Chapter 4 / Anmar Ahmed

Q1-Trace back the development of the child’s language development right from the
first moment of the birth up to the full sentences speech regarding the names of these
main stages .
The child's language goes through many stages . They are sequentially according to
the age :
1 - The vegetative sound stage . Children are not born silent , they make vegetative
sounds from birth: they cry, burp, and make sucking noises.
2 - The cooing stage and it takes place round 6 weeks of age .
3 - Starting laugh stage . They start to laugh from about 16 weeks old .
4 - The vocal play stage . Between 16 weeks and 6 months they engage in vocal
play . It is very important period because it involves making speech-like sounds and
here vowels emerge before consonants.
5 - The babbling stage . It is more complicated stage . From about the age of 6–9
months, infants start babbling. It is characterized by two features :
a- Babbling is distinguished from vocal play by the presence of true syllables
(consonants plus vowels), often repeated .
b - Infants might even understand some words as early as 6 months if they refer to
very salient, animated figures, such as parents
6 - The stage of connection between sounds and situation . Around 9 months the
infant starts noticing that particular strings of sounds co-occur with particular
situations . For example, whenever the sounds “ball” are heard, a ball is there.
7 - The first word stage . Children start producing their first words around the age of
10 or 11 months. The single words are sometimes thought of as forming single-word
utterances.
8 - Telegraphic speech age . It is very important stage . It forms the beginning of the
sentences stage . It can be divided into sub levels :
a - Around the age of 18 months, there is a rapid explosion in vocabulary size, and
around this time two-word sentences emerge.
b - This vocabulary explosion and the onset of two-word speech are strongly
correlated . At this point children may be learning 40 new words a week.
c - Before children produce utterances that are grammatically correct by adult
standards, they produce what is called telegraphic speech. Telegraphic speech
contains a number of words but with many grammatical elements absent . As
grammatical elements appear, they do so in a relatively fixed order for any particular
language.
9 - Complex sentences stage . From the age of approximately 2 years 6 months, the
child produces increasingly complex sentences .
Q2-Contrast between the rationalist and empiricist views.
There many controversial issues and questioning about the development of human
language . What makes language development happen? What transforms a non-
speaking, non-comprehending infant into a linguistically competent individual? One
of the most important issues in the study of language development is the extent to
which our language abilities are innate. There are two contrasting philosophical views
on how humans obtain knowledge. These views can be reviewed in the following
points :
1 - The rationalists (such as Plato and Descartes) maintained that certain fundamental
ideas are innate—that is, they are present from birth.
2 - The empiricists (such as Locke and Hume) rejected this doctrine of innate ideas,
maintaining that all knowledge is derived from experience. Locke was one of the most
influential empiricists and his opinions centrally around two main ideas :
a - He argued that all knowledge held by the rationalists to be innate could be
acquired through experience.
b - According to Locke, the mind at birth is a tabula rasa—a “blank sheet of paper”—
on which sensations write and determine future behavior.
3 - The rationalist–empiricist controversy is alive today: it is often called the nature–
nurture debate.
4 - The controversy can be viewed according to the point of views of Chomsky and
Piaget :
a - Chomsky’s work in general and his views on language acquisition are in the
rationalist camp
b - There are strong empiricist threads in Piaget. Piaget argued that cognitive
structures themselves are not innate, but can arise from innate dispositions.
5 - The empiricist theory supported by behaviorists because they argued that language
was entirely learned, are clearly empiricists.
Q3-Contrast between acquisition and learning a language.
Chomsky showed that children acquire a set of linguistic rules or grammar. He further
argued that they could not learn these rules by environmental exposure alone .
language children hear was thought to be inadequate in two ways :
A - they hear what has been called a degenerate input .The speech children hear is full
of slips of the tongue, false starts, and hesitations, and sounds run into one another so
that the words are not clearly separated .
B - Second, there does not seem to be enough information in the language that
children hear for them to be able to learn the grammar .
In general depending on learning only in developing language is not sufficient
because :
1 -Adults correct mainly the truth and meaning of a child’s utterances, rarely the
syntax .
2 -Some words are understood before they are produced .
3 - Aspects of the structure of language mean it cannot be acquired simply by
conditioning .In phonological production, babbling is not random and imitation is not
important .
4 - They are not normally exposed to a sufficient number of examples of grammatical
constructions that would enable them to deduce the grammar. In particular, they do
not hear grammatically defective sentences that are labeled as defective (e.g., “listen,
Boris , this is wrong: ‘the witch chased to a cave’”). These obstacles to learning
language constitute the poverty of the stimulus argument .
There are some evidence on the important role of acquisition in acquiring different
language behaviour . They are universal principles :
1 – Children pay attention to the end of the words
2 – The phonological forms of words can be systematically modified
