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EXAMINATION CRITERIA

WHAT ARE THE ASSESSMENT OBJECTIVES?

Question A01 A02 A03 Total

Questions 1/2    24  16    8   48

(7.5%) (5%) (2.5%) (15%)

Questions 3/4    24  16    8   48

(7.5%) (5%) (2.5%) (15%)

A Level Total   48  32  16  96

(15%) (10%) (5%) (30%

EXAM TIPS AND TECHNIQUES

1. High level students use precise terminology in order to describe and explain data.

CHILD LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

SPOKEN DISCOURSE DEVELOPMENT

EARLY LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

KEY LINGUSTIC STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT

It is suggested that language development may start in the womb. This is because babies become familiar with the sounds,
rhythms and intonations of language.

Fitzpatrick (2002) found that the heart rate of an unborn baby slowed when it heard its mother’s voice.

Babies use their vocal sounds straight away (this is during the vegetative stage) as one of the discomfort sounds known is crying-
this is instinctive to how a baby feels.

Stage Age Framework Description

Vegetative 0-7 months Phonology Discomfort sounds and

reflexive actions.

Cooing 4-6 months Phonology Open mouthed vowel sounds.

(Reduplicated/variegated) 6-12 months Phonology Consonant-vowel repeated

babbling patterns. Reduplicated
babbling examples include
ga-ga-ga-ga Variegated
babbling examples include
da-di-da.

Proto-words 9-12 months Phonology and lexis Word-like vocalisations

Holophrastic 12-18 months Phonology, semantics and One word combinations. The
lexis one word acts in a variety of
ways: question, noun and
verb.

Two words 18-24 months Phonology, semantics and Two word combinations.
lexis

Telegraphic 24-36 months Phonology, grammar, Three or more word

semantics and lexis combinations.

Post-telegraphic 36+ months Phonology, grammar, Grammatically complex

semantics and lexis combinations.

 Petitto and Holowka (2002) videoed infants and noted that most babbling came from the right side of the mouth
which is controlled by the left side of the brain. This side of the brain is responsible for speech production; their
findings suggest that babbling is a form of preliminary speech.
 When babies begin to babble, the number of different phonemes they produce increase- this is known as phoneme
expansion. Later in the babbling stage, they reduce the number of phonemes they use- this is known as phoneme
contraction. At the 10 month stage (approximately) during babbling is where children of different nationalities start
to sound different.
 Some babies during the babbling stage begin to use rhythms that resemble speech patterns; they use recognisable
intonation.

The stages of development are just guides. They are not suggesting that children automatically
mature to the next stage. In the data in the exam, children are likely to not follow the stage to the
table. The most commonly assessed stages are telegraphic – post-telegraphic.

PHONOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT AND ERRORS

Sounds are produced by air from the lungs passing across the vocal chords.

The production of consonant sounds is affected by:

1. How the airstream is controlled?

2. Where the sound is produced?
3. If the sound is voiced or unvoiced?

VOICED-This is where the sound vibrates the vocal chords.

UNVOICED-This is where the sound does not vibrate the vocal chords.

The detail of annotation required in the

exam will be as follows:

/dog/

The child uses a voiced plosive /d/ in a consonant initial position.

 You need to be able to say whether it is a consonant or vowel.

 You need to say whether it is voiced or unvoiced.
 You need to say what type of sound is produced: approximant, fricative,
vowel, affricatives, nasals, plosives or laterals.

Consonant final positions are more difficult than consonant initial positions because of the motor movements in the mouth are
difficult.
PHONOLOGICAL ERRORS

Phonological errors are used to simplify lexis in order to make it easier for children to speak.

PHONOLOGICAL ERRORS

SUBSTITUTION Instead of dropping a consonant, a child might replace it with ones that are easy to say.

E.g. /dog/dod

DELETION Sometimes a child drops a consonant altogether particularly at the end of the lexis (consonant final position).

E.g. /dog/do

CLUSTER REDUCTION This is where there are consonant clusters; a child may drop one of the consonants.

E.g. /green/geen

THE FIS PHENOMENON-BERKO AND BROWN

 Children are aware of the phonological development-they understand the meaning.

 Children can recognise and understand a wide range of phonemes.
 They understand all phonemes but can’t produce them.

Phonetic awarenessPhonetic production

OTHER PHONOLOGICAL ERRORS

ADDITION This is where children add (usually a vowel) to make the final position easier to say; easier than a consonant.

E.g. dog (c-v-c structure)/ dogu (c-v-c-v structure)

ASSIMILATION The consonant final is influencing the consonant initial position.

E.g. tub becomes bub.

REDUPLIFICATION  A phoneme is repeated.

E.g. ‘moo, moo’

DEVELOPMENT OF THE MOUTH

PLOSIVES

This is when airflow is blocked and moves through the mouth.

Part of the mouth created Examples of letters

Bilabial P, b

Using both of the lips.

Alveolar T, d

Using the middle of the

mouth.

Velar K, g
Using the throat.

NASALS

This is when airflow moves through the nose.

Part of the mouth created Examples of letters

Bilabial M

Using both of the lips.

Velar N

Using the throat.

FRICATIVES

Airflow is only partially blocked and air moves through the mouth. It is caused by friction.

Part of the mouth created Examples of letters

Labiodental F, z

Using the teeth and the

lips

Dental Sh, ch

Using the teeth.

Alveolar S, z

Using the middle of the

mouth.

APPROXIMANTS

Air goes through the mouth, this is like a vowel.

Part of the mouth created Examples of letters

Alveolar W, r, j

Using the middle of the

mouth.

VOWELS

Air goes through the mouth.

CRUTTENDEN’S STUDY INTO INTONATION

He investigated if young children could understand varying intonation. He compared adults and children to see if they could
predict football results from listening to the scores. He found out that adults could successfully predict winners by the intonation
placed by the first team, but children (up to the age of 7) were less accurate.
LEXICAL DEVELOPMENT

PROTOWORDS

These are invented words with a consistent meaning.

Examples

 Moc-milk
 Moo-cow
 Boc-bottle

HOLOPHRASE

This is a single word expressing a whole idea.

(Pragmatics is important-requires context- it allows the caregiver to understand the child; contextual cues).

Contextual cues include:

1. Intonation (rise at the end of the sentence).

2. Stress (emphasis on certain lexis).
3. Non-verbal communication (paralinguistic features).

A holophrase can act as a:

 Declarative, e.g. there is teddy, pointing and same pitch.

 Interrogative, e.g. where is teddy? Rising intonation.
 Exclamative, e.g. give me teddy now! Low pitch.
 Imperative, e.g. I want teddy now.

