- Palmer grip - used to make marks on the page (just like up and down lines)
- which leads to more conventional grip, where you can make more circular lines
- Motor control - more circular again, leave gaps as though imitation text
- Proto-letter formation - Begin to write name and letters, but the letter might be too big, or back-to-front
- BM Kroll - He suggested that there are a number of stages that children go through:
- Stage 1- Preparatory Stage - Up to the age of 6
- Child masters physical skills needed to write. Learns basic principles of spelling system.
- Stage 2 - Consolidation - Ages 6-8
- Child writes like they speak. Short, declarative sentences common. Grammatically incomplete sentences. Long strings of sentences joined with simple conjunctions.
- Stage 3 - Differentiation Stage (8 - mid teens)
- Child becomes more aware of differences between writing and speech. Increasing confidence. More complicated sentences and constructions.
Reading and Child Lang Acq
- Children's books also relate to prominent aspects of a child's life, eg. school, family etc.
- The higher up the reading scheme, the fewer pictures there are to aid pragmatics.
- Reading schemes like 'Roger Red Hat'
- The teaching of reading in schools
- Phonics (analytic and synthetic)
- Synthetic - break the sounds into syllables - there is a representation/action for each sound, too. For eg, S = weave hand in an s shape, like a snake, and say ssssss
- Analytic - used in conjunction with other strategies, was the original method and doesn't break down words into such small units like synthetic.
- Try thinking about how you learnt to read, perhaps you read 'Roger Red Hat' too!
What you look at in Lang Acquisition
- This area of study is designed to teach candidates about the nature and functions of language in the individual and social development of humans. It will focus on some of the distinctive features of speech
and literacy development in children from 0 to 11 years who are native users of English.
- The primacy of speech and the learning of the sound system
- The links between the child’s desire to communicate needs and the acquisition of phonology, lexis and grammar in order to achieve purposes (pragmatics)
- The significance of social interaction in language acquisition and the development of innate structures to achieve, continue and extend interpersonal communication (turn-taking, politeness rules, implied meanings, specific contexts, social awareness and other discourse patterns)
- The connections between developments in children’s language and their general conceptual development
- The beginnings of reading and writing.
LANGUAGE CHANGE
Tips for answering Language Change Questions
- Get as much context as you can in - eg look at the date and try to think what would have been happening at the time.
- A key period is following the introduction of the printing press (1476) and the introduction of the first dictionary (1755 - Samuel Johnson). Also remember the grammar books that appeared at the time - the writers that tried to "fix" the language (Robert Lowth's Short Introduction to English Grammar was written 1762). All these had an influence on the language, and helped it to become standardised (slowly - remember it didn't all happen at once).
Where some English words have come from
- English is a Germanic language
- Some words can be Latinate - tend to be the more fancy, scientific words, or ones to do with legal stuff...introduced mainly during the Renaissance to make the words sound more impressive
- Norse words - tend to be things like "window" and "sky" - everyday outdoor objects
- Saxon/Celtic words - words to do with family relationships?
- French influence - along with Latinate, return to "correct" spelling which led to the "b" in "subtle" and "debt" as a reminder of the latin origin (debt comes from debitum which has a "b"). Also, some words have entered English twice. "Chief" and "Chef" both have the same french root, which is thought in turn to come from the latin for "head".
- Samuel Johnson's dictionary (1755) wasn't the very first, but was the first substantial one that people refer to
- Contemporary lang change- estuary English, slang etc
- Terms - like amelioration (meaning of word becomes better),perjoration (meaning of word becoming worse), broadening (word means more than one thing), narrowing (word means fewer things now), coinings/neologisms (new words, like 'kodak'), loan words (words from other langs etc) etc. These are all examples of semantic change.
Reasons for language change
- Blurring of the class structure - fewer extremes
- Proliferation of TV and film
- Education - compulsory education etc
- New technology
- Rise of youth culture
- Media & public broadcasting
- Impact of foreign invasion (Norse, Norman French)
- Printing press - introduced by William Caxton in 1476 - used East Midlands dialect - dialect of education (Oxbridge) etc, became Standard Eng. Printing press worked by ordering letter blocks, so the actual font needed to be standardised. As well as that, spelling and language was standardised to a certain extent as well. Perhaps most importantly is that it was the portal into the world of written texts, which allowed them to be passed around and transported all across the country, which may have contributed to standardising language.
- Rise of merchant classes
- Scientific development/technology
- King James Bible
- Also remember, language is still changing. Through media, travel, politics, etc.
