Questions to “It’s You, Baby” (video from Channel 4 on Child language Acquisition)
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(art gallery)
(0.47) As adults we have lost a linguistic ability which babies have. What is it?
(0.58) How many speech sounds are there in all human language taken together?
What does this mean in linguistic terms (phones, phonemes, allophones)?
(1.42) How many muscle pairs are used for speech articulation?
(2.58) What is the significance of the distinction between background speech (directed
by others at others) and input (speech directed to the child)?
(crib)
(3.30) What is babbling and what is its role in language acquisition?
(6.43) In language acquisition does comprehension precede and exceed production or
vice versa?
(car)
(8.04) How do you decide when a child has produced its first word, given that L1-like
sounds are part of late babbling?
(PART 2 c. 12.00)
(12.08) How do the child’s first words differ from those of the adult (form and function)?
(supermarket)
(13.40) What is the difference between using words as names and using words to
classify, and which is the more important for the development of language?
(fruit stall)
(14.30) What is meant by overextension and underextension of lexical items (words)?
Give examples from the video.
(pronunciation)
(15.25) Why is the child’s pronunciation different from adult pronunciation?
(15.36) Why is it that the more words a child knows, the faster it learns new ones, do
you think?
(16.09) How many words does the 19 month-old child in the video know?
(16.09) How do adults react to the child’s deviant pronunciation?
(16.32) What is a holophrase and what is the example of a holophrase given in the
video? Is this example a holophrase for you or not?
(launderette)
(16.57) Why is “washing nana” an example of telegraphic speech?
(17.21) What is the evidence that children’s speech is systematic and rule-governed
from the start?
(19.00) What is the role of mimicry in language acquisition?
(zoo)
(19.38) Why is the acquisition of a phrase like „What’s that“ a milestone in language
acquisition?
(2.03) By the age of five years how many new words a week are children acquiring on
average?
(20.30) The child says “pussy cat” and the mother says “no, it‘s a lemur”. What does
this show about the underlying principle of adults’correction of children‘s language?
(game, age 3 years)
(21.00) Why is play so important for language acquisition at the age of three plus?
(22.14) The little boy uses the present continuous. Can you spot the example?
(stories, 4 years)
(22.30) What linguistic skills do children acquire from storytelling from about four years
onwards, do you think?
(sweets exchanges, 4 years)
(23.48) The great American linguist, Dwight Bolinger, once wrote a book called
“Language. The loaded weapon”. What do you think he meant by this, and how do you
think the episode about the sweets is relevant to this idea?