Child
Language Development
Noam Chomsky
Chomsky's nativist theory suggests that children are born with a Language Acquisition Device (LAD) which gives them the ability to acquire language.
This theory could suggest why children make virtuous errors such as overgeneralisation.
To further support Chomsky's theory is recent research known as Fox P-2. It is a gene which plays a major role in how we learn language and shows that we are born with the ability to learn how to talk without interaction with people.
Provides an alternative view to Skinner.
Jean Berko-Gleason
· Berko-Gleason uses her idea the Wug Test to see
if children are able to learn a language that doesn`t exist.
·
She presents the children with a creature that
looks like a bird called a "Wug", she then showed them a picture of
two Wugs and questioned "two..?" The children who said "two
Wugs"means that they understand how to make a word plural.
B.F Skinner
·
Skinner`s behaviourist theory states that
children are born a "blank slate" and have to learn language through
interaction and imitation of caregivers.
·
His idea of Operant conditioning is to modify
behaviour through positive and negative reinforcement. This will help the child
correct their errors or do the same again if they`ve said it correctly.
Jerome Bruner
·
Bruner’s theory suggests that every child needs
a Language Acquisition Support System (LASS). This highlights that children
need to be encouraged to use language and help them become an active
participant in the conversation.
Deb Roy
·
His Speech Home Project was created to film his son’s
language from the day his was born until he was 3 years old. They particularly
focused on how he used the sound "ga ga" to ask for
"water". He knew that this would get him a drink which emphasises the
point that children know more than they can say.
Vygotsky
·
Part of his theory is known as Zone of proximal
development which states that you need caregivers support to help them acquire
language.
·
Children need scaffolding to help them is social
and cultural situations on their own.
Piaget
·
His Cognitive theory says that he believes that
children construct an understanding of the world around them.
Sociolect
William La Bov
· 1966 New York Study- individual speech
patterns are “part of a highly systematic structure of social and stylistic
stratification”
·
He did a comparison of 3 department stores them
being Saks 5th avenue (high end), Macys (middle of the road) and Klein’s (lower
end). He used them to test the pronunciation of the `post-vocalic seeing how
people would emphasise it at the end of a word. He used the words fourth and
floor.
·
The results: Saks 62% Macys 51% Klein’s 20%
Martha’s Vineyard Study
·
It is an island off the East-coast of the USA
with over 40,000 visitors each summer.
·
The local population are known as the
"islanders."
·
Mainly a fishing industry where fisherman are
seen as the desirable social group who everyone would want to be like.
Vera Regan
·
Ted ed talk
·
Worked under La Bov
·
Studied polish transnationals. Looked at the use
of the colloquial "like" and the global "like".
·
She came to the conclusion that transnationals
with the intention to stay would use language in the same way as the locals to
include themselves. Whereas transnationals with the intention of moving on
would still use the global like.
Peter Trudgill
1974 Norwich Study – how gender affects dialect
in each social class.
·
H and ing dropping
·
Looking at “walking”& “talking” as the
standard form instead of "walkin" and "talkin" in its non-
standard form.
·
It assesses participant’s awareness of their own
accents as well as how they wished to sound.
·
Men over-reported their non-standard usage –
implying that men wished to sound more non-standard, assuming that they used
more of the covert prestige forms
·
Women over-reported their standard usage –
implying that women wished to sound more standard, assuming that they used more
of the overt prestige forms.
Jenny Cheshire
1982 Reading Study – relationship between use of non-standard variables and adherence to peer group norms.
Identified 11 non-standard features and measured their frequency of use in boys and girls in a Reading playground, differentiating between those who approved or disapproved of minor criminal activities
Bernstein
Language and Social Class –
Restricted code and Elaborated code – 1971
·
Restricted code - Has a limited vocabulary,
looser syntax, uses more words of simple coordination.
·
Elaborated code - Has a more formally correct
syntax, having more subordinate clauses and fewer unfinished sentences.
Jean Aitchison
Damp Spoon Syndrome
- This theory suggests that
language change is caused by sloppiness and laziness. It is often linked
to teenagers.
- However it is difficult to
find evidence to state that language change is down to laziness.
- An example of laziness is
the glottal stop.
Crumbling Castle
- Sees that the English
language as a beautiful building which needs to be preserved. This view
states that a rigid system is better than a flexible system.
Infectious Disease
- This theory suggests that we
catch change from the people around us.
- Social contact is
a big force to cause language change.
Gender
Deborah Tannen
Her theory, the difference model, explains that being two
separate genders impacts our language and can cause miscommunication. She tells
you that men dominate conversation and interrupt more frequently than a woman
to gain status. Tannen basis` her theory on 6 contrasts, one being competition
vs co-operation.
Robin Lakoff
·
Her research (1975) is known as the `deficit
approach`, this explains that male language is stronger, prestigious and more
desirable than a woman’s. It also informs you that men speak more than women.
Pamela Fishman
·
She believes that women use hedges, polite
forums and question tags to help continue a conversation and get everyone
involved. She calls this “conversational shitwork” to hold the conversation
together and keep it flowing.
Janet Hyde
·
She proposes a “gender similarities hypothesis”
which explains male and females are similar on most but not all psychological
variables. She tells you that there are more similarities between male and
female language than differences and any variations in speech could be down to
age, occupation, status, class etc.
Christine Howe
·
She explains her theory to return to the point
of men and women’s language differences due to their gender. She explains that
men are more likely to respond quicker to what is being discussed so they can
put their viewpoint across before anyone else.
O'Barr and Atkin's
Her research is interesting, and seems to suggest that it is
not so much differences in the sexes' language, more the situations that they
face which result in the difference. This theory is known as the dominance
theory: if there is a difference in language, it is because males have always
dominated in both the home and workplace, and females have had to play the
domestic roles.
Language
Change