VOCABULARY SIZE

Age Vocabulary size

(number of words)

12 months 50

24 months 200

36 months 2000

 12 months (fis phenomenon): they understand more, approximately 250 words.

 2-7 years are estimations because of the volume of lexis learnt.

NELSON-KEY THEORIST

Katherine Nelson (1973) identified four categories for first words (50):

1. Naming (things or people).

2. Actions/events.
3. Describing/modifying things.
4. Personal/social words.
She found that 60% of first words were nouns. Verbs formed the second largest groups and were used with action or location
words, e.g. ‘up’. Modifiers came thirds and personal/social words make up about 8% of the sample.

 First words are often proper or concrete nouns (content words); it appears that children find it easy to link a word to
a referent (the object it describes). Naming words are encountered on a daily basis and can rarely be substituted.
- Link to Piaget cognitive development.
 Modifiers (function words) are not usually necessary and because the grammatical construction is more difficult.
 The social and interactive nature of the first 50 words suggests the importance of interacting with others.
 Higher focus on semantic development than grammatical at the time of lexical development.

SEMANTIC DEVELOPMENT

Overextension-over extends the meaning to other objects in similar categories.

E.g. calling a cat a dog and a dog a dog.

Underextension-under specifies the meaning associated with an object.

E.g. calling a rubber duck a duck but not calling a live duck a duck.

Overextension is the most commonly used error because of how a child experiences lexis.

EVE CLARK-OVEREXTENSION AND ADJECTIVES

Eve Clark believes overextension is more common.

Children base their overextensions on:

 The physical qualities of objects.

 Features such as taste, sound, movement, shape, size and texture.
 Children’s first words are related to their experiences of the world, dominated by senses.
E.g. babies like picking things up and putting things in their mouth.

She also found that common adjectives (e.g. nice and big) are developed in the first 50 words, however, spatial adjectives are
acquired later (e.g. wide/narrow).

LESLIE RESCORIA-TYPES OF OVEREXTENSION

Overextension

Mismatch
Categorical Analogical
statement

Categorical extension (“category”)-the name for one member of a category is extended to all members of the category.

E.g. stars being called moons as they are in the same category of space.

Analogical overextension (“physical/functional”)-a word for one object is extended to one in a different category but based on a
physical or functional connection.

E.g. a ball used as a round fruit.

Mismatch statements-one word sentences that appear abstract.

E.g. saying duck at an empty pond.

JEAN AITCHISON

Connecting lexical and semantic development.

1. Labelling
2. Packaging
3. Network-building

LABELLING

Linking words to objects.

PACKAGING (HYPERNYM)

Linking the labels to other applications.

This is when over/under extension occurs.

NETWORK-BUILDING (HYPONYM)

Making connections between words, understanding similarities in meaning.

GRAMMATICAL DEVELOPMENT

TWO WORD STAGE

ROGER BROWN-MEANING RELATIONS IN TWO WORD STAGE

- Agent and affected: something affects the object, e.g. dad kicked.
- Action and attribute: does someone do something to an object, e.g. me food.
- Entity and attribute: is a person or object described, e.g. cat fat.
- Action and affected: does an action affect an object, e.g. sit chair.
- Entity and location: is an object located, e.g. pencil floor.
- Action and location: does an action occur in a place, e.g. kick floor.
- Possessor and possession: does an object have a possessor, e.g. daddy pen.
- Nomination: object/person labelled, e.g. there mam.
- Recurrence: event repeated, e.g. more cats.
- Negation: is something denied? E.g. no food.

TELEGRAPHIC STAGE

QUESTIONS

YES/NO INTERROGATIVES

 Yes/no interrogatives are easier to articulate than wh-questions. This is because of their construction.
 Yes/no interrogatives only require the addition of ‘can/may’ to the declarative, e.g. ‘Can (I have the sweet)?

WH- QUESTIONS

Wh-questions require a subject auxiliary inversion, e.g. Where is (mam is there)?

What? This is where children link the word to the object, e.g. ‘box’. Sensorimotor. It could also link to Jean Aitchinson’s stage of
labelling in semantic development.

Where? This is linked to Piaget’s idea of object permanence-objects exist out of sight. Sensorimotor

Why? This is where abstract reasoning begins to develop. Concrete operational.

When? This is where children start to think about concrete/temporal events.

PRONOUNS

1. Use of own name in the sentence, e.g. Beth walk.

2. Use of pronoun inside a sentence, I walk to the shop.
3. Use of pronoun in the correct subject order position, e.g. I went to the shop.

NEGATIVES

1. Use of no at the beginning/end of the sentence, e.g. No wear shoes.

2. Use of no inside the sentence, e.g. I no wear shoes.
3. Use of negation contracted to the copula verb, e.g.
4.

POST-TELEGRAPHIC STAGE

MORPHOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT

This was suggested by Roger Brown and includes:

 Present tense progressive -ing.

 Prepositions in/on.
 Plural -‘s.
 Past tense irregular run/ran.
 Possessive -‘s.
 Uncontractable copula is/was.
 Articles the/a.
 Past tense regular -ed.
 Third person regular runs.
 Contractable auxiliary she’s running.
 Contractable copula she’s.
 Uncontractable auxiliary they were running.
 Contractable auxiliary she’s running.

VIRTUOUS ERRORS AND OVERGENERALISATIONS

VIRTUOUS ERRORS-syntactical errors made by young children in which the non-standard utterance reveals some understanding
through incomplete of standard syntax.

E.g. I runned/I ran

OVERGENERALISATIONS-this is a learner’s extension of a word’s grammatical rule beyond its normal use.

E.g. mouses/mice.

 This is common with irregular lexis that does not conform to the rules.
Chomsky supported because children have never heard an adult say it-rejects Skinner’s idea that repetition and imitation work;
children often still use the irregular verbs.

BERKO’S WUG TEST

She proved overgeneralisations. This is where she conducted a study and she gave the children an image of an imaginary
creature known as a wug. She asked what would there be if there was more than one wug and ¾ of the 4-5 year olds formed the
plural ‘wugs’.

AS GRAMMAR REVISION!!!

 This will allow you to be more precise rather than saying: child A uses ‘must’ because… You can say: child A uses the
modal auxiliary verb ‘must’ which shows possibility and this may suggest that…

WORDS

NOUNS

 Concrete nouns- things you can touch- e.g. ‘table’.

 Proper nouns- names of people and places- e.g. ‘mum/’London’.
 Abstract nouns-this represents a feeling or thought-e.g. ‘love’.

