13/09/2023

Phonology in children

A phoneme is a single sound.

'Cat' has 3 phonemes.

Kids know where unstressed sylables mostly so they emit them - 'puter' not 'computer'

'lellow' instead of 'yellow'

'Produce' has two meanings depending on how it's stressed.

"My but" --> my book

"It's a babit" --> It's a rabbit

receptive vs productive vocabulary

Everyone understands more than that can say.

"da-da-da" - consonant/vowel 'reduplicating'

At 18 months, a child is at the 'babbling' stage.

First theory
Nelson (1973) found that nouns (mostly concrete [ones you can prove are there: table, egg etc.])
formed 60% of a child's first 50 words.

Bloom (2004) argued that the reason why most of a child's first words are nouns is because most
words are nouns: they outnumber verbs 5:1 in most dictionaries.
Why do they not learn prepositions, articles etc. first?

Nouns are the bare minimum children need to be understood

Peekaboo teaches turn-taking

Saxton (2010) - Table of word classes:

Word Class:
Food and drink

Family

Animals

Parts of the body

Clothing

Vehicles

Games and routines

Toys

Familiar objects

Actions

Descriptives

Sound effects

Words in the vocabularies of children younger than 18 months:

Bread, cookie, drink, juice, milk

Mama, dada, baby

Dog, kitty, duck, cow, horse, bunny

Nose, mouth, foot, ear, hair, hand

Hat, shoe, coat, nappy

Car, truck, bike, boat, train

Bye-bye, night-night, upsidaisy, peekaboo, hi, shhh

Ball, book, doll, teddy, bubbles

Chair, cup, spoon, bottle, key, clock, flower, door

Eat, go, up, down, sit, off, back

Hot, cold, allgone, dirty

Yum-yum, ouch, moo, woof

Why they learn concrete nouns:

· Cohesion - "objects maintain their connectedness and their boundaries as they move"
ie they don't change shape or physical characteristics as they move.

· Continuity - "an object traces exactly one connected path over space and time" ie
movement is determined by space and time which 'connects' its path.

· Contact - "distinct objects move together if and only if they touch" ie there has to be
some form of connection for objects to move together

Bedtime reading can increase a child's vocabulary.

Hart and Risley (1995) found that low SES (socio-economic status) families used fewer words
when speakers to their children, meaning that these children therefore learned fewer words.

2100 words an hour for professional families

1200 words an hour for working class families

600 words an hour from families on benefits

Basically, children at 3 y/o will hear 30 million more words.