DOCSLIB.ORG

The Adult Role in Early Child Language Acquisition

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Adult Role in Early Child Language Acquisition THE ADULT ROLE IN EARLY CHILD LANGUAGE ACQUISITION A STUDY OF THE DIALOGUE OF TWO MOTHER-CHILD PAIRS Lo is Joseph i ne Baker B.Ed., University of Alberta, 1954 M.Ed., University of British Columbia, 1964 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY by Spec i a I Arrangements 0~ois Josephine Baker 1980 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY November 1 980 At l rights reserved. This thesis may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author. APPROVAL Name : iois Josephine Baker Degree : Doctor of Phi 1osophy Title of Dissertation: The Adult Role in Early Child Language Acquisitiw: A Study of the Dialogue of Two Mother-Chi ld Pairs Examining Committee: Chairman : Jared R. Curtis - Charles P. Bouton - - - T - El inor W. Ames M. Sheila 0' Connell -, fl/ E. Wyn Roberts - -v vw-- Wal burga Von Raffler-Engel--- External Examiner Professor Vanderbil t llniversi ty Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.A. Date approved: November 21 , 1980 i i PARTIAL COPYRIGHT LICENSE , I hereby grant to Simon Fraser University the right to lend my thesis or dissertation (the title of which is shown below) to users of the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for 'such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its 'own behalf or for one of its users. I further agree that permission for multiple copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by me or the Dean of Graduate Studies. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Title of Thesis/~issertation: Author : (signature ) (name ) (date) ABSTRACT , In this descriptive study of the language growth and development of two boys between the ages of 2 and 3 years, the focus is on the mothers1 roles as they provide language input through mother-chi l d dialogue. From data provided by the transcriptions of monthly video- tapes of natural play sessions in each home setting, three aspects of the conversations of the two dyads are considered: to what degree the range of speech strategy and style exhibited by one mother is different from that of the other mother; whether each mother's differences are refl ected in recogn izable ways in the speech performance of her own . child; and, in spite of mother differences, what similarities there are between the two children in speech development at this stage. Unlike the children in many language studies, the subjects ccme from non- professional , non-academic fm i ly backgrounds. An abductive anal yt ical approach is used, the goal' being to throw more I ight on the process of rapid language acquisition that takes place in the child's third year. Work in the field in the 1960's and early 1970's had suggested that the mother's role is one of I1simpl ic ity and redundancyt1, a supposition that i s chal l enged and then reoriented . The study findings are cast in a general linguistic framework uti- I izi ng the descr iptive analytical levels of phonetics, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. There is a clear presentation and exegesis of the d is- tinction between what are particular and shared l ingui stic developments in the two children. Phonetically, an echo phenomenon is observed to be operat ing, seeming ly a rote rep1 ay mechanism re1atively independent of cogn itive and length restrictions. Salient prosodic qualities of each i i i mother's speech are mirrored in her own chi I dfs perfomance, particularly I as regards rate, elision, and pitch change factors. This repetitive type of speech appears to be we1 l established even in the initial tapes. During the course of the year, developments in the spontaneous speech of the two chi l dren are demonstrated to be simi l ar in that both boys are able to adapt familiar, stereotyped phrase and sentence forms by introducing syntagmatic and paradigmatic variations, a ski1 l that is characterized as an accumulative process. In this second type of speech production, length of utterance and extent of lexical choice increase over time. A third type of language use, in which there are elements of personal construction, makes an appearance occasionally but is little developed by either child. In the course of the analysis, C.S. Peircels general categories (his icon, index, and symbol ,cl assi f ication) are modi f ied to suit the particular form of the data in order to establ ish a d i stinct ion between l anguage that i s ma inl y ostensive and i nformaiive in form and intent and language that is more clear1 y symbol ic and pred ica- tive. The appl ication of this distinction results in a demonstration of re1ationshi p between pragmatic-s i tuationai factors and language develop- ment in the context of mother-chi l d language interplay. Within develop- mental l imitations of an epistemolq ical nature, the mother (adult) role in early child language acquisition is found to be definitive. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS , First of all recognition must be given to Simon Fraser Universityls unique Special Arrangements Program wh ich makes cross-di sc ipl inary studies such as this one possible. Many thanks are due individual pro- fessors, videotape technicians, and secretaries in various departments (Audio-visual, Education, Linguistics, and Psychology) for their aid at parti cu l ar stages of the project. I am deeply appreciative of the helpfulness and patience extended to me by the members of my interdisciplinary supervisory committee. To- gether, their talents and expertise covered a wide field. Acknowledge- ments go to Dr. Sheila OIConnell, of the Faculty of Education, Dr. Elinor Ames,. of the Department of Psychology, and Dr. E.W. Roberts, of the De- partment of Languages, Literatures, and Lingu i stics. As Senior Supervisor, Dr. Charles Bouton of the Languages, Litera- tures, and Lingu i stics Department acted as mentor and guide in the preparation of the dissertation, a task to which he freely appl ied the considerable breadth and depth of his knowl edge of language acquisition. His enthusiasm for scholarly investigation and unf l agg i ng attent ion to the progress of the work were of great personal encouragement, and his coordination of the supervisory committee enabled a cooperative and har- mon ous spirit to develop. Of prime importance was the contribution of the two mothers and the two children whose conversations formed the data base of the study. Their wi I ing and interested participation made the videotaping sessions feasible. For all concerned it has been a shared academic venture. TABLE OF CONTENTS Approval Page ..................................................... i i Abstract .......................................................... iii \ Acknowledgements .................................................. v Table of Contents ................................................. v i List of Tables .................................................... i x List of Figures ................................................... X INTRODUCTION Chapter One An Historical Preview .............................. The Baby Biographers The Norm-Seekers Lingu i sts and Psycho I i ngu i sts The Present PART ONE REV 1 EW OF THE L ITERATURE Chapter Two The Simplicity-Redundancy Hypothesis ............... Simplicity in Relation to Age Factors Simp1 icity as Grammatical Fine Tuning Redundancy as Salience Redundancy as Di scourse Cue i ng Chapter Three A Methodology Influenced by Peircean Pragmatism .... Study De 1 imitations An Abductive Way to Work The Evolution of the Study A Search for Pragmatic Categories PART TWO SOUND FACTORS I Chapter Four Repetitiveness and the Echo Phenxenon ............. 84 lmitat ion Di scussed Var iety and Frequency of Repetition Encountered Differences in the Two Subjects1 Repetitiveness The Echo Phenanenon- Chapter Five Sound Sa l i enci es in Mother l nput .. , . , 1 12 Rate and Elision Factors Dens i ty and Focus Di f ferences Pitch Var i ation Mother Teach ing Techn iques PART TtREE FUNCT l ONAL SYNTAX Chapter Six Syntactic Parallels in the Two Children's Speech ... 142 A Pragmatic-Syntactic Analysis of Tape I 142 ' Firstness, Secondness, and Th irdness Appl ied to Speech 148 Elaboration of the OIP Category System 154 Progress of Function in the Two Children's Speech 1 64 Chapter Seven Syntagmatic-Paradigmatic Pai-terning .............*.. 172 An Analysis of an Early Paradigm Ostensive, Informative, and Predicative Paradigms Di agrammat ic Evolution of SVO Structure Length of Utterance Related to Paradigm Complexity PART FOUR FUNCT l ONAL S EMANT l CS Chapter Eight Gaps in Understanding .............................. 198 A Specific Locative Difficulty A Difficulty with Causal Relations Difficulties with "Non and Polar Qualities Extra-Situational Reference Chapter Nine Mother-Child Dialogue Parameters ...,,...,,..,..,... 225 Focussing on Objects The Buildup Process Barriers to Predication Mother Emphasis and Encouragement CONCLUSION I Chapter Ten Environmental Access to Language ..................... 249 Different Mothers - Different Modes Pragmatic Shaping An Environmental Access Hypothesis Recommendations for Further Study Data Appendices .................................................... 271 Bibliography ..................................................... 436 viii LIST OF TABLES Table I . Child Repetition Frequencies ........................ 274 Table 2 . Mother Repetition Frequencies ....................... 275 Table 3 . Pitch
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Into the Study of Language Acquisition
    CITATION: Bloom, L. (1997). Putting the child (back) into the study of language acquisition. Address on Receiving the G. Stanley Hall Award for Distinguished Contribution to Developmental Psychology from the American Psychological Association, Division 7, Chicago. Putting the Child (Back) into the Study of Language Acquisition Lois Bloom Teachers College, Columbia University Abstract A cold wind has blown down from the Northeast, casting a chill on the study of language acquisition: In research driven by adult linguistic theory and, in particular, the linguistic theories of MIT, it is a device that acquires a language, not a child, and language is separate from the rest of cognition and human development. The purpose of my presentation will be to 'put the child back into the study of language acquisition' by showing how language is integrated with other behaviors as the development of language connects with other aspects of children's development. I begin with a brief review of how the focus shifted from a child to a device in the last generation of language acquisition research and theory. I then present a developmental model of language acquisition based on the young child's intentionality (Bloom, 1993a, 1997, Bloom & Beckwith, 1987) and use the model to interpret results from some current research. The research findings show how children's language connects with their affective, social, and other cognitive behaviors--both in the real time of everyday events and the developmental time encompassed by the 2nd year of life. The conclusions are that language is not special and is not separate from the rest of a child's life and development.
