1) The stages of first language acquisition begin with cooing and babbling sounds in the first year, progressing to one-word utterances around 12 months and two-word combinations by 18 months. 2) Between 2-2.5 years, children develop telegraphic speech using mostly correct word orders but lacking inflections. 3) Children actively construct language based on patterns they intuit from adult speech, rather than simply imitating adults. Their errors, such as "holded" show they are creatively applying rules as they learn.

1. CHAPTER 13 B
STAGES OF FIRST LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
http://youtu.be/_JmA2ClUvUY

2. Cooing and babbling
 Crying: the first stage for some specialists
 First: vowel-like sounds-high vowels [i] [u]
 Around 4th month: velar consonants [k] [g]
( „cooing‟ / „gooing‟)
 Babies differentiate between vowel sounds [i] and [a]
and syllables [ba] [ga]

3. Cooing and babbling
 6th to 8th month: ba-ba-ba; ga-ga-ga (babbling)
 9th to 10thmonth: Later babbling; variation of
syllables; intonation patterns
 10th to11th month: emotions and emphasis
 The pre-language use of sounds

4. One-word stage
 12th to 18th month: single-unit utterances
 Speech in single terms and everyday items:
„milk‟, „cookie‟, „cat‟, „cup‟, „mama‟
 Holophrastic = a single form that functions as a
phrase or sentence. Example: „Milk!‟ = “Give me
milk!”
 Generally used to name objects
 Extension of its use to more complex
circumstances

5. Two-word stage
 18th to 20th month
 Child‟s vocabulary: around 50 words
 Baby chair, mommy eat, cat play
 Communication: after production of
speech child receives feedback. This
is interaction
 24th month: 200 to 300 words

6. Telegraphic Speech
 Strings of words in phrases or sentences
 Almost complete sentences
 Correct word order
 Inflections (wants, cats) and prepositions (in, on)
 Between 2 and 2 ½ years old: multiple word speech
 Variation in word-forms
 Physical development: running and jumping
 Adult‟s influence in child‟s speech development

7. Children do not simply imitate adults; they
actively construct words and phrases
based on the rules they pick up intuitively.
Do children learn or acquire language?

8. Correction/Repetition don‟t work!
 Child: Want one other spoon, Daddy.
 Father: You mean, you want the other spoon.
 Child: Yes, I want one other spoon, please Daddy.
 Father: Can you say “the other spoon”?
 Child: Other…one…spoon.
 Father: Say “other.”
 Child: Other.
 Father: “Spoon.”
 Child: Spoon.
 Father: “Other spoon.”
 Child: Other…spoon. Now give me one other spoon?
Quoted in Braine, 1971

9. Verb “to Woodstock”
Noah: This is Woodstock.
(bobbing a stuffed Woodstock toy in
Adam‟s face)
Adam: Hey Woodstock, don’t do that.
(Noah persists)
Adam : I’m going home so you won’t
*Woodstock me.

10. How First Language Develops
• ~ing form: Cat sitting, mommy
reading book. Normally this is
the first to appear
• Regular plurals with ~s form:
boys, cats.
•Overgeneralization process
= foots, mans, mouses
•Irregular past forms: went,
came
•Regular past forms: walked,
played
•Overgeneralization:
walkeded, wented, goed

11. “I *holded the baby.”
“We *goed to the store.”
“My *foots are big.”
http://youtu.be/PU9yUaZroq0

12. *Holded, wented, goed…
 Child: My teacher *holded the baby rabbits and we patted
them.
 Mother: Did you say your teacher held the baby rabbits?
 Child: Yes.
 Mother: What did you say she did?
 Child: She *holded the baby rabbits and we patted them.
 Mother: Did you say she held them tightly?
 Child: No, she *holded them loosely.
4 year old quoted in Cazden, 1972

13. Children‟s speech is creative and shows
comprehension, even when the child is unable to
repeat exactly what has been said:
Father: “The owl that eats candy runs fast.”
Child: “Owl eat candy and he run fast.”

14. Syntax
Syntax is the arrangement of words and phrases to
create well-formed sentences in a language. (Proper
placement of nouns, verbs, etc.)

15. Syntax: Acquisition of Questions
Questions:
1- Add a Wh form/rise intonation:
“Where kitty?” “Why go?”
2- More complex form, still relying on intonation:
“What book name?” “See my doggie?”
3- Inversion of subject/verb:
“Can I have a piece?”
“What did you do?”
“Will you help me?”

16. Syntax: Acquisition of Negatives
 1- No or Not at the beginning of sentences:
no mitten; not teddy bear; no fall; no sit here
 2- Don‟t and can‟t appear :
You can’t dance; I don’t want eggs
 3- Didn‟t, won‟t Later: isn‟t
I didn’t caught it; She won’t let go; This isn’t ice cream

17. Overextension
 Overextension: extension of meaning based on similarities of
shape, sound, size, color (also movement and texture)
Examples:
 Child uses the word apple to mean apple, tomato, and ball
 Child uses the word cat to mean cat and dog
 http://youtu.be/AgY7nkbYFaw

18. Steven Pinker: How Children Learn Language
http://youtu.be/ir7arILiqxg
Steven Pinker is a Psychologist
and Linguist at Harvard.