1. CHILD PSYCHOLOGY Canadian Edition
Vasta, Miller, Ellis, Younger, Gosselin Prepared by: Kim O'Neil, Carleton University

2. Chapter 11
Language Development

3. Language
Language is a complicated system of rules that allow us to communicate verbally
Language is unlikely to be only a genetic process because:
Productivity of language involves an infinite set of messages that are unlikely to be passed along via the genetic code
Adopted children do not speak the language of their biological parents

4. The Nature-Nurture Debate
B.F. Skinner held that the acquisition of language was a function of learning
Child is reinforced for imitation of adult speech, punished for poor language effort
Chomsky’s criticism of the learning view
Children are not reinforced for speech accuracy
Children learn to speak well even when exposed to poor models of speech
Children emit novel sentences
The rules of grammar are too complex for simple learning processes

5. Nativist View of Language
The nativist view advanced by Noam Chomksy argued for a biological basis for language acquisition
Language consists of a complicated set of rules
Language has two structures:
Surface structure refers to the way that words are combined (varies with culture)
Deep structure refers to the inborn rules of language (these do not vary across culture)
Language acquisition device: Brain mechanism that translates surface into deep structure

6. Other Views of Language Development
Cognitive-developmental models suggest that a child’s early knowledge and concepts play a role in language development
Socioculturalist theories argue that children are motivated to acquire language as a tool for communicating in their society/culture

7. Infant Speech Perception
Phonology studies the sounds of speech
Phonetics refers to the study of the different speech sounds while phonemics focuses on the meaning of speech sounds
Speech perception requires that an infant be able to discriminate the boundaries of phonemes in order to perceive different words
E.g. “car” versus “core”
Infants are able to make difficult phonemic discriminations ( the sounds of “r” and “l”)

8. Infant Language Preferences
Infants prefer
Sound of their mother’s voice over other voices
Motherese
Special variation of language used by mothers to talk to their infants, consists of simplified phrases and changes in tone of voice
Motherese is also evident in deaf mothers of deaf infants (sign language)
Motherese may assist the infant in learning to discriminate phonemic categories

9. Preverbal Sounds
Infant sound production follows a developmental course
Nonspeech sounds include grunts, cries, whimpers, and burps
Cooing: Refers to one syllable vowel sounds (ah, ooh) starting at two months of age
Reduplicated babbling: Infant produces a string of identical sounds (bababababa) at about six months
This babbling is consistent across cultures
Eventually babbling sounds drift toward the language that the child hears

10. Gestures and Nonverbal Communication
Gestures are an important part of communication
Gestures communicate requests
8 – 10 months: Infants use gestures toward their mother to ask for an object
Gestures are used to refer to objects in the environment
12 months: Infant may hold up an object to show parents, may offer the object to the parent, and may point toward the object
Gestures can be symbolic
Clapping to show approval

11. Semantics
Semantics refers to the study of how children acquire words and their meanings
Children express their first words at about 12 months
First words are usually familiar or important (food, toys, family members)
By 18 months of age, the child has a vocabulary of about 50 words, but understands about 100 words
Naming explosion: Children begin to acquire words (labels) at a high rate

12. Typical Early Words Child Words
Jane
Daddy, Mommy, Daniel, girl, ball, cracker, cookie, that, school, bye
Mark
Ma, dog, milk, water, car, here, bye-bye, no
Lisa
Daddy, Mommy, Daisy, puppy, ball, see, hi
Table 11.1

13. Issues in Early Language
Children learn labels for categories, that are then extended through experience
Children make regular errors in their language acquisition
Overextension occurs when children use labels they know for things whose name they do not yet know
E.g. “Dog” is used to label a cat or rabbit
Underextension occurs when children fail to use labels they know for things for which the labels are appropriate

14. Grammar
Grammar refers to the study of the structural properties of language including:
Syntax: refers to word order
Inflection: refers to the aspect of grammar that involves word endings that modify meaning
Intonation: can change meaning of verbal communication

15. Development of Grammar
Series of words
“Milk” “hot” (pause between the words suggests these are not yet a sentence)
Two and three word sentences
Built around single words
All-gone doggie; all-gone milk
Telegraphic speech leaves out unnecessary function words (in, the, with)

16. Mechanisms of Grammar Acquisition
Syntactic bootstrapping: The use of syntactic knowledge to learn about grammar
Child learns meaning-based categories that in turn aid further language learning
Semantic bootstrapping: The use of semantic cues to learn about grammar
Slobin suggests that children have innate cognitive strategies that allow them to learn language quickly
Operating principles: Pay attention to word order, avoid exceptions, pay attention to the endings of words

17. Environmental Supports
Parental feedback supports language development
Expansions involve repeating speech in which errors are corrected and statements elaborated
Recasts are responses to speech in which the parent restates it using a different structure
E.g. “Mouses runned in hole, Mommy!” to “Didn’t those mice run into that hole!”
Clarifications signal that the listener did not understand and the child should try and communicate again

18. Pragmatics Pragmatics refers to the social use of language
Language allows children to communicate their wishes and desires
Speech acts are used to perform pragmatic functions such as requesting or complaining
Discourse refers to language used in everyday conversations (requires social skills)
Social referential communication is a form of communication in which a speaker sends a message that is comprehended by the listener

19. Assessment of Social Referential Communication
Figure 11.3
(Figure adapted with permission from “The Development of Communication: Competence as a Function of Age” by R.M. Krauss and S. Glucksberg, 1969, Child Development, 40, p Copyright 1969 © by the Society for Research in Child Development)

20. Copyright
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