- English has become a significant global language due to expansion of the British Empire, and, more recently, the significance that the USA have across the world.
- English exists as many different varieties due to the influence of the native languages of the countries which adapt English into their culture.
- It is possible that all these varieties of language could lead to language decay, whereby no-one would be able to understand the other varieties of English
- English could become more 'standardised' among nations due to the increase in communications (internet, tv, film, media in general) that a shared culture is created --> A shared culture means a shared language is required.
- Some still think language is decaying... but we can't really say that - we're descriptivists, remember! But their views are expressed in:
-
Crumbling castle view - language is a beautiful building which must be preserved as is. But how would we coin new words? (This is the problem in France - the Académie française/French Academy which doesn't allow for English loanwords to prevent the anglicisation of the French language - )
- Damp spoon theory - language changes because people are lazy - 'I must own to a queasy distaste for the vulgarity of "between you and I", "these sort", "the media is" ... precisely the kind of distaste I feel at seeing a damp spoon dipped in the sugar bowl or butter spread with the breadknife' (Guardian 9-9-1968)
-
See for more info.
These are quite prescriptivist attitudes, of course!
- Prescriptivists include: Defoe, Swift and Johnson, who all attempted to regulate the language.
- They also talked of setting up an academy (as in France) to resurrect/regulate/preserve language?
Theorists
- Internal: formation of new words and the influence of dictionaries etc. Looks at what happens inside the language
- External: the changing social contexts, language as an ongoing process
- Donald Mackinnon '96 - categorises the attitudes people have to language use:
- incorrect or corect
- pleasant or ugly
- socially acceptable or socially unacceptable
- morally acceptable or morally unacceptable (political correctness: conscious process, never clear cut and very context dependant, normally a negative thing)
- appropriate in context or inappropriate
- useful or useless
-
Labov - 'Martha's Vineyard Research': we subconsciously change our language to identify ourselves with one group rather than another
Quotes to do with Lang Change
- Rod Steiger - "communication without purpose is artistic masturbation"
What you look at in Lang Change
This area of study is designed to engage candidates in explorations of historical and contemporary changes in the English language together with consideration of explanations of their causes and effects.
Candidates will need to draw on their knowledge of systematic frameworks, so that they can see how change affects semantics as well as grammar, lexis and phonology. This module will focus on the following areas for study
- Change as an inherent feature of living language
- A brief overview of the historical development of English to identify different ways in which language changes over time and continues to change in contemporary experience
- The ways in which style has changed in spoken and written English
- The socio-cultural causes and consequences of language change in English over time
- The relationship between dialectical variation and temporal change.
Stronger answers
- addressed the question relevantly;
- engaged with the data in detail and with attention to its context;
- identified patterns and examples across the data set;
- expressed ideas clearly and accurately with appropriate terminology;
- identified language features accurately including grammatical and pragmatic aspects;
- showed informed insight into the data set whilst being cautious of its limitations;
- reflected an open-minded and tentative approach to the issues raised;
- showed assured conceptualised knowledge of language theories and studies;
- demonstrated strengths in quality of explanation and accuracy of expression.
Weaker answers
- gave little or narrow relevant coverage of the question or the data;
- engaged with the data descriptively or by content summary;
- used language imprecisely with limited terminology;
- asserted ideas with underdeveloped explanations;
- showed limited knowledge and understanding of the issues;
- made no references to research ideas or few and simplistic references;
- treated the dataset as uncomplicatedly representative of the given situation;
- listed examples without observing underlying patterns;
- made sweeping statements on the basis of limited evidence;
- gave narrow or partial coverage of the issues.
Remember: the examiner is more interested in your observations of the data than chunks of generic essay about theorists, etc.
Attitudes to language change
- Standard English – right and wrong (National Curriculum, for example). Should it remain constant or should it change? People start making judgements about language change.
- Prescriptive – laying down rules which are very exact, for example, compu’er (the ‘t’ must be added). In other words, what English language SHOULD be like.
- Descriptive – language change is inevitable, for example, Sainsbury’s (some add the apostrophe, others do not). In other words, what English language IS like.
- Golden Age - when did people, speak the same, write in the same handwriting and spell coherently?
- It is almost impossible to stop language changing (evolution)
- What is proper English? Issues of race, class, gender and location.
