Child Development
Laura E. Berk 7th edition
Chapter 9
Language
Development
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Components of Language
Phonology
Rules about structure and sequence of
speech sounds
Semantics
Vocabulary - words and word
combinations for concepts
Grammar
• Syntax - rules for sentences
• Morphology - grammatical markers
Pragmatics
Appropriate and effective communication
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Three Theories of
Language Development
Behaviorist
Nativist
Interactionist
Learned through operant conditioning
(reinforcement) and imitation
Language Acquisition Device (LAD)
biologically prepares infants to learn
rules of language through universal
grammar
Inner capacities and environment work
together; Social context is important
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Support for Biological
Language Preparedness
• Animal language
 Language seems to be unique to humans
• Brain structures
 Regions predisposed to
language processing
• Sensitive period
 During brain lateralization
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Deaf Children’s Language
Deaf children develop language
even when they have:
• Minimal input
 Later than
hearing children,
but do develop
 Homesign
• Inconsistent input
 Extract rules
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Language Areas of the Brain
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Interactionist Theories of Language
Development
• Information-Processing Theories
 Statistical learning theory
 Brain studies
• Social Interactionist Theories
 Native desire for
understanding
combines with rich
language environment
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Getting Ready to Talk:
Receptivity to Language
• Newborns sensitive to speech
 Especially mother’s
• Categorical speech perception
 Ability to distinguish phonemes
• Statistical analysis,
rule-learning
• Child-directed
speech
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First Speech Sounds
• Cooing - 2 months
 Vowel sounds
• Babbling - 4 months
 Consonants & vowels
 Universal timing
 Range expands
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Becoming a Communicator
• Joint attention
• Give-and-take
• Preverbal gestures
 Protodeclarative
 Protoimperative
• Word-gesture
combinations
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Parental Responsiveness
and Language Learning
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Phonological Development
• Early Phase
 First words - can only pronounce few sounds
 Related to semantic development
 Understand more than can say
• Phonological Strategies
• Later development
 Refine syllable stress
patterns - related to meaning
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One-Year-Olds
Know Pronunciations
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Phonological Progress
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Minimal Words
Add ending consonant
Adjust vowel length
Add unstressed syllables
Produce full word, correct
stress pattern
 May still need to refine
sounds
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Early Semantic Development
• Comprehension before production
 5 month lag
• First words linked to
cognition, emotion
• Vocabulary spurt
18-24 months
 Fast-mapping
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Individual Differences
in Language Development
• Gender
• Temperament
• Language environment
• Language Style
 Referential
 Expressive
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Types of Early Words
Object
and
Action
• More objects than actions
• Objects are easier concepts,
parents rarely name verbs
• Influenced by culture & language
State
• Modifiers or labels for attributes size, color, possession
• Learn general distinctions before
specific
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Preschoolers’
Semantic Development
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Underextensions
Overextensions
Word coinages
Metaphors
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Elementary School-Age
Semantic Development
• Big vocabulary increase
 Fast-mapping continues
 Analyze word structure
• Use words precisely,
understand multiple
meanings - metaphors,
puns
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Adolescent
Semantic Development
• Abstract terms
• Sarcasm, irony
• Figurative language
 Proverbs
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Factors Contributing
to Semantic Development
• Adult feedback
• Cognitive processing
 Working memory - phonological store
• Strategies
 Lexical contrast
 Mutual exclusivity bias
 Syntactic bootstrapping
 Social information
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Early Grammatical Development
• Telegraphic speech
 2-word combinations
• Simple sentences
 3 words
 Follow adult rules
piecemeal, gradually
refine and generalize
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Development of
Grammatical Morphemes
• Structural complexity
affects order acquired
• Overregulation
 Applying rules without
appropriate exceptions
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Complex Grammatical Forms
Negatives
Questions
Other Complex
Constructions
• Nonexistence
• Rejection
• Denial
•Rising intonations
•Subject-verb inversion
•Correct yes-no questions precede
wh- questions
• Connectives
• Embedded sentences
• Tag questions
• Indirect object-direct object
• Passive sentences
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Views on Grammar Development
Product of
cognitive
development
• Semantic bootstrapping
• Direct observation of language
structure
• Categories for bootstrapping
Inborn capacities
• Language-making capacity
Environmental
support
• Adults correct indirectly with
reformulations
• Asking for clarification
• Recasts
• Expansions
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Pragmatic Development
• 2-year-olds can have
effective conversations
• Early childhood - turnabout
• Middle childhood
 Shading
 Illocutionary knowledge
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Factors that
Enhance Pragmatic Development
• Adult interactions
 Conversations
 Dialogues about
storybooks, shared
reading
• Siblings
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Testing Referential Communication
Skills
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Development of Narrative Skills
• Leapfrog narratives - 4 years
 Few evaluations
• Chronological narratives - 4-1/2 to 5 years
• Classical narratives - 6 years
• Narrative styles learned
from adults
 Topic-associating style
 Haiku style
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Speech Registers
• Social routines
• Polite language
• Children sensitive to
speech registers early 4-7 years
• Important to social
acceptance
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Metalinguistic Awareness
• Ability to think about language as a system
• 4- and 5-year-olds have early
understanding
• Flowers in middle childhood
 Phonological awareness
associated with
reading success
 Advanced in
bilingual children
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Learning Two Languages
Learn both at • No problems with language
the same
development
time
• Good at both by preschool
Takes 3 to 5 years to be as good as
One, then the
same-age native speakers of second
other
language
Both offer cognitive advantages of bilingualism
• Attention, reasoning, concepts, flexibility
• General language skills
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Types of Bilingual Education
• Language immersion
 Strong in Canada
• English-only
 Favored in U.S.
 Risk of semilingualism
• Bilingual education
 Support and instruction in native language
while learning English
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