposes after other researchers concluded he was too
stupid for humanity
 Jean found Victor lacked both language and empathy which were required to be considered
human
 Over time they learnt Victor improved most with care and although could form basic
understandings of sounds #, he made the most progress emotionally than linguistically
 Nurture and nature

Genie
 Isolated in one room by parents and found at the age of 13
 Affect of abuse and isolation lead to stunt in physical and mental growth and still stuck in
diapers

,  Genie proved the critical period theory, that there is a key point to learn language and past
that would fail
 Left cortex wasn’t stimulated and became disconnected, eventually shrinking

Edik
 Found in a deserted flat at 4 years old
 As a result of abuse and neglect he turned to dogs for affection
 Behaved as a dog
 Took months to learn how to clothe and eat as a human but is now improving linguistically
 Memory seems to improve when in relation to dogs
 Nature and nurture



Jean Piaget’s 4 stages of cognitive IPA
development  Phoneme – smallest unit of a sound in a word
1. Sensorimotor = 0-2 years  43/44 phonemes in the English language
2. Preoperational = 2-7years  Phoneme segmentation – breaking down
3. Concrete operational = 7-11 years sounds to pronounce
4. Formal operational = 12+ years  IPA was devised 19th century France for
language learning

Beginnings of development

 Crying = verbal expression of needs
 Cooing = increase control of vocal cords
 Babbling = consonants, vowels, and syllables with no meaning
 First words = word recognition with context in first year

 Under-extension = semantic error when word is given narrower meaning than in adult
language
 Over-extension = reverse of under yet more frequent

Acquisition of lexis
>> Concrete nouns >> verbs >> adjectives >> abstract nouns >> determiners + prepositions

Katherine Nelsons categories
 Naming
 Actions/events
 Describing/modifying
 Personal/social



Jean Aitchison’s 3 stages
1. Labelling = links sounds of words to objects
2. Packaging = understanding a word’s range of meaning
3. Network Building = grasping connections between words



Lexical development Phonological development
18 months = 50 words 2 years = all vowels and 2/3
2 years = 200 words consonants
5 years = 2000 words 4 years = difficulty with consonants
7 years = 4000 words at the end of words