Prince Sattam ibn Abdulaziz University Saudi Arabia

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H O W D O C H I L D R E N A C Q U I R E L A N G U A G E

A B D U L A Z I Z B A SS A N O S I26/08/37

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BEFORE WE START

• L1 = first language (native language, mother tongue)• L2 = Second Language• Acquire = to gain through experience• Psycholinguist: a person  who studies the psychological basis

of human language.• Utterance: spoken sentence, phrase or clause.•

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WARM UP•How did we come to have speech abilities?• A 4-year- old child can express himself with comprehensible vocabulary and proper grammatical rules.• It takes long years for adult to master second language?•HOW DO CHILDREN LEARN LANGUAGE?• This is one BASIC task psycholinguists try to explain.26/08/37

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CLASSIFICATION

•When we study language development, we separate language into two distinct processes:–Speech production–Speech comprehension

• The study of development will be of two phases:–Development of Speech production–Development of Speech comprehension

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THE DEVELOPMENT OF SPEECH PRODUCTION

SpeechBabbling Vocalization

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VOCALIZATION

•The crying, cooing and grunts that made by infants.•They are similar to all infants, regardless of the surrounding language.•Even children who are born deaf make these sounds.•They are unlearned.•These sounds are called vocalization and they go on until around the

6th month of age (on average)

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BABBLING

• The second stage is babbling.• After around 7th month, children make repeated syllables (Babbling).• Can be open syllables ( da da, ma ma)• Closed syllable (banban . Bam bam)• All consist of at least a consonant and a vowel.• They are also universal. • However there is an affect of surrounding language.

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BABBLING

•They are universal because they are made of many but not all speech sounds of world languages.

– [sounds like ʤ, ʃ, Ɵ, ð, are involved in babbling.– PROVIDE EXAMPLE FROM ARABIC?

• But they are different because they follow the intonation of the surrounding language.• So deaf children can vocalize, but they CANNOT babble. 26/08/37

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SPEECH

•Occur around 1 year of age.•Children use only some of the sounds they used in babbling.•There is order to the acquisition of speech sounds.•Consonants are acquired from front to back.•Vowels are acquired from back to front.26/08/37

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ORDER OF ACQUISITION OF SPEECH SOUNDS

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SPEECH

•The order of acquisition is explained by:•Visibility of articulators:

–Front consonants like (p, m, b, f, v) are made by lips and teeth, children can see these articulators.

•Ease of articulation:–Back vowel are easy to pronounce because the tongue is relaxed when producing them, no need to movement or shaping)26/08/37

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SPEECH

•There is discontinuity between babbling and speech because:•Babbling is not intentional, it happen by chance.•Speech is random but match pre-listened model that connected to objects or needs …etc.•Babbling make children practice speech, but it is not a continuity to it.

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CHECKPOINT

• Name the three stages of development of children speech production.• Define vocalization.• What are the features of vocalized sounds?• Children who are born deaf cannot vocalize [ T or F]?• BABBLING is affected by surrounding language [ T or

F]?• Speech is continuity to Babbling [T or F]?26/08/37

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CHECKPOINT

• Name some English sounds that are not likely to be used in babbling?• Explain the order of acquisition of speech sounds?• What are reasons for order of acquisition of vowel

speech sounds?• Babling is universal and it also different from one

language to other. Explain

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SPEECH

•To produce comprehensive speech, children pass through these stages:

morphemic

telegraphic

holophrastic

Naming

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NAMING

•No final answer to the question (When do children utter their first word because of:• Individual differences.• It is difficult to define what we mean by [word]• It is difficult to notice the first word utterance.

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NAMING

• First word should be:–Recognizable speech form–Related to object or event.

•Words with these features are uttered around the age of 1 year.• It is affected by:

–Brain development.–Physical development.

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NAMING

•First words of most children are NOUNS.•These nouns can used as proper noun: dady for any man, mow for any cat or any animal.•Phone (for any rectangular device).26/08/37

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HOLOPHRASTIC STAGE•Holo= [whole], Phras = [phrase or sentence]•Use of a single word to express complete thought or a sentence.•[mama] = [ I want my mother]•Or point to a shirt and say [dady]to mean [ that shirt belongs to my father].

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HOLOPHRASTIC STAGE• In holophrastic stage children are very inventive.•They may use many holophrastics to point to complex situation. [dady, go, car] my father went by car.• It is difficult to interpret holophrastic without knowing the child, his surrounding circumstances and his previous experiences.

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TELEGRAPHIC SPEECH STAGE•Two or three-word utterances made by children to express full thought.•Start around 2 years of age.•Children do not develop rapidly from holophrastic stage to two words utterances.• It takes long to understand that two words are better for communication.

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FEATURES OF TELEGRAPHIC SPEECH STAGE

•Telegraphic utterances cover many purposes and use many semantic relations.•They are composed mainly of nouns, verbs, and adjectives. No function words used. •They follow the word order of their language. [my cup NOT cup my] [mama go NOT go mama]

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CHECKPOINT

• What are stages followed by child to produce comprehensive speech?• What are the factor that affect first word production?• Justify why it is difficult to determine first word

utterance by children.• What are the features of telegraphic speech.

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MORPHEMIC ACQUISITION •After telegraphic stage, children start to use function words (preposition [to], articles [the] modal [can].•They use also inflections like [plural –s], [past –ed].•This is called morphemic stage.•Children acquire morphemes in the same order regardless of the surrounding circumstances. •See next

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MORPHEMIC ACQUISITION Example Morpheme Order rank

Progressive ing

1st

Plural s 2nd

Past irregular 3rd

Past ed 4th

Copula be 5th

Article 6th

Third person 7th26/08/37

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EXPLAINING MORPHEMIC ACQUISITION ORDER•Ease of observability of referent:

–If the action or event of the morpheme is noticeable, it is acquired earlier [e.g. present progressive vs. past].

•Meaningfulness of referent:–If the morpheme is related to words used by child it is acquired earlier [singular/plural] vs.[articles]

•Distinctive of the sound signal:• If the morpheme sounds are distinctive they are acquired earlier e.g. [ing] or [copula be] vs [progressive be].

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TERMINUS

• Explain why do children acquire morphemes in the same order regardless of the surrounding circumstances. • Fill in the table below with the correct stage of speech:

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Over 3 years of age

2 – 3 years 1– year 7th month to 12 months

2 to 6th month

.………………… ………………… …………………… ………………… …………………

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ACTIVITY

•Draw an infographic [computer design with information] to present the development of speech production by children.•Remember: speech stage has 4 branch stages.

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THANK YOU

• This presentation is for classroom usage, it contained gaps to be filled by classroom discussion. For more detailed information, consult the reference book:• An introduction to Psycholinguistics, second edition

(2006)Danny Steinberg and Natalia, Sciarini.

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