VERBS

Verbs

Auxiliary verbs Main verb

Primary auxiliary Modal auxiliary Material Stative Dynamic Relational Mental

Shows feelings,
They support the They physically Shows states of
They show They show They constantly Change occurs, thoughts and
main verb, e.g. happen, being, e.g.
certainty. possibility occur, e.g.'love'. e.g. 'paint'. perceptions, e.g.
'be'. e.g.'jump'. 'become'.
'feel'.

E.g. 'must/should' E.g. 'could/would'

 Sometimes primary auxiliaries can act as main verbs.

PHRASES

 They occur in the post-telegraphic stage.

  Pre-modification and post-modification of a word show more development. E.g. the car/ the red car. Sentence two is
more developed because of the pre-modifier ‘red’ in the phrase. It is not a sentence because it doesn’t have a main
verb or a subject.

CLAUSES

PRAGMATIC DEVELOPMENT

HALLIDAY’S FUNCTIONS OF SPEECH

 Instrumental- to fulfil a need, e.g. ‘mok-mok’ indicating thirst.

 Regulatory- influence behaviours of others e.g. ‘pick that up’.
 Interactional-to maintain social relationships, e.g. ‘I love you’.
 Personal- conveys relationships, e.g. ‘I like that’.
 Representational-conveys facts and information, e.g. ‘that’s red’.
 Imaginative-creates an imaginary world, e.g. ‘I shopkeeper’.
 Heuristic-learning about the environment, e.g. ‘what’s that?’ Link to Piaget’s cognitive development!

DORE’S FUNCTIONS OF SPEECH

 Labelling- naming, e.g. ‘mam’ looking at their mother.

 Repeating, e.g. ‘yes/yes’ repeating their dad say something  Link to Skinner’s imitation theory!
 Answering, e.g. ‘yeah’ in response to their parents asking them if they want food.
 Requesting, e.g. ‘can I have that’ after looking in the Argos catalogue.
 Calling-getting attention by shouting, e.g. ‘dad’ after they have fallen other.
 Protesting- objecting to requests, e.g. ‘no’ in response to their parents asking them to tidy their room.
 Practicing-using language when no adult is present, e.g. ‘I teacher’ where the child is pretending to be a teacher.
 Link to Piaget’s discovery learning.

GRICE'S MAXIMS

Also found in language and technology.

1. Maxim of relevance - be relevant

2. Maxim of quality - be truthful

3. Maxim of quantity - don't say too much, too little

4. Maxim of manner - be clear

BROWN & LEVINSON FACE THREATENING ACTS

This is also in language and technology.

(Face threatening acts)

Face is the public self-image that every adult tries to project.

Positive face two ways: as "the want of every member that his wants be desirable to at least some others", or alternately, "the
positive consistent self-image or 'personality' (crucially including the desire that this self-image be appreciated and approved
of)".

Positive face = desires to be liked, admired, ratified, and related to positively, noting that one would threaten positive face by
ignoring someone
Face saving acts.

Positive politeness strategy-this is by the use of flattery.

Negative politeness strategy-this is by the use of hedging.

Negative face was defined as "the want of every 'competent adult member' that his actions be unimpeded by others", or "the
basic claim to territories, personal preserves, rights to non-distraction--i.e. the freedom of action and freedom from imposition".

LAKOFF'S POLITENESS PRINCIPLES

Lakoff believed that a co-operative conversation required:

• Not imposing

• giving options

• Making the receiver feel good.

PLAY AND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Vygotsky observed children’s play and linked it to both cognitive and social development. Young children often use props as
‘pivots’ to support their play, whereas, older children use their imagination.

Garvey’s study of pairs of children playing found that children adopt roles and identities, acting out storylines and inventing
objects and settings as required in a role-play scenario. This is termed ‘pretend play’ and fulfils Halliday’s imaginative function.
Children play together because it is enjoyable, but it also practices social interactions and negotiation skills, with player’s roles
and responsibilities often decided as they play. Sometimes this is known as socio-dramatic play, it often involves both social and
dramatic skills with rules that reflect real life behaviour.

Sociodramatic play usually begins when children are around 4 years old, possibly linking to their cognitive understanding as they
understand the different roles people have and how these affect language. In the children’s re-enactments use field-specific lexis
and structure those in some of the ways that adults use in situations, suggesting that they can imitate behaviours.

 Link to Piaget’s cognitive theory.

 Link to Skinner’s imitation theory.

CHILD DIRECTED SPEECH (CDS)

CHILD-DIRECTED SPEECH-any of various speech patterns used by parents or care givers when communicating with young
children, particularly infants, usually involving simplified vocabulary, high pitch, repetitive questioning and a slow/deliberate
tempo.

Speech that is common of adults using CDS:

 Higher pitch (prosodic features)

 Present tense
 Yes/no questioning
 Exaggerated pauses
 Repetition of sentence frames
 Using the child’s name rather than pronouns
 One word utterances/short elliptical sentences
 Fewer verbs/modifiers
 Concrete nouns
 RECASTS- the commenting on, extending and rephrasing a child’s utterance.
  EXPANSIONS- the development of a child’s utterance into a longer, more meaningful form.

Some people argue using CDS teaches children the basic function and structure of language. However, not all cultures use CDS,
either through not speaking to their children (e.g. in Papa New Guinea), or not simplifying an adult language for children.

Chomsky argued that language structures cannot simply be acquired from repeating language (i.e. through CDS) because of the
random nature and using incomplete grammatical structures. However, studies of CDS have shown that register is more
structured and regular.

Men seem to use more direct questioning styles, seek more information and use a wider vocabulary than women.

Clarke-Stewart found children had a larger vocabulary if their mothers talked to them. However, Roger Brown found that
children were rarely corrected for grammatical mistakes, though they were for their lexical errors or for their content of the
speech. Therefore, CDS cannot explain children’s acquisition of language, but may affect their linguistic competence.

BRUNER’S LASS

The LASS is a Language Acquisition Support System and Bruner believed that ritualised activities that occur in young children’s
lives: mealtimes, bedtimes, reading books- and how carers make the rules and meanings of these interactions explicit and
predictable so that children can learn.

SCAFFOLDING

This refers to the ways adults (such as caregivers) help children advance cognitively. He observed that adult withdraw support as
children’s skills develop.

VYGOTSKY’S ZPD

ZPD- Zone of Proximal Development

This describes how adults and children work together to move children towards independence, knowledge and competence.

KEY THEORISTS INVOLVED IN CHILD LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Be open-minded with your conclusions. Don’t suggest that your data conclusively ‘proves’ or
‘disproves’ particular theoretical viewpoints. Using words like ‘could’ and ‘might’ implies links
between features of child language and certain theories, and helps to avoid sweeping judgement
about the soundness of Chomsky’s or Skinner’s theories.

