The Stages of Child Language Development

• 6 months before birth ear bones have formed
• understands mother's voice and is 'tuned in' to native language
• can recognise sounds in the womb such as well known theme tunes e.g. Eastenders (Scientific research)

CRYING (vegetive stage)

• prompted by a physical need e.g. hunger, wind, tiredness
• debate over whether parents notice change in intensity or crying changes with need
• learning to use vocal chords and exercise them
• key skill = understanding noise gains attention

COOING

• begins around 2 months
• experiments with noise made when tongue hits back of mouth
• more experimental than crying

BABBLING

• begins around 6 months
• makes noises that resemble the vowel and consonant sounds we are familiar with in spoken language

REPLICATED BABBLING

• first, simple noises
• repeatedly making the same sound e.g. bababababa

VARIEGATED BABBLING

• emerges later
• variation in the consonant and vowel sounds BUT DOES NOT RESEMBLE WORDS! e.g. babadamana 

• around 12-18 months
• single words that function as sentences
• a child will understand at least several words by the end of the first year
• comprehension ability at least a month ahead of the appearance of first words (BENEDICT, 1979)

NELSON, 1973 - CLASSIFYING FIRST WORDS

• Naming things - 60% of words e.g. "mummy", "doggie"
• Actions/events - 20% of words e.g. "put", "stop"
• Personal/social - e.g. "yes", "no", "bye-bye"
• Modifying things - adjectives e.g. "nice", "more"

• Around 18 months
• child puts words together in order to convey meaning
• more refined than holophrases as meaning has narrowed
• non-verbal communication becomes less essential 
• basic understanding of grammar
• learn 2 or 3 new words per day and will know at least 300 words by 24 months

BERKO AND BROWN, 1960 - PATTERNS

Early 8 = m, b, j(y), n, w, d, p, h

Middle 8 = t, ng, k, g, f, v, ch, j

Late 8 = sh, th, s, z, l, r, zh

• around 2 years
• production of longer and more complex utterances
• uses key content words but omits grammatical words
• shows understanding of difference between questions and commands
• meaning prioritized over accuracy

HALLIDAY, 1975 - FUNCTIONS OF LANGUAGE

• Instrumental - child needs to fulfill a need e.g. me hungry, biscuit mummy?
  
• Regulatory - control the behaviour of someone e.g. sit there
• Interactional - develop relationships e.g. I love you
• Personal - express views and preferences e.g. me no like it
• Heuristic - used to explore the world around them e.g. what you doing?
• Imaginative - explore something creatively through play e.g. storytelling
• Representational - exchange or give information e.g. got new shoes!

SINCLAIR AND COULTHARD, 1975 - DISCOURSE THEORY

• Initiation - Caregiver asks question
• Response - child responds
• Feedback - caregiver praises child

THEORIES OF POLITENESS

• Using polite words e.g. please and thank you
• not using taboo words
• the tone of voice - don't shout
• understanding conversational features e.g. eye contact

• around the age of 3
• increasingly like an adults
• appearances of grammatical words
• pronouns, contractions, and verb forms
• understanding tenses and clauses
• By 4, largely grammatically accurate

CRYSTAL - STEPS OF NEGATION

1. negative words, no, not - one words

2. negatives with other words - "no sit"

3. negatives in constructions - "can't" 

4. increased accuracy 

5. "any"

6. saying no without saying "no"

BELLUGI, 1966 - QUESTIONING

1. rising intonation at end

2. "wh-" question words

3. inversion of verb and subject

4. tag questions

BERKO, 1958 - THE WUG TEST

• use of images to encourage the correct forms
• "This is a wug. a small wug is called a..."
• answer = "wugette"