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
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tu
ac

ra
tio

pa
n
be

ap
t we

al
e
c
vo n
ch
i th
il d
ew

an
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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