Child language development

• Proto words


  'made up' words that a child will use to represent a word they might not yet be able to pronounce.
• Pre-verbal stage


  Period of time that involves experimentation with sounds without producing recognisable words. Usually lasts a year.

  
• Holophrastic stage


  The time during which single words are spoken such that they carry the meaning of full sentences.
• Reduplication


  Repeating a whole syllable e.g. 'dada' and 'mama

  
• Addition


  Adding an additional suffix to the end of a word in order to change the way in which the word is pronounced. (e.g Mommy and Dolly instead of Mum and Doll)
• Consonant cluster reductions


  Reducing phonologically more complex units into simpler ones - from 2 (or more) consonants down to 1. (e.g Pider instead of spider)
• Deletion (final consonant or weak syllable)


  Omitting a particular sound within a word.
• Two-word stage


  Period of time when a child begins to put two words together. (e.g. 'Kick ball')

  
• Telegraphic stage


  Early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram - "go car" - using mostly nouns and verbs. usually three words or more.

  
• Post-telegraphic stage


  Period of time in which a child's language will include both content and grammatical words and more closely resemble adult speech.
• Nature or nurture?


  A debate in which researchers are trying to find out whether young children learn due to an in-built ability to learn English fast or is it more because of the child's development.

  
• Operant conditioning


  Learning that is strengthened when behavior is followed by negative or positive reinforcement

  
• Language Acquisition Device


  Hypothetical organ in the brain in which nativists believe knowledge of syntax resides.
• Tabula Rasa


  Clean slate, a term used to describe the idea that children are born with undeveloped, fresh brains.

  
• Universal Grammar

  Theory that says all the world's languages share a common underlying structure. The innate principles and properties that pertain to the grammars of all human languages.
• Virtuous errors


  Grammatical errors that are understandable and logical through an incorrect assumption being made about grammar rules. E.g the use of the incorrect past tense "helded" instead of the irregular verb form "held"

  Also suggests that language is innate as this wouldnt be copied from a caregiver
• Cognitive development


  Study of how children acquire the ability to learn, think, reason, communicate, and remember
• Language acquisition support system. (LASS)


  System as proposed by Bruner (i.e. the caregivers and other individuals who play a key role in a child's development).
• Scaffolding


  The provision of temporary structured support by parents to their children to aid language development.
• Object permanence


  The realization of infants that objects continue to exist even when they are out of sight.

  
• Pre-operational stage


  (2-6/7 years)

  Child learning to speak and developing their imaginative focus. Child remains egocentric and struggles to understand things from their own point of view other than their own.

  
• Concrete operational stage


  (7 to 11 years)

  - concrete thinking

  - can consider perspective of others

  - child becomes more capable of complex

  thought
• Expansion


  Where a caregiver might develop the child's utterance to make it more grammatically complete.