Key theorist Area of development/acquisition Key ideas

Chomsky Grammatical development. There is an innate mechanism which

allows the child to acquire grammatical
Language acquisition structures, the environment acts as a
device trigger for this acquirement.

Berko and Brown Phonological development This is the idea that children understand
a wider range of phonemes than the
Fis phenomenon ones produced because of the lack of
development in the mouth; unable to
articulate.

Nelson Lexical development The categories include: naming

(concrete and proper nouns),
Classifying children’s first actions/events (verbs), modifiers and
50 words personal/social words.

Eve Clark Semantic development Overextension is more common because

it is easy to relate objects via their
Popularity of features, experiences and physical
overextension qualities.

Leslie Rescorla Semantic development The types of overextension include

categorical, analogical and
Types of overextension mismatch statements.

Piaget Child language acquisition Children are active learners and

therefore use the environment and
Cognitive development social interactions to shape language. His
stages of development include:
sensorimotor, pre-operational, concrete
operational and formal operational.

Roger Brown Grammatical development These are the combinations that children
make when they are in the two word
Meaning relations in the stage. This includes agent and action,
two word stage agent and affected, entity and attribute,
action and affected, action and location,
entity and location, possessor and
possession, nomination, recurrence and
negation.

This information following not include those involved in a level of development.

CHOMSKY’S LANGUAGE ACQUISITION DEVICE (LAD)

 Chomsky believed that learning takes place through an innate brain mechanism in order to acquire grammatical
structures. This means Chomsky believed that children did not pick up the grammatical structures from the
environment, e.g. their parent’s speech.
 He also considers that although human languages across the world may seem different, they share many similarities;
he describes this as universal grammar.

EVALUATION OF CHOMSKY’S LANGUAGE ACQUISITION DEVICE (LAD)

Positive Negative

All children roughly gain the same language features at the No location of the brain mechanism has been found.
same time.

There is similar grammar throughout languages. Based on anecdotal evidence.

On a lexical level, words may be similar through languages. Case studies of people with no social interaction until the age
of adolescence do not speak properly.
Stroke victims find it difficult to speak because of brain
damage.

Underestimates the significance of Skinner’s imitation theory

(behaviourist).

BEHAVIOURISTS
Children learn language through positive reinforcement. This was introduced by Skinner who believed that children learn
through imitation.

SOCIAL INTERACTIONISTS

Children learn language through social interaction, e.g. playing games.

PIAGET’S COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

Key assumptions:

 Children are active learners who use their environment and social interactions to shape their language.
 Piaget linked linguistic development with an understanding of the concepts surrounding the words meanings. This
suggests that children cannot be taught before they are ready.
 Contradicts Skinner’s imitation theory.

Piaget outlined four stages of linguistic development:

Stages Age Description Link to grammatical development

Sensorimotor Up to the age Children experience the physical world

of 2 through the senses and begin classifying
things. Concrete nouns are mainly used rather
than abstract nouns. Object permanence-
objects exist even out of sight.

Pre-operational 2-7 years old Language and motor skills develop. Language
is egocentric (focused on themselves).

Concrete 7-11 years old Children begin to think logically about

operational concrete events.

Formal 11 years + Abstract reasoning skills develop.

operational

ACQUISITION OF READING

Reading is explicit and has to be taught.

Heath (1980) conducted a study and found early language is shaped by community and home, reading is developed as a result of
children’s experiences. Heath studied three America communities: two are working class and one is middle class. The working
classes’ community are much more cultural and oral focused, e.g. through the use of singing. The middle class community is
more focused on sharing and reading books with parents.

WHAT ARE THE CATEGORIES OF READING BOOKS?

 Narratives
 Classics
 Reading schemes
 Novels
 Fiction/non-fiction
 Short stories
 Bedtime
 Fairy-tales and fables

WHAT DO CHILDREN NEED TO KNOW?

  Reflect the relationship between graphemes and phonemes.
 Be able to read from left to right and reading the rules.
 Have cohesion with different parts of the text connecting.
 Organised in particular ways, e.g. chapter headings and page numbers.
 Differing in their organisation according to genre, e.g. fiction and non-fiction.

STAGES OF GENRE OF READING DEVELOPMENT

Baby and toddler

Early story books

Books for young children

Independent reading

BABY AND TODDLER READING BOOKS

They are read to children and aid them with their speech development.

Also, it assists Jean Aitchinson’s linking lexical and semantic development through lexical and semantic development: labelling,
packaging and network building.

EARLY READING BOOKS

They are read to children and this allows the child to obtain lexical and grammatical structures.

BOOKS THAT HAVE A PRIMARY PURPOSE TO ENTERTAIN

TECHNIQUES USED

Interacting with the audience- this engages the child with the book and tries to make reading fun. It also allows a creation of a
relationship and this is through the use of rhetorical device: it allows a converging relationship.

Varying sentence moods- declaratives and exclamatives- declaratives are used to help label the character and this could relate
to Jean Aitchinson, as it often allows children to label objects and so make connections. Exclamatives are often used to create
tension and excitement throughout the story.

Depicts characters (animals/humans) - animals are used because they can be fun; they are able to personify emotion and often
subvert the stereotype.

Colour ratio-often a high colour ratio makes the story more exciting and often allows the child to engage further.

Submit values- this is often common in fables because there is often a secondary purpose to educate and this is used to teach
children essential principles, e.g. politeness.

BRUNER’S LASS

Language Acquisition Support System.

There are four stages of parent and child interactions with reading books:

1. Gaining attention-getting the baby’s attention to look at the picture.

2. Query-asking the baby what the object in the picture is.
3. Labelling-telling the baby what the object in the picture is.
 4. Feedback-responding to the baby’s utterance.

Vygotsky believed that children cannot learn automatically, they need to learn when they’re ready.

FEATURES OF BOOKS

CHARACTERS

 Animals as the characters are often used to subvert the stereotypes and there is a change in the food chain (which
focuses on the prey and predator relationship), this highlights the morals, e.g. politeness.

PHONOLOGICAL DEVICES

 Repetition through the repeated sound and phrase structure.

 Alliteration.
 Rhyming-offers a predictability of the structure and if there is a constant structure then this will maintain social
routines according to Bruner. It often helps children remember the words to the rhymes because they are
phonetically playful. It is also set up as a rhyme (multimodality) and this allows making reading much more fun to
the child. This is experimental learning which is written to be spoken.

