1. Beginnings of Language Development
One
Beginnings of Language Development 1

2. Stages of development …
NB: Children do not all develop at the same pace.
However: Children all around the world do pass through the same set of stages. There is a universal pattern of development, regardless of the language being acquired. 2

3. Before birth … Baby can become acclimatized to native sounds.
Mehler 1988: French babies (as young as 4 days old) were able to distinguish French from other languages. 3

4. Crying …
First few weeks: child expresses itself vocally through crying.
Signals hunger, distress or pleasure.
Instinctive noise (so not language). 4

5. Cooing … Also known as gurgling or mewing. 6-8 weeks old.
‘Coo’, ‘ga-ga’ and ‘goo’.
Child develops increased control over vocal chords. 5

6. Babbling … Most important stage in the first year. 6-9 months old.
Sounds begin to resemble adult sounds more closely. 6

7. Babbling … Consonant and vowel combinations: ‘ba’, ‘ma’ and ‘da’.
Bilabial sounds most common, e.g. p,b,m, v,w.
When these sounds are repeated = reduplicated monosyllable. 7

8. Babbling … These sounds have no meaning.
Baby makes far more noise than before.
Exercises and experiments with its articulators. 8

9. Phonemic expansion …
Phoneme: smallest element of sound in a language that can display contrast e.g. initial sounds in ban and Dan.
During babbling, number of different phonemes produced increases (expands). 9

10. G:\documents\2016-17\Y13 Lang 2016-17

11. Method and manner of articulation

12. Phonemic contraction …
9-10 months.
Number of phonemes produced reduces (contracts).
Restricted to those of the native language.
Baby discards sounds not required. 12

13. Phonemic contraction …
Evidence: noises made by children of different nationalities starts to sound different.
Experiments: native adults have successfully identified babies from own country. 13

14. Intonation … Intonation patterns begin to resemble speech.
Common: rising intonation at end of utterance.
Other variations in rhythm/emphasis may suggest greeting or calling. 14

15. Gesture …
Although they do not yet have the power of speech, desire to communicate indicated through gesture.
Example: point to object and use facial expression ‘What’s that?’.
Beginnings of pragmatic development. 15

16. Understanding …
Although child may not begin to speak, they may understand meanings of certain words.
Word recognition: usually evident by end of first year.
Common: names, ‘no’ and ‘bye-bye’. 16

17. The first word …
Approx. 1 year old.
First recognizable word. 17

18. New vocabulary … Acclimatized Instinctive Cooing Babbling Bilabial
New vocabulary …
Acclimatized
Instinctive
Cooing
Babbling
Bilabial
Reduplicated monosyllable
Phonemic expansion
Phonemic contraction
Skinner: 18

19. HWK:
SMHW:
ACTIVITY: Oxf p.105 Data set: the pragmatics of asking for a biscuit.
Read the data set, turn back to p.105 and make notes on the 3 bullet points in the activity box.
Look at the suggested points on p.106 and develop your notes.