3 – They pay attention to the order of morphemes and words
4 – Avoid interruption or rearrangement of units
5 – Underlying semantic relation should be clearly marked
6 – They avoid exceptions
7 – The use of grammatical markers should make semantic sense
Children develop these acquisition abilities through the different pragmatic factors .
They are :
1 – They learn to refer to the simple and short before complex and long
2 – They refer to the things as a cross before subtle distinctions
3 - They acquired the knowledge about perceptually salient objects (in terms of size,
color etc.)
4 - They acquired the concepts Here and now before those displaced in time and space
, concrete before abstract , frequent and familiar before less frequent and unfamiliar ,
regular before irregular forms (though interacts with frequency) , items in isolation
before capturing relationships and finally , whole first, then analyzed into parts, then
mature whole .
Q4-Do children acquire language by imitation or not ?
The answer is no . Imitation can play a role in language development but cannot be
the most crucial factor in acquiring of the language ( the early language development)
because :
1 - Although children clearly imitate some aspects of adult behavior, it is clear that
imitation cannot by itself be a primary driving force of early language development,
and particularly of syntactic development.
2 - A cursory examination of the sentences produced by younger children shows that
they do not often imitate adults. Children make types of mistakes that adults do not.
Furthermore, when children try to imitate what they hear, they are unable to do so
unless they already have the appropriate grammatical construction .
3 - Nevertheless, imitation of adult speech (and that of other children) plays an
important role in acquiring accent, in the manner of speech, and in the choice of
particular vocabulary items. It might also be more important in older children .
Q5-State the role of Skinner’s conditioning and reinforcements theory and its
relation to language development.
Skinner in 1957 ( Skinner’s (1957) book Verbal Behavior was the classic statement of
the behaviorist approach to language ) argued that language is a matter of learning by
the same mechanisms of conditioning and reinforcement that were thought at the time
to govern all other aspects of animal and human behavior . However, there is much
evidence against this position :
1 - The failness of correction at the child's early age . Adults (generally) correct only
the truth and meaning of children’s utterances, not the syntax . Indeed, attempts by
adults to correct incorrect syntax and phonology usually make no difference.
2 - Children cannot learn or imitate anything from adults without acquiring the
necessary grammatical constructions.
3 - The pattern of acquisition of irregular past verb tenses and irregular plural nouns
cannot be predicted by learning theory. Some examples of irregular forms given by
children are “gived” for “gave,” and “mouses” for “mice.” The sequence observed
is: correct production, followed by incorrect production, and then later correct
production again .
4 - The third piece of evidence against a conditioning theory of language learning is
that some words (such as “no!”) are clearly understood before they are ever produced.
5 - Fourth, Chomsky (1959) argued that theoretical considerations of the power and
structure of language mean that it cannot be acquired simply by conditioning
6 - Finally, in phonological production, babbling is not random, and imitation is not
important: The hearing babies of hearing-impaired parents babble normally. In
general, language development appears to be strongly based on learning rules rather
than simply on learning associations and instances.
There are three evidences support partially the important role of learning in language :
1 - The children use the feedback to repeat adults’ expansions of their utterances than
other utterances, suggesting that they pay particular attention to them .
2 - The children receive negative evidence (sometimes called the no negative
evidence problem), and it is important because without negative feedback it is a
challenge to specify how children learn to produce only correct utterances.
3 - The original explanation for this pattern is that the children begin by learning
specific instances. They then learn a general rule (e.g., “form past tenses by adding ‘-
ed’”; “form plurals by adding ‘-s’”) but apply it incorrectly by using it in all instances.
Only later do they learn the exceptions to the rule. This is an example of what is
called U-shaped development: performance starts off at a good level, but then
becomes worse, before improving again. U-shaped development is suggestive of a
developing system that has to learn both rules and exceptions to those rules.
Q6-Is the child-directed speech necessary for developing the language? Discuss.
It is not necessary because there are a limited number of observed facts for language
development came through CDS . They are :
1 - There appears to be some feedback between the language of the adult carer and
that of the child: the vocabulary of carers becomes modified by exposure to the
language of the child. The same is not true of syntax, however, suggesting that the
adult’s CDS directly and causally influences the syntactic development of the child.
2 - These differences in CDS correlate with subsequent vocabulary development in
the child, and might be one reason why the vocabulary and language skills of children
from high-status families grow more quickly than those of children from low-status
families. (Of course, we cannot rule out genetic factors, as mother and child are
genetically very similar ) .
3 - One possibility is that CDS serves some other function, such as creating and
maintaining a bond between the adult and child. Child-directed speech helps establish
joint focus. Harris and Coltheart (1986) proposed that the syntactic simplification of