PICTURES

 It allows children to understand how they are read from left to right.
 It follows the plot.
 Text to image cohesion and they have to read the text in order to give them contextual cues. Explicit referral from
the text to the picture and this is shown through Aitchinson.
 Sentence spaces are able to identify they are different sentences.

DIRECT SPEECH

 Adjacency pairs highlights turn taking.

 Grammatical patterns are used for lexical repetition.
 It introduces them to conversational discourse.
 Formation of wh- questions.
 Syntax is repeated throughout.
 Introduces speech marks.

ANALYTIC AND SYNTHETIC PHONICS

PHONEME-this is the unit of sound.

GRAPHEME-this is a written symbol or letter representing a phoneme.

 Whole word approach- the look and say approach. They learn the shape of the word so they can recognise the word
in a sentence through the use of flashcards.

Analytic phonics Synthetic phonics

+ It runs along reading scheme books. +Memorise quickly.

+Thorough approach. +Learn the underlying principles.

+Methodological approach. +Multi-sensory approach.

-Can’t apply the sounds to all texts given. -Is it thorough?

-Long time to memorise.
MNEMONIC USED TO REMEMBER SYNTHETIC PHONICS
G rapheme recognition
R ecognising phonemes
A whole class teaching
P h’ is an example
H ave to learn all of the sounds
E nables them to find the phonemes in the text
M emorise quickly
E asy as long as you remember your phonemes

READING CUES

1. Graphophonic-this looks at the shape of words, linking to similar graphemes/words to interpret them.
2. Semantic-this is the understanding of the meaning of words and making connections between words and making
connections between words in order to decode them.
3. Visual-this is looking at the pictures and using the visual narrative to interpret unfamiliar words or ideas.
4. Synthetic-this is applying knowledge of word order and word classes to work out it if a word seems in the right context.
5. Contextual-this is searching for understanding in the situation of the story –comparing it to their own experience of
their pragmatic understanding of social conventions.
6. Miscue-this is making errors when reading: a child might miss a word, or substitute another that looks similar, or guess
a word by accompanying pictures.

CHALL’S STAGES OF CHILDREN’S READING DEVELOPMENT

Stage Description Actual age (years) Characteristics

0 Pre-reading and pseudo- -6 Letter and word recognition.

reading
Predict single words.

‘Pretend reading’-looking at
texts they have previously
read.

1 Initial reading and decoding 6-7 High frequency lexis.

Phoneme and grapheme link.

Vocab size is 600.

2 Confirmation and fluency 7-8 Read accurately, quickly and

fluently.

Vocab size is 6000.

3 Reading for learning 9-14 Knowledge and information is

gained.

4 Multiplicity and complexity 14-17 Respond critically when

analysing.

5 Construction and 18+ Reading selectively and

reconstruction forming opinions.

ACQUISITION OF WRITING
\WHY DO WE LEARN TO WRITE?

 To communicate with others for social, interactional and phatic purposes.

 Record information.
 Expressively.

WHY IS IT DIFFICULT TO WRITE?

 Prosodic features.
 Link vocabulary to associative meaning.
 Create sentences to form meaning.
 Social conventions with a text.
 Cohesive structures.
 Variations in language to suit audience, purpose and context.

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO LEARN?

Cognitive skills Physical skills

Understanding lexis Hold a pen

Understanding symbols Hold it in the correct movement

Conveys words and sentences Letter formation: size and shape

Recognisable discourse and genre convention Cursive handwriting

Recognising audience

EMERGENT WRITING-this is children’s early scribble writing.

ASCENDER-this typological feature is where a portion of the letter goes above the usual height for the font, e.g. d.

DESCENDER-this typological feature is where a portion of the letter goes below the baseline of the font, e.g. g.

VYGOTSKY

 He argued that symbols were internalised as a result of the appropriation of the symbols that are meaningful as a way
of improving their understanding.
 They need to understand the link between symbols and communication.
 Vygotsky believed that language leads to development and this leads to learning.
 Interactions (not always with people) can lead to internalisation.

WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF CULTURAL EXPERIENCES?

 Makes sense of symbolic practices.

 Emphasis on culture as concepts can be written down through graphological means.
 Understanding is accomplished through tools using symbolic systems and this can lead to emergent writing.

MULTI MODALITY

There are interactions between images, words and sounds; this can be accomplished through technology and internet.

KROLL’S STAGES OF WRITING DEVELOPMENT

Stage Age Characteristics

Preparation Up to 6 years Basic motor skills are acquired
alongside some principles of spelling.

Consolidation 7/8 Writing is similar to spoken language

(including a more casual, colloquial
register, unfinished sentences and
strings of clauses joined by ‘and’).

Differentiation 9/10 Awareness of writing as separate from

speech emerges. A stronger
understanding of writing for different
audiences and purposes is evident and
becomes automatic.

Integration Mid-teens This stage heralds the ‘personal voice’

in writing and is characterised by
evidence of controlled writing, with
appropriate linguistic choices being
made used consistently.

EVALUATION OF THE STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT

+ Allows guidance for educational institutes to maintain their process.

+is universal and it applies to all children with all ages.

- Doesn’t include environmental factors such as support from parents, i.e. cultural factors.
- Not all children follow these levels; they may be more/less developed.

GENRE

Children need to understand that register, vocabulary choices and grammatical choices contribute to the overall one.

It is important to understand the purpose and relationship between the reader and writer.

Pragmatic skills also become more sophisticated through strategies such as politeness.

ROTHERY’S CATEGORIES

- Observation/commentthere is an observation which is usually followed by an evaluative comment.

- Reportthis is a factual and objective description of an event.
- Recountthis is a chronological description which involves orientation, event and reorientation.
- Narrativethis structure involves orientation, complication, resolution and coda.

PERERA

This complements Rothery’s categories; Perera distinguished between chronological (the use of connectives and action words)
and non-chronological genres.

BRITTON’S GENRE CATEGORIES

 Transactional includes academic essays.

 Poetic
 Expressive is focused on the first person and resembles speech.

SPELLING
BEYOND SPELLING

 Spelling is learnt through interactions- social interactionist theory.

 Use of signature at the end of the message.
 Requirement to support spelling.
 There is an interrelationship between pictures and texts.

HOW DO YOU LEARN HOW TO SPELL A WORD?

 Break it down into syllables and this is known as using SOUND CLUES.
 Use of dictionaries, spell checkers and computers.
 Clues from meaning by linking it to similar words.
 Grammatical knowledge through the knowledge of affixes, e.g. understanding the prefix ‘bi’ means two.
 Writing it down to see if it is right.