TIME SOCIAL, POLITICAL, CULTURAL AND ECONOMIC INFLUENCES MAJOR LINGUISITC DEVELOPMENTS EXAMPLES
Pre-1st century AD Britain inhabited by Celts, or Britons People spoke varieties of Celtic languages, the roots of Welsh, Gaelic, Irish, Manx and Cornish. Partly as a result of what happened to the Celts later (they were displaced by the Anglo-Saxons), relatively few Celtic words survive in modern English. However, numerous place-names (Penrith, Leeds, York, Thames and Avon) remind us of our ancient roots. 1st – 5th centuries The Romans occupied mainly England There was some limited influence from Latin on the native language during this period. Some Latin words have survived, but the major Latin influence of English was to come much later. Many place names, such as Manchester, Lancaster, Chester and Worcester derive from this period. A few other words of Latin origin which survive, such as street, port, wine and wall may also date from this period. 5th – 8th centuries Invasions of the Germanic tribes (Angles, Saxons and Jutes)
Christianity adopted (587) The Celtic language was displaced except in Wales, Scotland, Cornwall and Ireland. Old English developed from the Germanic dialects of the invaders, which varied according to where the different tribes were settled.
This was the true beginning of English; many of the basic grammatical words (the, in was, etc.) and many everyday nouns and verbs derive from this period.
The Latin alphabet was adopted and Latin was used by the educated elite and in church. Old English – a considerable body of literature from this period survives. It is very foreign to modern eyes, and requires special study to understand it, as in this example from the poem Beowulf:
Hwaet we Gar-Dena in geardagum,
Peodcyninga pryn gefrunon
Hu da aepelingas ellen fremedon
(So by the Spear-Danes in days gone by,
And the kings who ruled them had courage and greatness.
We have heard of those princes’ heroic campaigns.)
8th – 11th centuries Viking invasions The Vikings’ language (Norse) was close enough to the Anglo-Saxon of the inhabitants to allow communication between the peoples. The Vikings took over many of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, particularly I the north and east of the county. Many Norse words have passed into Standard English – get, take, angry, awkward, they, she – and even more have survived in the dialects of the north where some pronunciations and grammatical forms of dialects are also Scandinavian in origin. 11th – 14th centuries 1066:the Normans invaded, led by William the Conqueror
Norman French and English co-existed Following the Norman invasion, there was a French-speaking power bas – the court, the church and major landowners were mainly French-speaking, while the populace spoke English.
During the twelfth century English was more widely used by the upper classes and in 1362 was used for the first time at the state opening of parliament. By 1425 English was used universally in speech and writing. This was the beginning of the Middle English period; there was an inevitable flow of vocabulary from Norman French (itself heavily based on Latin) into English. English not only survived but was enriched by the language of the invaders.
This period also saw the loss of many Old English word endings (inflections), many of which were replaced with the prepositions by, with, from etc.
Much Middle English literature survives and is reasonably accessible to patient modern readers. This period also saw the beginnings of a major change in English pronunciation: the Great Vowel Shift. 15th- 17th centuries Printing invented (William Caxton set up his press in 1746)
Many Greek and Latin texts were translated into English There was a gradual acceptance of a standard form of English, made necessary by the increasing dissemination of printed materials. Early modern English: In the period 1500 – 1700 many more words entered the language than at any other period.
New words were needed for new concepts and an influx of Latin and French words resulted.
This period of world exploration also brought words from the language of Africa, Asia and the New World.
The Great Vowel Shift was completed – and the pronunciation of English began to stabilise.
This was also the age of Shakespeare, himself a great coiner of words. 18th – 19th centuries The search for a standard, pure form of English Attempts to define the vocabulary and grammar of English led to the establishment of the prescriptive ideas about correctness. Non-standard varieties were viewed as inferior; Latin was upheld as an ideal language and a model for English dictionary writers and grammarians tried to lay down rules for correct usage. This was the age of the dictionary, when writers tried to ‘fix’ spellings and meanings.
- 1721 – Nathaniel’s Bailey’s Universal Etymological Dictionary
- 1755 – Samuel Johnson’s English Dictionary
- 1762 – Robert Lowth’s Short Introduction to English Grammar
- 1762 – Lindley Murray’s English Grammar
19th century - present The Expansion of British and American English In the nineteenth century, rail travel colonial expansion, the spread of literacy and education and the printed word extended access to standard and written forms of English.
Electronic media extended this process in the twentieth century; meanwhile, American economic and political power succeeded that of the British empire to ensure the spread of English as a world language. American English was starting to become noticeably different from British English.
English continues to absorb loan words from language across the world. Grammar and pronunciation see few major changes, but in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, a drift towards more colloquial and casual styles of language in many contexts reflect major social changes.
American English increasingly influence British English and English worldwide.
Language change
This list should be used in conjunction with the ‘Frameworks for Describing Language’ near the back of the ‘January 2004’ pack.