CDS is just a side effect of simplifying and restricting content.
In summary, even though CDS might not be necessary for language development, it
might nevertheless facilitate it (Pine, 1994b). A child acquiring language on the basis
of CDS is going to have a less impoverished input than one not exposed to CDS. If
CDS is not necessary, then how do children learn a language on the basis of a
degenerate and impoverished input? Chomsky considered it to be impossible that a
child could deduce the structure of the grammar solely on the basis of hearing normal
language. Something additional is necessary. He argued that the additional factor is
that the design of the grammar is innate: Some aspects of syntax must be built into the
mind.
Q7-Innate structures , language acquisition device , and universal grammar are alike.
How do they contribute to language development ?
The innate acquisition of language was viewed mainly by Chomsky . The principles
of his approach are :
1 - Chomsky (1965, 1968, 1986) argued that language acquisition must be guided by
innate constraints, and that language is a special faculty not dependent on other
cognitive or perceptual processes.
2 - It is acquired, he argued, at a time when the child is incapable of complex
intellectual achievements, and therefore could not be dependent on intelligence,
cognition, or experience. Because the language they hear is impoverished and
degenerate, children cannot acquire a grammar by exposure to language alone.
3 - Assistance is provided by the innate structure called the language acquisition
device (LAD). In Chomsky’s later work the LAD is replaced by the idea of universal
grammar. Here Chomsky asserted two ideas :
a - This is a theory of the primitives and rules of inferences that enable the child to
learn any natural grammar.
b - In Chomsky’s terminology, it is the set of principles and parameters that constrain
language acquisition . For Chomsky, language is not learned, but grows.
Q8-Talk about the role of switches (parameters) theory in learning and acquiring the
language and the defects of this theory.
The language development for Chomsky can be covered under ( the process of
parameter setting ) :
a - Obviously languages vary, and children are faced with the task of acquiring the
particular details of their language.
b - A parameter is a universal aspect of language that can take on one of a small
number of positions, rather like a switch. The parameters are set by the child’s
exposure to a particular language.
c - Another way of looking at it is that the LAD does not prescribe details of
particular languages, but rather sets boundaries on what acquired languages can look
like; languages are not free to vary in every possible way, but are restricted. For
example, no language yet discovered forms questions by inverting the order of words
from the primary (declarative) form of the sentence.
d - The LAD can be thought of as a set of switches that constrain the possible shape of
the grammars the child can acquire; exposure to a particular language sets these
switches to a particular position. If exposure to the language does not cause these
switches to go to a particular position, they stay in the neutral one. Parameters set the
core features of languages. Thus this approach sees language acquisition as parameter
setting. If there are certain there are innate syntactic abilities , it will generate other
syntactic abilities and this is a universal rule . Let us look at a simple example. In
languages like Italian and Arabic , it is possible to drop the pronoun of sentences. For
example, it is possible just to say “parla” (speaks). Italian and Arabic are pro-drop
languages. But once the pro-drop parameter is specified, other aspects of the language
fall into place. For example, in a pro-drop language such as Italian you can construct
subjectless sentences such as “cade la notte” (“falls the night”); in nonpro- drop
sentences, you cannot. Instead, you must use the standard word order with an explicit
subject .
So Chomsky and others who view language acquisition as a process of acquiring a
grammar, the basis of which is innate, acquiring a language involves putting the built-
in switches (parameters) into the correct positions. There are many problems and
defects for this theory :
1 - One obvious problem with this view is that language development is a slow
process, full of errors. Why does it take so long to set these switches? There are two
explanations to solve this problem :
a - The continuity hypothesis says that all the principles and parameters are available
from birth, but they cannot all be used immediately because of other factors. For
example, the child has first to identify words as belonging to particular categories, and
be able to hold long sentences in memory for long enough to process them .
b - The second explanation is that the children do not have immediate access to all
their innate knowledge. Instead, it only becomes gradually available over time as a
consequence of maturation . There is little agreement about which of these provides
the best account of language development.
c - Other problems for the parameter-setting theory include how deaf children manage
to acquire sign language. There are some indications that similar processes underlie
both sign language and spoken language.
d – Another problem is that it has proved difficult to find examples of particular
parameters clearly being set in different languages .
Q9-State the differences between overextension and under extension in the light of
. Clark’s , Nelson’s , and Bowerman’s hypotheses ? Give examples where necessary
E. Clark (1973) was one of the first researchers to look at over-extensions
(sometimes called over-generalizations) . E – Clark asserted Semantic feature
hypothesis for overextension and under extension :
1 - The meaning of words can be specified in terms of smaller units of meaning
(“semantic features”)