WHY ARE THERE DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING THE RULES?

 Pronunciation sounds like a different letter, e.g. the vowel ‘e’ sounds like the vowel ‘i’ in a word.
 Silent letters.
 Homophones.
 Spelling rules.
 Different phoneme to grapheme representation, e.g. ‘ph’ sounds like ‘f’.
 Double letters.
 Individual graphemes represent the sound or if a DIAGRAPH (two letters representing a single sound) is present.
 Accent and dialect.
 Misunderstanding of whether it is a noun or verb, e.g. practice/practise.
 Addition of inflections, e.g. ‘ing’/ ‘ed’.

There is a one-to-one correspondence between the sounds and the symbols.

 26 letters represent 44 phonemes.

WHAT ARE THE STAGES OF SPELLING?

Stage Summary

Pre-phonemic Imitating through pretend writing (i.e. scribbling) and

deciphering shapes.

Semi-phonic Beginning to link phonemes to graphemes.

Phonetic Understanding that graphemes link to phonemes.

Transitional Phonetic awareness to visual memory.

Conventional There is a clear grasp of rules.

WHAT ARE THE SPELLING ERRORS THAT OCCURS IN WRITING?

Term Definition

Insertion Adding extra letters, e.g. catt.

Omission Leaving out letters, e.g. suddnly.

Substitution Substituting one letter for another, e.g. discusting.

Transposition Reversing the correct order of letters in words, e.g. becuase.

Phonetic spelling Using sound awareness to guess letters and combinations of

letters, e.g. correg.

Over/under generalisation of spelling rules  Link to Chomsky: acquiring grammatical

structures through the innate mechanism-
virtuous errors.

Overgeneralising or under generalising a spelling rule, e.g.

‘intelgent’.

Salient (key) sounds Writing only the key sounds, e.g. ‘expensis’.

LANGUAGE CHANGE

(AO3) WHAT CAN I PUT IN MY INTRODUCTION FOR MY LANGUAGE CHANGE ESSAY?

Expectationswhat do you expect from the genre?

Context

Genrecharacteristic features. An example of a genre is newspapers.

Audiencewho are the implied/actual reader? Class and gender.

Purposewhy are they reading it? E.g. to inform.

‘Take a diachronic approach’ (comparing two texts from different time periods) OR ‘take a synchronic approach’ (looking at one
text and the context surrounding it).

(AO2) FACTORS THAT HAVE INFLUENCED LANGUAGE CHANGE

1. Wars and invasions-the Norman invasion in the 11th-14th century and the invasion of Germanic tribes (Vikings and Anglo
Saxons). This developed language and the lexicon of war, e.g. ‘neutralised’.
2. Migration, travel, British Empire and globalisation-language becomes dominant in colonised countries-power and
government. English borrowed to accommodate the new foods and cultures. Globalisation in the late 20 th century has
developed due to technology and American English.
3. Science and technology-in the 18th-19th century, scientific advances occurred and so neologisms were needed. Due to
the academic prestige from Latin and Greek, many of the lexis are derived from there.
4. Travel, working practices and inventions-people’s occupation and technological development leads to the formation of
propitiatory names, eponyms and neologisms.
5. Social, ideological and cultural changes-there are changes in attitude and it is also to accommodate gender, ethnicity
or sexual equality-in order to be politically correct.
6. Media-print, TV, internet and mobiles have influenced language and this is especially because of its interactive nature.

LAKOFF (SYNOPSIS)
Lakoff may be useful synoptically because it can be used to represent the social changes. In addition, if there is a contrast
question then you can suggest the alternate explanations.

She believes that women are inferior (deficient) to men who lacks authority compared to male speech and this is shown
linguistically in their speech.

DEFICIENT SPEECH

 Tag questions
  Hedges
 Weak expletives- using ‘oh dear’ instead of taboo. Lakoff suggested that women are discouraged against forcing
opinions as men are more powerful.
 Empty adjectives, e.g. ‘adorable’, ‘sweet’, ‘lovely’ and ‘divine’
 Precise colour terms.
 Euphemisms.
 Intensifiers.

However, you can suggest that it is an overgeneralisation and maybe women aren’t deficient in their language but they are
trying to be polite and cooperative in the conversation.

CHANGE IN LANGUAGE OVER TIME

PRE 1 S T CENTURY

 Celts were the first inhabitants of England.

 Few words survive in modern English.
 Examples include place names, e.g. Leeds, York, Avon, Penrith and Thames.

1 S T -5 T H CENTURY

 Roman invasion in England influenced language.

 Some influence from Latin but it wasn’t the main influence.
 Examples include concrete nouns, e.g. street, port, wine and wall.

5 T H -8 T H CENTURY (OLD ENGLISH)

 Invasion of the Anglo Saxons (Germanic) and adoption of Christianity.

 Celtic language was no longer used except in Scotland and Ireland.
 Different dialects due to the invader’s dialect.
 Referred to as the basis of English grammatical lexis and this is when many nouns derive from this period.
 Latin alphabet was introduced and this is because the Church suggested it was for the elite.

8 T H -11 T H CENTURY

 Viking invasion: Vikings invaded many of the Anglo Saxon tribes/settlements.

 Germanic (Anglo Saxons) and Viking dialect was similar, however, the grammar is different.
 In the 11th century, the Scandinavians had the biggest influence in the north and this lasted 600 years.
 Examples include get, take, awkward, angry, they and she.

11 T H -14 T H CENTURY (MIDDLE ENGLISH)

 Norman invasion was led by William the conqueror. During this period, Norman French and English co-existed.
 Grammar changed radically; loss of Old English inflections (word endings) and many were replaced by prepositions.
 Beginning of the change in English pronunciation: Great Vowel Shift.
 In the 12th century, English used by the upper classes and by 1425, English was used universally.

15 T H -17 T H CENTURY

 Printing was a step towards standardisation. Caxton (inventor of the printing press) decided printing should be from
the courts, universities (Cambridge) and London. This is associated with authority and learning, the ability to print
books gives a feeling of prestige and permanence.
 Greek and Latin texts were translated into English.
  The Great Vowel Shift was finished.
 Word order becomes more fixed in a subject, order pattern.
 Developed auxiliary verbs.
 Exploration in Africa, Asia and America.
 Shakespeare influenced drama and poetry as he was the greatest playwright.

18 T H – 19 T H CENTURY

“Standard English”

 Prescriptive ideas; the use of grammar books to set rules.

 Latin has viewed as the idea language and a model for dictionaries.
 English dictionary created a standard reference point.
 Non-standard varieties were seen as inferior.
 Industrial revolution; coinages as a result of the technological advances.
 Influential writers such as Jane Austen influenced the vocabulary.
 19th century, acronyms were commonly used.

