Language Acquisition

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Language Acquisition

• Beginnings of Language Development

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Aims of Session

• To identify the stages of Language Acquisition
• To discuss the stages of Language Acquisition and
  to draw on our own experiences
• To produce a leaflet on the stages of Language
  Acquisition

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TASK

• Page 3 Language Acquisition booklets.

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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.

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Before birth

• Evidence suggests that even in the womb, the
  growing baby acclimatises to the sounds of its
  native language.
• Mehler 1988 French new born babies were able to
  distinguish French from other languages.

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Crying

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

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Cooing

• Also known as gurgling or mewing.
• 6-8 weeks old.
• Coo, ga-ga and goo.
• Child develops increasing control over vocal
  chords.

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Babbling

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

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Babbling

• Consonant and vowel combinations ba, ma and
  da.
• Bilabial sounds most common (i.e. using the
  lips).
• When these sounds are repeated reduplicated
  monosyllable

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Babbling

• These sounds have no meaning.
• Baby makes far more noise than before.
• Exercises and experiments with its articulators
  (parts of the body that make sounds).

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Phonemic expansion

• Phoneme smallest element of sound in a language
  that can display contrast and hence change
  meaning or function of a word, e.g. initial
  sounds in ban and Dan.
• During babbling, number of different phonemes
  produced increases (expands).

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Phonemic contraction

• 9-10 months.
• Number of phonemes produced reduces to those
  found in the native language (contracts).
• Baby discards sounds not required.

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Phonemic contraction

• Evidence noises made by children of different
  nationalities starts to sound different.
• Experiments native adults have successfully
  identified babies from own country.

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Intonation

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

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The first word

• Somewhere around 12 months the child makes its
  first recognizable word.

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New vocabulary

• Acclimatised
• Instinctive
• Cooing
• Babbling
• Bilabial
• Reduplicated monosyllable
• Phonemic expansion
• Phonemic contraction

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TASK

• Design a leaflet for expectant parents informing
  them of the stages in which their child will
  learn to produce sounds.
• You should use the material you have learnt today
  along with some of your own experiences (if you
  wish)
• Think of a title
• What information do you want to include?
• How will you present this information (e.g.
  bullet points, pictures etc.). Think about the
  layout.