SHS 465/565 Learning Activity #2 Dr. Weinhold, Dr.

Peter

Your Name: Evelyn Larimer

Semantic acquisition
Research on children’s first words suggest that the words fall into five major categories.
Researcher Katherine Nelson has claimed that children can be described as one of two types
based on these categories, using their first 50 words. One type is a referential child, a child who
uses general nominals mostly (more than 50%; the percentage of general nominals stands out
from the rest). These children like to name things. The other category is children who show a
more even distribution of the categories, and show in particular a larger number of personal-social
words. A child in this group is referred to as an expressive child. Personal-social words are words
like ‘hi’, ‘goodbye’ etc. The percentages for each category for each type of child in Nelson’s study
are shown below, along with the percentages of two children, Samuel and Rachel.
Categories Referential Expressive Samuel Rachel
Specific nominals 6% 14% 16% 13%
General nominals 76% 34% 62% 35%
Action words 8% 12% 9% 20%
Personal-social words 2% 24% 9% 30%
Modifiers 4% 12% 4% 3%

Question 1 (4 points):
a. Is Samuel a referential child, an expressive child, or neither? Justify your answer.

Samuel is a referential child, this is because the highest percentage of words that
he uses are general nominals. According to Katherine Nelson, referential
speakers use general nominals more than 50%, and this is the case for Samuel.

b. Is Rachel a referential child, an expressive child, or neither? Justify your answer.

Rachel is an expressive child, this is because she shows a more even

distribution of the categories. According to Katherine Nelson, expressive
speakers show a larger number of personal-social words, which is the case for
Rachel.

Question 2 (6 points): Why would children fall into categories such as expressive or referential?
Consider the two possibilities listed below. Name one other possibility. For each possible
cause, give a short proposal (a sentence or two) how this could be a plausible reason (or not)
for a child’s communication style (referential vs. expressive).

1. Parental modeling – how would this work (or not)?

This possibility does not work because research does not support this. The same
set of parents can produce one expressive speaker and one referential speaker
based on the child’s individual preference.

2. Individual preference – how would this work (or not)?

This possibility works because this is one of the factors that research suggests is
the reason why one sibling may be referential and the other expressive.
SHS 465/565 Learning Activity #2 Dr. Weinhold, Dr. Peter

3. Birth Order - how would this work (or not)?

This possibility works because birth order can determine how often you get to
speak, if you are the younger sibling, an older sibling may speak for you. Also,
depending on family dynamics, they could get more language input from their
sibling rather than their parents.

Question 3: (10 points)

Consider Brandon’s first words: (Note: Capitalization is significant.)
uh-oh bye-bye Baba ball Mama
Dada bear more water book
banana all-done yeah poopoo boo

Classify Brandon’s words. This requires sorting the words into the categories shown in the table
below, then computing a percent number for each category. (Example: Let’s say Brandon
produced 10 general nominals out of 15 words. The percent to enter into Brandon’s list is
10/15X100 = 66.7%.)

Categories Referential Expressive Samuel Rachel Brandon

Specific Nominals 6% 14% 16% 13% 20%
General Nominals 76% 34% 62% 35% 33.33%
Action Words 8% 12% 9% 20% 13.33%
Personal-social Wds 2% 24% 9% 30% 20%
Modifiers 4% 12% 4% 3% 13.33%

What kind of speaker is Brandon? Justify your answer.

Kind of speaker: Expressive Speaker
Reason: Brandon is an expressive speaker because he shows a more even distribution of the
categories. He shows a particular larger number of personal-social words when compared to
Samuel who is a referential speaker.

Question 4 (10 points): Consider the following morphemes. Classify which are bound and
which are free, and whether they are lexical or functional morphemes.

Morpheme Bound or free? Lexical or functional?

quick free lexical
at free functional
-tween bound lexical
-ing bound functional
-hind bound lexical
through free lexical
-ed bound functional
and free functional
jump free lexical
is bound functional
now free lexical
SHS 465/565 Learning Activity #2 Dr. Weinhold, Dr. Peter

Question 5 (10 points): Classify the 14 grammatical morphemes described by Roger Brown.
Complete the following chart and provide an example of each type in the column indicated. Do
not use the same examples that are provided in your slides. The first two entries have been
completed for you.

Free/Bound Morpheme Order Example

acquired
B Present progressive 1 -ing
F Prepositions: specific 2-3 on
B Plural 4 [-es] “sandwiches”
B Past irregular verbs “drank”
B Possessive [-s’] “the dogs’ bones”
F Uncontrollable copula [be] “here we are”
F Articles an
B Past regular [-ed] “walked”
B 3rd person regular [-es] “he watches t.v.”
B 3rd person irregular is “he is happy”
B Uncontractable auxiliary [be] “They had been waiting for hours”
B Contractable copula [be] Is “He’s happy”
B Contractible auxiliary [be] Will “I’ll go”

Are all early grammatical morphemes bound morphemes? No.

Explain your answer, using at least two examples.
Not all early grammatical morphemes are bound morphemes, an example of this would be
prepositions such as “on”, which is considered a free morpheme. Another example of a free
morpheme would be articles such as “an”.