19 T H CENUTRY- PRESENT DAY!

 Influence from American English.

 Colonial expansion of the British Empire, rail travel and spread of literacy as a result of the printed word.
 Electronic media extended the growth of English.
 English language continues to loan words.
 Colloquial changes as a result of social changes.

LEXICAL CHANGE

DERIVATIONAL MORPHOLOGICAL CHANGE

Making new words from old ones and adding to existing words are a type of derivational morphological change.
 Phoneme

Morpheme

Free/base/stem Affix/bound
morpheme morpheme

Prefix Suffix

Diminutive suffix

PHONEME

A phoneme is a unit of sound, e.g. ‘ch’.

MORPHEME

A morpheme is a unit of meaning.

 There can be semantic or grammar morphemes.

- Semantic morphemes carry the meaning.
- Grammar changes the word class. E.g. from a verb to a noun.

Examples

Word Semantic morpheme Grammatical morpheme

Dogging DOG-four legged canine. ING-action of doing something.

Unfriend FRIEND-a person who is liked. UN-not.

FREE MORPHEMES

Free morphemes do not require anything additional, i.e. prefixes or suffixes.

Free morphemes can be found in the dictionary.

BOUND MORPHEMES (AFFIXES)

Bound morphemes (also known as affixes) require a free morpheme.

They do not make sense on their own.

They are usually grammatical, i.e. they change the lexis’ grammatical function.
 Affix
Prefix Suffix
Affixes are sometimes linked to contemporary tastes. E.g. ‘supermodel’. This highlights the changes in tastes to fashion and the
focus on fashion shows across the world: London, Paris and New York.

Prefixes and suffixes are derived from Latin and Greek. During the 18 th century, there was a desire to use Latin and Greek affixes
(contra-/-otic) to show intellectual status and an elevated register (formality).

PREFIX

This type of affix goes at the front of lexis. An example is hyperactive.

SUFFIX

This type of affix goes at the end of lexis. An example in radicalising.

DIMINUTIVE SUFFIX

They are used to soften the meaning compared to suffixes. Examples include doggie, wifey and choccie.

CREATING WORDS

 Neologism/coinage- creation of a new word, e.g. Google: to use an online search engine as the basis for looking up
information on the World Wide Web.
 Acronym-sounded as one word, e.g. radar.
 Clipping-a new word produced by shortening an existing one, e.g. (tele) phone.

BORROWING/LOANING WORDS

Introduction of a new word from one language to another, e.g. chocolat (e).

ADAPTING/REUSING WORDS

 Eponym-name of a person after who is something named, e.g. (Mr) Dyson.

 Proprietary names-name given to a product by an organisation, e.g. Tampax/Hoover.
 Affixation-aspect of derivational morphological change, e.g. supermodel.
 Grammatical conversion-changing the word class, e.g. a text/text.
 Compound-the combining of separate words to create a new word or using a hyphen, e.g. man-flu.
 Back formation-removal of an imagined affix on an existing word, e.g. edit (or).
 Blend-new word formed by combining two words that keep the meaning, e.g. motel=motorway and hotel.

DISCARDING

 Obsolete-no longer having any use, e.g. thy.

 Archaism-an old word/phrase which is in no longer in general spoken or written use.

SEMANTIC CHANGE
DRIFT- a process of linguistic change over a period of time. It occurs because old meanings are forgotten, in response to new
context or when a particular social group takes ownership.

AMEILORATION-this is where lexis takes on a more positive meaning, therefore gaining status. E.g. pretty (slyattractive).

PEJORATION-this is where lexis takes on a more negative meaning, therefore losing status. E.g. idiot (private citizen someone
stupid).

WEAKENING- this is where a word loses the strength of its original meaning. E.g. soon (immediately in a short while).

NARROWING (SPECIALISING)-this is where a word becomes more specific in its meaning. E.g. wife (any womanmarried
woman).

BROADENING-this is where a word keeps its original meaning but acquires others. E.g. place (broad street an area).

METAPHOR-this is where lexis acquires new meaning because it is used metaphorically. E.g. a bug (insect and annoying).

EUPHEMISM-this is a view of describing something in a pleasant manner. E.g. passed away [dead].

IDIOM-this is an expression that can’t be understood literally from the meanings.

CLICHÉ-this is where an idiom is regularly used.

ORTHOGRAPHICAL CHANGE

ORTHOGRAPHY –study of the letters and the rules of spelling in a language.

GRAPHEME-a written symbol, letter or combination of letters that is used to represent a phoneme.

WHAT ARE THE KEY ORTHOGRAPHICAL CHANGES ACROSS LATE MODERN ENGLISH?

 Loss of the ſ - it was initially at the beginning of a word and then to the middle but the short s was used at the end of
the word. It was left over from Old English and continued into Late Modern English.
 Spelling became more registered although it is still idiosyncratic.
 Standardised spelling rules and more recently non-standard forms have been used.

WHAT ARE THE KEY REASONS FOR THESE CHANGES?

 Printing practices as Francoise Ambroise Didot in Paris, who in 1781, initiated the cutting of the letters known as the
‘modern face’. The ſ could have been confused with the grapheme ‘f’. The examples were followed from printers’
influences. One of the influences was John Bell who was given credit for the removal of the long s.
 Dictionaries as the availability led to the standardisation of spelling.
 Standardisation.
 Schooling as it was offered to all children for free.
 Educational practices and governmental intervention.
 Information and technological advances as text messages and instant messaging
 Phonetically playful as an example, this is often related to advertising campaigns, e.g. Beanz Meanz Heinz.
 Removal of the terminal –e on words as there was a confusion in pronunciation, e.g. soote/soot.

PUNCTUATION CHANGE

As writing becomes more important, the number of punctuation is required in order to fulfil the functions. As a more informal
style becomes more popular; it becomes simpler.

 In the 15th century, Caxton used the period (.), colon (:) and the virgule (/) - its function was replaced by the comma
in the 16th century.
1. Commas are used more often to link extended clauses and full stops were replaced by commas.
 2. Colons and semi colons were used to separate classes and create complex sentences.
3. Apostrophes signified possession and missing letters.
4. Speech marks differentiate between speech and writing.
5. Contraction of words.

GRAMMATICAL CHANGE

TYPES OF CHANGE

DIACHRONIC-taking a diachronic approach involves examining the changes that have occurred in language over a period of time.
E.g. comparing the car adverts from 1950 and 2010.

