Language DevelopmentLecture Notes: 9/23/14Intelligibility● The extent to which a child’s speech can be understood by a stranger● By 18 months, a child’s speech is normally 25% intelligible● By 24 months, a child’s speech is normally 50-75% intelligible● By 36 months, a child’s speech is normally 75-100% intelligible● By 4 years of age, most children are fully intelligibleVariability in Normal Phonological Development● Different children, different rates of acusition (large ranges of “normal”)● Some depend on the child’s “cognitive style”- i.e., segmental vs. holistic approach to languageA child-experimenter● Problem: How to talk?● Solution: experiment with sounds, and develop strategies○ Steven Pinker compares a child babbling to a person fiddling with a complex hi-fi system in an attempt to understand what the controls do● That is why there is variability in how children acquire phonologyNormal Errors vs Abnormal Errors● All phonological processes take place in a normally-developing child● But...they stop at a certain age● If a process persists beyond this age, we suspect phonological disorder or delayIn sum● Children make errors in the course of normal phonological developmentLearning Words is Difficult● Not as simple as someone holding up a cup and saying “cup”● A child must:○ Identify the sound sequence k-u-p as a separate word○ Figure out what the word refers to○ Understand that the word can refer to other objects besides this particular cupSolving the Word Segmentation Task● Statistics! Sounds in a language follow specific patterns● Some sound-combinations occur at the word boundary Word Segmentation Problem Solved● Statistics (adjacent phonemes, phonotactics)● Stress (stressed syllables are usually at the beginning of words)● Child-directed speechTask #2: mapping the word to its referent● How does the child know what the word refers to ?● “k-u-p” can refer to the cup’s handle, the cup’s color, the material it is made of, or the coffee in it● How do you know it is even about an object? It could be a command.● Possibilities are limitless● This mapping problem is known as the gavagai problem posed by
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