The Childs learning of grammar however according to Lightfoot (1999) may be assisted by certain forms of speech to the child. Some adults talk to children in what has loosely been described as ‘baby talk’ also motherese and more scientifically is described as infant /child -directed -speech .This according to Crystal (1998 p159)is a
“highly distinctive way of speaking, in which normal sounds ,grammar ,vocabulary and patterns of discourse are altered ,in varying degrees, so as to foster a communicative rapport with the child.”
Language is simplified to make it more enjoyable for both parties and we engage in ‘language play’ this is difficult to describe in print but immediately apparent to anyone listening to a conversation between a mother and child. The speech is louder, more rhythmical and at a higher pitch level. There is frequent use of nonsense vocalisations of endearment-tongue clicking and lip smacking etc./The following is an example of infant-directed-speech taken from Crystal (1998 p160)
“You are lovely ,aren’t you ! You are lovely! Oh yes you are! You are! You’re gorgeous! You’re a gorgeous bit of baba. A gorgeous baby bouncy bit of baba (etc).
Adults also use mock-threat, discust and horror when speaking to children. The baby/child only has to burp sneeze or be sick to hear comments such as (Crystal 1998 p 161)
“You’re disgusting, what a horrid stinky pong! And you’re going back where you came from!”
The tone of voice and facial expression make it plain though that the mother does not mean it, it is language play. Words are also reinvented such as woof (for dog) or nee –naa (for emergency vehicle (Crystal 1998).Another important characteristic of infant-directed –speech according to Carlson (20000 is that it tends to refer to tangible objects the child can see, to what the child is doing and to what is happening around the child .The most important factor that controls adult speech is the Childs attentiveness. Snow (1968) cited in Carlson (20000 writes that people do not talk at children they talk with them. Stine and Bohannon (1983) cited in Carlson (2000) found that when children give signs that they do not understand the adult adjusts his speech by simplifying it. Parents do not talk to children in this way to teach them language rather they hope that they will communicate better by using simpler language (Bee 1998) infant –directed-speech may be useful, even necessary for the Childs language acquisition. Babies as young as a few days old prefer to listen to motherese than to adult-directed-speech (Cooper and Aslin 1994 cited in Bee 1998).
The language children hear from their peers and how this contributes to language acquisition has also been studied by Bates (1975) Cited in McTear 1985). The general impression gained from this study was that children exposed mostly to language by their peers display a poorer linguistic performance than those who are exposed to language primarily form adults. Children’s speech to adults has been found to be different than to children speaking to their peers, more complex, both however are beneficial to the Childs acquisition of language (Field 1981 cited in McTear 1985).
According to Foster (1990) at a very basic level child-directed –speech is all-important: if children are not exposed to languages, they will not learn them. (Curtiss 1997 cited in Foster 1990) Genie an abused child failed to learn language because she was not exposed to enough of it at a time when normal children learn it.
Alternatively child-directed-speech has been described as a culturally determined style for speaking to individuals (Foster 1990) . In some societies people assume that children are not worth speaking to and do not have anything to say worth listening to, these children learn to speak by overhearing streams of adult to adult speech.(Pinker 1990 p218 cited in Carlson 2000).Bonvillan et al (1976) cited in Carlson (2000) argues that children do not learn a language they simply overhear. They studied children of deaf parents whose only exposure to spoken language was through television or radio, these children did not learn to speak English. They argue that the way parents talk to their children is important in the Childs language acquisition.
Pinker (1984) cited in Carlson (2000) argues that the language children have addressed to them is not important , according to Pinker , language acquisition is a stubbornly robust process, there is no way to prevent it happening “short of raising a child in a barrel” Chomsky (1965) cited in Carlson (2000) argues that infant-directed-speech is often ungrammatical, hesitating and full of unfinished sentences. He characterised everyday adult speech as ‘defective’ and ‘degenerate’. He argued that it is amazing that children learn the rules of grammar at all when this is what they hear when learning to speak. The view that children learn from apparently haphazard samples of speech has led many linguists to conclude that the ability to learn language is innate that all a child has to do is to be in the company of speakers of a language to learn it. Linguists including Chomsky( 1965) , Lennenberg (1967) and McNeil (1970) cited in Carlson (2000) have proposed that a Childs brain contains a language acquisition device which contains the rules of ‘universal grammar’ each language expresses these rules differently so the child must learn the details but the basics are already there in the brain ( Carlson 2000).Lightfoot (19999) writes that the existence of child-directed-speech does not eliminate the need for a genetic basis to language acquisition. He argues that the child is primarily responsible for the acquisition process not parent or peers.
In conclusion the main theoretical approaches to language acquisition I have outlined are learning theory or behaviourist approach which explains language acquisition as a matter of imitation and reinforcement. This approach which includes Skinners reinforcement theory(1957) argues that the language children have addressed to them is all-important in their acquisition of language. Taylor and Woods (1998) write that whilst one can find examples of imitation ,reinforcement and shaping in language they do not occur in all sentences. This theory then is too simplistic to account for the Childs spontaneous, original speech efforts and their sensitivity to the regularities of speech that is evident from their systematic errors as they try to generate meaningful sentences. This brings me to the second theoretical approach I have examined, the nativist view this includes the views of Chomsky (1965),Pinker (1984) and McNeil (1970) who argue that infants are pre programmed to learn a language and are highly sensitive to the linguistic features of their environment. Chomsky writes of an internal language acquisition device that contains a universal grammar, this according to Chomsky makes it possible for us to speak and comprehend language. This view argues that whilst children do need to hear a language spoken and indeed be in the company of speakers of a language ,the language children have addressed to them is not all important in a Childs language acquisition of language(Carlson 2000).
References
Carlson , N , R. Buskit , Psychology (European adaptation )
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Carroll , D.(1999) The psychology of language
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Crystal , D. (1998) Language play
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Fletcher , P. (1985) A child’s learning of English
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Foster , F. (1990) The communicative competence of young children
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Lightfoot ,D. (1999) The development of language
UK: Blackwell publishers Ltd
McTear , M. (1995) Children’s Conversation
Oxford: Basil Blackwell publisher ltd
Taylor , J. and Early childhood studies
Woods ,M. (ed) (1998) London : Arnold.