In the introduction of the exam if you choose the comparison question, mention ‘diachronically’ when referring to the change of
language over a period of time.

SYNCHRONIC-taking a synchronic approach which involves examining language at a period of time. E.g. compare a conversation
between a pupil and teacher with a conversation between two pupils.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GRAMMAR AND SYNTAX?

SYNTAX-word order.

WHAT CAN I TALK ABOUT UNDER THIS FRAMEWORK?

Grammar Syntax

Tense Word order

Pronouns

Length of clauses

Nouns

Adjectives

Verbs

Simple sentences is where one idea is expressed.

Compound sentences include two clauses with a coordinating

conjunction: ‘and, but, or’.

Complex sentences includes a sentence with a subordinate

clause (doesn’t make sense on its own) and a subordinating
conjunction: ‘because, although’.

Compound complex sentences is a combination of compound

and complex sentences.

Multi clausal sentences

Interrogatives

Imperative sentence moods

Exclamative sentence moods

Declarative sentence moods

Contractions
Question formation The word order may be altered.

Prepositions

Minor sentences, e.g. ‘good night’.

Modal verbs

Forming negation- they used to use double negative.

Auxiliary verbs

Present perfect tense

 Punctuation isn’t grammar! However, clausal sentences will link to commas and semi colons.

(AO3) CONTEXT- WHAT OCCURRED IN THE 18 T H CENTURY?

 There was a hierarchal and formal society.

 Society was keen to abide by the rules.
 Power, education and class was represented by the grammatical constructions.
 ‘Ordinary people’ referred to as inferior.
 Language was continually undergoing standardisation.

NEGATION

Previously, they didn’t use the dummy auxiliary ‘do’, whereas, this is now how we construct a negative, e.g. ‘I don’t know’
instead of ‘I know not’. This could be linked to the impact of standardisation because in the 18 th century authors such as Lowth
and Murray created grammar books. Grammar books contained the rules of grammar and became popular in the 18 th century.
This is because it allowed people to show off their intellect and power. Grammatical books are part of the gradual process of
standardisation. Over time and through education, these rules became available to everyone. There is prestige and power
associated with high levels of grammar.

COMPOUND AND COMPLEX SENTENCES

Sentence length can be associated with power and prestige in order to diverge (Howard Giles) away from the different classes of
society. However, there has been a movement to concise and precise expression as a result of “fashions” in education.

 The influence of the ‘Plain English’ campaign caused formal writing to become less elaborate.

ELLIPSIS

This may be linked to Informalisation (Norman Fairclough) as language is becoming more informal and is highlighted through the
shortening of a sentence.

KEY THEORIES OF LANGUAGE CHANGE

PRESCRIPTIVISTS/DESCRIPTIVISTS

JEAN AITCHINSON

“She portrays the views of prescriptivisits”.

DAMP SPOON VIEW

This metaphor was suggested by Max Miller and he believed that language change is lazy; this is similar to leaving a wet spoon in
the sugar.

Aitchinson disagrees with this and believes the only lazy language is alcohol because of the difficulty in articulation.

CRUMBLING CASTLE VIEW

This metaphor was suggested by John Simpson and believes that language should be preserved like a stately home or a castle.
Simpson believes that language is decaying (crumbling).

Aitchinson disagrees with this because you can’t find the peak of language- it is subjective.

INFECTIOUS DISEASE VIEW

You can catch language change and this view suggests that this is a bad thing; you need to be able to fight it. This occurs as you
adapt to fit into social groups.

JOHN HUMPHRIES

He wanted to safeguard grammar. He believed it should be taught in schools to ensure everyone has a basic grammar If
grammar is not taught then we will become illiterate.

“We need to be able to communicate through the use of Standard English”.

 Similar to the crumbling castle view.

JONATHAN SWIFT

He wrote a letter to the Earl of Oxford.

Language is decaying: contracted words, shortening verbs, monosyllabic verbs and barbarism.

He wants them to return to the Shakespearean language during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I to Civil War. He wants to purify
and protect language.

DR. JOHNSON

Most popular dictionary and was part of the process of standardisation. The dictionary was developed in 1755. He wanted to
preserve language to ensure its purity.

Language change is inevitable; it doesn’t mean it is right.

It is used in order to fix pronunciation and language.

STANDARDISATION

 It is a gradual process which started in the Renaissance period.

WHY DOES LANGUAGE NEED TO BE STANDARDISED?

 It gives language prestige.

 It gives language a national identity.
 It allows people of the same language to communicate effectively.

HOW IS LANGUAGE STANDARDISED?

 1. Spelling-this is through dictionaries, spell checkers and teaching of spelling.
2. Graphology-this is through printing (developed in 1476 by William Caxton), handwriting styles and uniformity.
3. Grammar-this was developed in the 18th century as a result of grammar books.
4. Lexis and semantics-this is through dictionaries, e.g. Johnson’s dictionary which was developed in 1755 which was the
most influential at the time and used as a standard reference point. They were developed from Latin which was seen as
a model and there was a removal of contracted words.

INFORMALISATION

FUNCTIONS OF LANGUAGE

FUNCTIONS OF FORMALITY-this is used to create and maintain a professional distance.

FUNCTIONS OF INFORMALITY-to build and maintain social bonds/relationships to present yourself as more accessible to others
of an equal status.

THE PROCESSES BY WHICH INFORMALISATION OCCURS

Languages undergo a structural change through blending, abbreviating and altering spelling. Examples include ‘fortnight and
‘innit?’

Fortnight was fourteen nights:

 Altered spelling by removing the u, e and e.

 This was a blending of the two words: fourteen and nights.

Innit?

Innit was isn’t it?

 Abbreviated spelling
 Altered spelling by removing the s and i.

CHOICES OF REGISTER

PRESTIGE FORMS- this is well established forms.

STIGAMISED FORMS-use of forms that is non-standard.

PRESTIGE FORMS-well established standard forms and they are associated with powerful social groups: law, education and the
government.

COVERT PRESTIGE-this is in touch with society to make links and connections with people.

CONVERSATIONALISATION

This was introduced by Norman Fairclough; it is used in language produced to the public which has features of informal,
conversational language.

SYNOPTIC TOPICS

HOWARD GILES

This was introduced by Giles; convergence is when the speaker/writer tries to match the language of a particular group.
Divergence, however, is when the speaker/writer adjusts their language to be distinct from a particular group.
NORMAN FAIRCLOUGH

SYNTHETIC PERSONALISATION

This was introduced by Norman Fairclough, it is the process of addressing mass audiences as if they were individuals and this is
usually through the first person, plural pronoun ‘we’.