Graphology & orthography
Obsolete or variant graphemes: e.g. thorn [ƿ] or long-tailed s [ſ]
Punctuation: e.g. use of inverted commas, apostrophes, upper case for nouns, hyphens, etc
Symbols, especially together with graphemes: e.g. ‘&tc’
Type-face (e.g. Times, Bookman) and style (e.g. italic, bold)
Interchangeable letters (i/j, u/v)
Spellings differing from modern standard (connect if possible with phonology): e.g. final <k>
Current spelling change: e.g. <ae><e>, US spellings
Standardisation or its absence (look for variant spellings within same text)
Phonology (try to connect with orthography)
Effects of previous phonological changes, such as Great Vowel Shift: e.g. different pronunciations of same spelling
Silent letters
Metathesis
Articulation of final <e>, <gh>, initial <h>
Rhetorical devices: e.g. alliteration, assonance, etc
Poetic dvices: e.g. rhyme, metre
Aspects of accent: e.g. eye-dialect
Lexis /Semantics (try to connect with pragmatics)
Type of lexis (Germanic, French, Latin, etc)
Obsolete words
Archaisms (be careful not to assume any word you wouldn’t use yourself is an archaism!)
Non-standard words used in dialect/jargon
Semantic change (various processes)
Neologisms
Words currently coming into the language
Grammar (DON’T CONFUSE WITH PUNCTUATION!)
Interrogative forms
Negative forms
Use of auxiliaries
Subjunctive
Forms of to be
-est endings (2nd person sg); -eth endings (3rd person singular)
Regularisation of plurals
Word order
Pronouns:
- Second person singular
- Second person plural
Possessive determiner its
Embedded clauses; use of relative pronouns
Unusual word order (e.g. OSV)
Pragmatics.
Representation of conversation
Prescriptivism & its relationship to standardisation
Social class & its relationship to attitudes to accent & dialect (including RP and Standard English)
General attitudes to language change
Recognition of shared cultural knowledge or assumptions
Relationships between writer/speaker and reader/listener
Discourse
Identification of genre, audience, purpose
Point of view, perspective, voice
Cohesion
Register & levels of formality
Code-switching
Overal
Child language acquisition revision
Beginnings of language development:
Pre birth:
- Has been scientifically proven that a baby can recognise the mothers voice.
- Before the child is born it can recognise words.
- Music can develop a baby’s brain.
Stage 1: BASIC BIOLOGICAL NOISE STAGE (0-8 weeks):
- Child expresses itself through crying.
- They show reflexive responses and not conscious responses.
- Child starts with vowel ‘A’ sounds.
- They learn to control their air stream mechanism.
Stage 2: COOING & LAUGHING STAGE (8-20 weeks):
- Make different cooing noises – e.g. ‘coo’, ‘goo’ ‘ga-ga’
- Recognise parents faces and speech.
- Towards the end of the stage they begin to string cooing noises.
- They recognise language has a structure.
- Learn to express themselves through laughing and chuckling.
- Have control over their tongue.
Stage 3: VOCAL PLAY (20-30 weeks):
- Begin to use consonant and vowel sounds.
- Able to adjust pitch.
- ‘playing and experimenting’
Stage 4: BABBLING STAGE (25-50 weeks):
-
2 types of babbling sounds-
-> RE-DUPLICATING- repeat sounds (e.g. woof woof)
-> VARIGATED- use different sound patterns and put them together.
- The words have no meaning to the child as they think they are just making sounds.
Stage 5: MELODIC UTTERANCE STAGE (10-13 months):
- A variation in rhythm, melody and tone is shown
- The child begins to see some meaning to what they say.
-
Proto words used- when the child doesn’t say words it recognises but realises that words are parts of a sound.
AGE 12-18 MONTHS:
- Developments occur rapidly.
-
Intonations used to show feelings and purpose.
- Kids begin to develop at different levels.
-
Single word utterances – concrete nouns
-
Holophrastic phrases – couple of words put together which have no grammatical concept
-
Child learns about 10-20 words each month.
-
Over extension – when child uses 1 word to describe lots of things.
- no concept of differentiating
- e.g. 4 legged object = dog
-
Under extension - cant understand that there are many numbers of the same thing in the world ( e.g. lots of cars in world)
- can’t understand the concept of concrete nouns.
-
Mismatch – get the name of something wrong (e.g. car = doll)
- Begin to use modifiers so add extra words infront of another word (e.g. go sleep)
AGE 18-24 MONTHS:
-
Have a vocabulary of 200 words – shows how quickly they are learning.
