Language DevelopmentLecture Notes: 10/9/14Errors children make● “I am a good boy, amn’t I?”● “footses” and “toothes”● “falled” and “goed” and “broked”● Where do these come fromOverregularization Errors● “I am a good boy, amn’t I?”○ Over application of the rule that forms a tag question by inverting the subject and the verb “to be”■ E.g., You are good, aren’t you? He’s good, isn’t he?● “footses” and “toothes”○ Over-application of regular plural forms● “falled and “goed” and “broked”○ Over-application of the regular past tense● Correct production can precede incorrect onesU-Shaped Development● Children’s grammar “gets worse” before it “gets better”● I.e., overregularization errors occur after the period during which the child produced the irregular forms● Correct → Incorrect → Correct● Different from other aspects of development (children usually go from incorrect to correct)● Not deterioration● Yes; abstraction of a pattern from a large number of exemplars, and application of this pattern across the boardCaveats● Children do not overregularize all irregulars● Not all children overregularize to the same degree ● But...their very occurrence suggest that the child has figured out the grammatical “rule”, and is applying it productivelyResults of the Wug Test● Children as young as 4 years of age knew the plural of wug is wugs, the past tense of blick is blicked, etc.● Children have internalized the grammatical rules of English, and are not just imitating othersCommunicative Competence● Vs. Linguistic competence = ability to produce and understand well-formed, meaningful language● Communicative competence = ability to use language appropriately in social interaction● Includes:○ Understanding of convention that govern language use = pragmatic knowledge○ Use of language in conversation and narrative = discourse knowledge○ Knowledge of how language use varies as a function of sociological variables, such as status, culture, and gender = sociolinguistic knowledge● Incredibly important: better communicative competence yields higher success in school, facilitates literacy skills (through narrative development), and improves social success● Difficult to acquire because there are no hard-and-fast rules to using language socially, and there are no clear referents for a lot of the “social” words (e.g., “please”)Pragmatic Knowledge● Language is not just uttering sentences● Language is performative, i.e., by speaking, you “do things with words”○ e.g., “I now pronounce you husband and wife” performs the act of marriage● All speaking is performing acts = Speech Act Theory● Speech Act has 3 components○ Locution (locutionary act) = the linguistic form; e.g., How do I love thee?○ Illocutionary force (or act) = the intended function behind the words; e.g., Query? Unrequited love? Etc..○ Perlocution (perlocutionary act) = the effect of the words on the listener; e.g., agreement to dateSuccess of Speech Acts● Occurs when communication was successful, not when the perlocutionary act corresponded to the illocutionary act○ E.g.,■ “Can I borrow a cup of sugar?”■ “So sorry, I don’t have any.”○ Communication is successful, even though the goal was not attained● Often, the illocutionary force has to be inferred○ E.g., (to the person sitting next to the closed window on a bus)■ “It sure is stuffy in here.”■ “Yes, it sure is.”○ Communication is not successful, even though it is a perfectly legitimate response. Intent (illocutionary force) was not inferred correctly.Development of Pragmatic Competence● Goes through three very early stages:○ Perlocutinory stage: Children have effects on their listeners, but without actually communicating with them ■ E.g., trying to reach an object and crying○ Illocutionary stage: ~10 months, children come to understand that other people can be useful in getting what they want. Help can be elicited through communication■ E.g., trying to reach an object, looking at the parent intently, gazing back at the object○ Locutionary stage: once language becomes referential, children learn to use it forcommunicative purposes● Children have communicative intentions well before they have the linguistic means to express them (and do so using gesture, eye contact, intonation, etc.)Discourse Competence● Longer units of speech○ E.g., conversations or extended monologues (narratives● Grice’s four principles○ Quantity, quality, relation, and mannerConversations Between Children● What we used to think○ Preschool conversations are not really communicative○ Instead of back-and-forth of a conversation, children engage in “collective monologues”○ According to Piaget, because of egocentrism (i.e., the preschool child is unable to place him/herself at the point of view of the hearer)○ Preschoolers often engage in private speech, or solitary monologues (researchers call it language play, or language practice)● Not as simple○ From very early (2 yrs), children attend to each other’s speech, produce related utterances, and initiate interactions○ Young children prefer to initiate interactions with adults (preference for a more competent listener?)○ 4 yr olds engage in dialogue about 20 to 75% of the time, with exchanges lasting 4-12 turns○ Ability to engage in conversation depends on the context; if context is shared (I.e., both children are in pre-school, and are engaging in pretend play), children converse more and for a longer period of time than if the context is not