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Child Language Acquisition. Phonological Development. Phonological development …. This lecture deals with how children develop the ability to use and understand the sounds of language. The first year …. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Child Language Acquisition
Phonological Development
Phonological development …
• This lecture deals with how children develop the ability to use and understand the sounds of language.
The first year …
• The phonological development that occurs during the first year of a child’s life was outlined last week:
Crying Cooing Babbling Phonemic expansion and
contraction
Be careful …
• Be careful not to make sweeping generalisations when talking about later phonological development.
• Order in which vowels and consonants are acquired varies from child to child.
• Sometimes children appear to have mastered a sound in one word, but then not in another.
General trends …
• Age 2 ½ : all vowels and 2/3 of consonants mastered.
• Age 4: difficulty with only a few consonants.
• Age 6-7: confident use.
General trends …
• Consonants are first used correctly at the beginnings of words.
• Consonants at the end of words present more difficulty.
• Example: ‘push’ versus ‘rip’
General trends …
• Frequency: generally, sounds which occur frequently in a large number of words will be acquired before sounds that occur less frequently.
Making words easier (phonemic simplification) …
• Deletion• Final consonants
may be dropped.• Unstressed syllables
are often deleted.• Consonant clusters
are reduced.
Making words easier (phonemic simplification) …
• Substitution• Easier sounds are
substituted for harder ones:
• ‘r’ becomes ‘w’• ‘th’ becomes ‘d’, ‘n’
or ‘f’• ‘t’ becomes ‘d’• ‘p’ becomes ‘b’
Understanding …
• Remember: last week we learned that comprehension is often ahead of speech (e.g. first words).
• The same can be true in phonological development.
Berko and Brown (1960) …
• Child: fis
• Adult: This if your fis?
• Child: No-my fis.
• Adult: Oh, this is your fish.
• Child: Yes, my fis.
Berko and Brown (1960) …
• Child with indistinguishable pronunciation of:
mouse/mouthcart/cardjug/duck
• Could point to corresponding pictures in a comprehension task.
Intonation …
• As a child grows older, a wider range of meanings is expressed through intonation.
• Example: two-word stage:
• ‘my car’ versus ‘MY car’
Intonation …
• Although intonation patterns can be reproduced from an early stage, understanding of their meaning is still developing into the teenage years.
Cruttenden (1974) …
• Football results.
• Intonation used in first team’s score enabled adults to accurately predict home win, away win or draw.
• Children (aged 7-11): youngest were largely unsuccessful and oldest were significantly less successful than adults.
New vocabulary …
• Phonemic simplification
• Deletion
• Substitution
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