-
Pronunciation - some syllables dropped (e.g. tomato = mato)
- Consonant clusters avoided i.e. sky - guy
- Re-duplicate sounds- e.g. baby = baybay
- no consistency of speaking
Pragmatic development
The functions of children’ language
HALLIDAY 1978 – suggested 7 stages in which it shows the functions of a childs language
The first 4 stages help the child to satisfy its physical, emotional and social needs.
Stage 1: INSTRUMENTAL STAGE:
- Child uses language to express needs and get what they want.
- First words are mainly concrete nouns
- E.g. want drink
Stage 2: REGULATORY STAGE:
- Language is used to tell others what to do.
- Child realises language is a useful tool as by using language they can get what they want.
- E.g. go away
Stage 3: INTERACTIONAL STAGE:
- Language is used to communicate with other people and form a relationship.
- Realise language goes beyond what you need.
- E.g. love you, daddy, thank you,
Stage 4: PERSONAL STAGE:
- When the child uses language to express feelings and opinions.
- Realise language is more then demanding and get praised for using language.
- E.g. me good girl,
The next 2 stages help the child come to terms with the environment.
Stage 5: HEURISTIC STAGE:
- This is when language is used to gain info about the environment /world.
- This is when a child questions everything and is always seeking an answer.
- E.g. what that tractor doing?
Stage 6: IMAGININATIVE STAGE:
- Language is used to tell stories and to create an imaginary situation.
- Child is able to recognise an object can be called many things.
- E.g. creating an imaginary friend
Last stage is the representational stage where the child uses language to convey facts and information
Stage 7: INFORMATIVE STAGE:
- Child begins to use language to talk about brand new things.
- They learn to represent themselves using language
- E.g. telling a story about what happened to them.
Theories of language acquisition
Theory 1: THE IMITATION THEORY:
∙••••••• Theory suggests children learn language through copying and imitating others.
∙••••••• Theory has been found incorrect.
+ Imitation is important in phonological development.
+ Children develop regional accents suggesting they imitate the sounds from people around them.
- Children don’t pick up grammatical structures immediately as some children show an incorrect use of grammar. For example they may say ‘wented’ instead of went. Showing they have not imitated this of others.
- Kids normally only use the words they understand so if they imitate of others they would copy all words spoken by another person.
-if the kid is deaf, it cannot copy another person therefore uses sign language suggesting this theory does not provide an account for all kids.
Theory 2: INNATENESS THEORY:
- Ability to learn is inborn.
- We only experience with language in order to activate the L.A.D.
- Chomsky suggested everyone is born with a special brain mechanism (language acquisition device – L.A.D)
- The L.A.D has the ability to tell you that all language has a structure.
- The L.A.D is a pre programmed box.
- The L.A.D tells us if we are using a past tense and that it needs to be changed.
+ Suggests why children learn to speak so quickly.
- No one has ever known where the L.A.D is placed.
Theory 3: COGNITION THEORY:
- A child must understand the word the words they use before choosing to use them.
- Suggesting children only learn words if the intellectually understand.
- E.g. anger – is an emotion which you can’t see so when child uses the word anger they learn it as an emotion and are able to understand it.
Theory 4: INPUT THEORY:
- This theory focuses on the language used by the parents.
- Motherese, parentese, caretaker language.
- The theory stresses that it is important to focus on the person who helps teach the children to speak.
- Features of parent speech:
- Parents talk slower to a child
- Use a high pitched tone
- Parent encourages speech through the use of questions
- Parent frames sentences in order to help the child.
- Parents interaction with child helps them to understand the concepts of turn taking, question and answer sequences etc.
Basic summary of the features a parent uses when talking to their child:
Phonology:
- Slower, clearer pronunciation
- More pauses, especially between phrases and sentences. – help introduce the child to the rules of conversation.
- Higher pitch. – Makes a child pay attention and listen carefully.
- Exaggerated intonation and stress. ^^^
Lexis:
- Simpler, more restricted vocabulary. – makes language more accessible for child
- Diminutive forms used (e.g. doggie)
- Concrete language, referring to objects in the child’s environment
Grammar:
- Simpler constructions.
- Frequent use of imperatives.
- High degree of repetition. – Child is able to understand the meaning of words as parents make the child pay attention to the object by repeating the word.
- Frequent use of questions. – Increases the child’s understanding of auxiliary verbs
- Use of personal names instead of pronouns (e.g ‘mummy will take you shopping’ instead of ‘I will take you shopping’.