2 - Overextensions are often based on perceptual attributes of the object. Although

shape is particularly important, the examples show that over-extensions are also
possible on the basis of the properties of movement, size, texture, and the sound of the
objects referred to . He uses many examples from Child's behaviour listed in the photo
below :
3 - The semantic feature hypothesis (E. Clark, 1973) is based on a deco positional
theory of ]lexical semantics. This approach states that the meaning of a word can be
specified in terms of a set of smaller units of meaning, called semantic features .

4- Over- and under-extensions occur as a result of a mismatch between the features of

the word as used by the child compared with the complete adult representation. The
child samples from the features, primarily on perceptual grounds.

5 - Over-extensions occur when the set of features is incomplete; under-extensions

occur when additional spurious features are developed (such as the meaning of
“round” including something like [silvery white and in the sky]).

6 - Semantic development consists primarily of acquiring new features and reducing

the mismatch by restructuring the lexical representations until the features used by the
adult and child converge. The features are acquired in an order from most to least
general.

Nelson asserted the functional core hypothesis for overextension and underextension.
He viewed that :

1 - Nelson (1974) proposed that functional attributes are more important than
perceptual ones .

2 - In Nelson’s (1974) functional core hypothesis, generalization is not restricted to

perceptual similarity; instead, functional features are also emphasized. In other
respects this is similar to the featural account and suffers from the same problems.

Bowerman (1978) and E. Clark (1973) both found that appearance usually takes
precedence over function. That is, children over-extend based on a perceptual
characteristic such as shape even when the objects in the domain of application
clearly have different functions. But later Bowerman asserted his own theory
( Prototype hypothesis ) :

1 - A prototype is an average member of a category . Over-extensions may probably

be explained better in terms of concept development and basic category use.

2 - Lexical development consists of acquiring a prototype that corresponds to the

adult version .

.Q10-Are there any individual differences in the development of language ? Discuss

Yes there are . This is emerged through :
1 - The way in which adults talk to children appears to have an effect as the child gets
older
2 - There are large individual differences in the ability of preschool children to form
and understand syntactically complex sentences, and the quality of what children hear
correlates highly with these differences
3 - Children who hear complex structures master them earlier .
Even here, it is difficult to be certain about what is causal. The most important source
of input for young children is their parents, so we cannot rule out genetic factors:
Syntactic complexity in parent and child might reflect parent–child genetic similarity
4 - The language of teachers also comes to have an effect: The syntactic abilities of
children taught by teachers who use syntactically more complex speech develops
faster than those taught by teachers who use simpler constructions
5- Children appear to vary in the importance they assign to different concepts, and
this leads to individual differences and preferences for learning words.