Definitions:
Language: Communication of thoughts and
feelings through a system of signals, such as
voice sounds, gestures, or written symbols.
Speech:
Speech The act of expressing or describing
thoughts, feelings, or perceptions by the
articulation of words
Almost every human child succeeds in learning
language
We tend to take the
process of language learning for granted, language
seems like a basic instinct as simple as
breathing or blinking
In fact, it is the most
complex ability that a human being
will ever master.
Linguists in the Chomskyan tradition
Universal
core
A particular configuration of optional features ‘parameters’
Language is an
Instinct
Driven by specifically human
Evolutionary adaptations.
Many psychologists disagree
Language does not emerge from a unique instinct
But
Operation of general processes of
Evolution,
Cognition,
Social processes,
Facts about the human body
Language development is a window on the operation of the
human mind.
Developmental course of language acquisition
1) Early auditory development:
Beyond the basic level of auditory processing, infants appear
to have a remarkable capacity to record and store
sequences of auditory events.
Records input sounds
Replays them
Accustoms the ear to their patterns
Well before learning the actual meanings of
these words
Evidence
Ifthe perceptual class of the stimulus suddenly changes, the
baby will brighten up and turn to look at the new stimulus.
Infants prefer the language that resembles the speech of
their mothers.
Prefer their own mother’s voice, as opposed to that of other
women.
Suggests that, during the first eight months,
The child is remarkably attentive to language. Although not
yet learning words, but
acquiring the basic auditory patterns of his native language
2) Early articulation
Exploration of
the coordinated
use of the mouth,
D Lungs, and
I Deaf infants larynx.
H S babble much like
U T Hearing children
T OR
N R P UDI
A Y AC
G E A DB
E
E S I FE K
R S N
BABBLING
Drift in the
Consonant-
direction of the
CRIE
COOING Vowel (CV)
S native language
syllables
0 3 6 9 12 Months
3) The first words
Based on three earlier developments:
1. Infant’s growing ability to record the sounds of words.
2. Ability to control vocal productions that occur in the
late stages of babbling.
3. General growth of the symbolic function, as
represented in play and imitation.
The forms of early words often deviate radically
from the adult standard. Children tend to:
•Drop unstressed syllables, producing hippopotamus as
poma.
•Repeat consonants, producing water as wawa.
•Simplify and reduce consonant clusters, producing tree as
pee.
PROBLE
M IS
So many simplifications occur at once
Making so many words difficult to recognize
Throughout the second year,
child struggles with perfecting the
sounds and meanings of the
first words
For several months, the child produces
only isolated single words
4) Word combinations
Child soon realizes the importance of combining
Predicates (e.g. want, more, go)
Arguments (e.g. cookie or Mommy)
First step in syntactic
development
Child has to figure out how
This is also guided by earlier developments in
comprehension.
Example:
MILK MORE
More Milk
Child
gradually ARGUMENT VERB: Want
builds up
longer
sentences
Want More Milk
and more
complex
grammar
ARGUMENT I
5) The child’s first sentences
All incomplete and ungrammatical.
Include only the most important words, without any of
the relational glue.
?
Have not yet Know the ‘glue words’ but find it
learned the difficult to coordinate their
missing words production in the correct order
Children tend to be conservative and unsure about how to use
verbs productively until about age 5
SPEECH DEVELOPMENT
Begins to use two word phrases
Initial emergence of past tenses
Begins to learn the social uses of language
Begins to form subject–verb–object sentences
Begins to tell narratives
Development of ‘ed’ endings
20
2 yrs 3 4 5 yrs
months
TO SUM UP
Speech and language development (1).
DEVELOPMENTAL ADVANCE AGE PERIOD
Functional maturation of hearing at about 5 months Prenatal
gestational age
Ability to discriminate sounds. Birth
Transition to breathing .
Vocalization begins.
Reflexive stage of phonetic development (cries, Birth to 1 month
hiccups, belches)
Cooing stage 2 to 3 months
Expansion stage (Remodeling of vocal cords) 4 to 5 months
Babbling stage. Vocalizations begin to reflect the 6 to 10 months
ambient language.
Auditory discrimination of speech is tuned to the 11 to 18 months
ambient language
Speech and language development (2).
DEVELOPMENTAL ADVANCE AGE PERIOD
Possess 10 to 20 consonants + sufficient phonetic 19 to 24 months
ability to learn many new words.
Continued growth in phonetic inventory, along with 25 to 36 months
vocabulary and syntax.
Stuttering is often first noticed at
about this age
Almost all vowels are mastered by this age, along 3 to 4 years
with a number of consonants.
Closing in on phonemic mastery, with the exception 4 to 6 years
of fricative (noise) sounds.
Teeth fall.
Phonemic mastery typically completed, but 6 to 9 years
refinements in speech production continue.
Speech development is complete, but 9+ years
developmental changes can be observed
(E.G., Voice change in adolescence)
Language
acquisition In
te
s
r
tu
ac
ra
tio
pa
n
be
ap
t we
al
e
c
vo n
ch
i th
il d
ew
an
d
ti c
pa
ac
re
Pr
nt
s
DEVELOPMENTAL
PROCESS
+ opportunities for learning
Individual lexical items
DISORDERS
Language disorders:
Expressivelanguage disorder
Mixed receptive-expressive language
disorder
Speech disorders:
Phonological disorder
Stuttering