    [Show full text]
  • Psychology of Language
    g Psychology of Language FIFTH EDITION DAVID W. CARROLL University of Wisconsin---Superior Psychology of Language, Fifth Edition David W. Carroll Executive Editor: Erik Evans Permissions Editor: Roberta Broyer Assistant Editor: Gina Kessler Production Service: ICC Macmillan Inc. Editorial Assistant: Christina Ganim Photo Researcher: Laura Cordova Molmud Technology Project Manager: Lauren Keyes Copy Editor: Laura Larson Marketing Manager: Sara Swangard Illustrator: ICC Macmillan Inc. Marketing Assistant: Melanie Cregger Cover Designer: Jeanne Calabrese Marketing Communications Manager: Linda Yip Cover Image: Masaaki Kazama/amana images/ Project Manager, Editorial Production: Marti Paul Getty Images Creative Director: Rob Hugel Cover Printer: Thomson West Art Director: Vernon Boes Compositor: ICC Macmillan Inc. Print Buyer: Nora Massuda Printer: Thomson West # 2008, 2004 Thomson Wadsworth, a part of Thomson Higher Education The Thomson Corporation. Thomson, the Star logo, 10 Davis Drive and Wadsworth are trademarks used herein Belmont, CA 94002-3098 under license. USA ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this work For more information about our products, contact us at: covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced Thomson Learning Academic Resource Center or used in any form or by any means—graphic, 1-800-423-0563 electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, Web distribution, information sto- For permission to use material from this text or product, rage and retrieval systems, or in any other manner— submit a request online at without the written permission of the publisher. http://www.thomsonrights.com. Any additional questions about permissions can be Printed in the United States of America submitted by e-mail to 12345671110090807 [email protected].
    [Show full text]
  • Imitation in Language Development: If, When, and Why1 Lois Bloom, Lois Hood, and Patsy Lightbown
    Imitation in Language Development: If, When, and Why1 Lois Bloom, Lois Hood, and Patsy Lightbown CITATION: Bloom, L., Hood, L., and Lightbown, P. (1974). Cognitive Psychology, 6, 380-420. Reprinted in Bloom, L. (1991). Language development from two to three, New York: Cambridge University, pp. 399-432. ABSTRACT In order to explore the function of imitation for first language learning, imitative and spontaneous utterances were compared in the naturalistic speech of six children in the course of their development from single-word utterances (when mean length of utterance was essentially 1.0) to the emergence of grammar (when mean length of utterance approached 2.0). The relative extent of imitation and the lexical and the grammatical variation between imitative and spontaneous speech were determined. There were inter-subject differences in the extent of imitation, but each child was consistent in the tendency to imitate or not to imitate across time. For those children who imitated, there were both lexical and grammatical differences in imitative and spontaneous speech, and a developmental shift from imitative to spontaneous use of particular words and semantic-syntactic relations between words. The results are discussed as evidence of an active processing of model utterances relative to the contexts in which they occur for information for language learning. When children say something in response to what someone else says, they can either repeat what they hear or say something that is more or less related to it. The two possibilities, to imitate or not to imitate, are represented in the following speech events from two different children: (1) P (age 21 months, 1 week): (Peter opening cover of tape recorder) open/open/open.
    [Show full text]
  • Do Boundaries Inhibit the Growth of New Psychologies? Lois Holzman
    Presentation at the 112th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, August 2004, Honolulu Do Boundaries Inhibit the Growth of New Psychologies? Lois Holzman East Side Institute for Group and Short Term Psychotherapy New York, NY www.eastsideinstitute.org I was trained in developmental, not clinical, psychology, and I do not practice psychotherapy. I study it. I study it because I find the therapeutic activity, in particular, the social therapeutic activity, to be fascinatingly paradoxical—simultaneously exhilarating and tedious, intense and trivial, touchingly meaning making and incomprehensible, an extraordinary life-affirming creative act whose materials are often anything but life affirming. Moreover, as a researcher into human development, studying therapy has become important to me because of its developmental potential or, to use the terminology of the humanistic psychology tradition, its potential for experiences of actualization and transcendence. Since I began my research career, about thirty-five years ago, I’ve always studied things that are very difficult to study—some, I’ve discovered, even impossible to study—unless you go outside the bounds of the existing research paradigm. The first time I encountered this was in my study of language acquisition and development at Teachers College, Columbia University in the early 1970s. The existing paradigm looked at grammar and vocabulary and basically just counted instances of words and grammatical forms. But Lois Bloom, my mentor, and I were interested in the process by which children become speakers. And this was unstudiable according to the prevailing standards for research and with the prevailing conceptions of what language was, because for psychologists at the time how language was used, what children were actually doing when they uttered sounds, who and what they were engaged in relation with, were out of bounds.
    [Show full text]