Phonological + Pragmatic Development

Phonological + Pragmatic Development

1. Phonological development depends on the individual

   • children learn vowels and consonants at different speeds - learn to use phonemes earlier than others. Most children will be able to use vowels in english by the time they're 2 !/2 years old.
     • They might not use all the consonants confidently until they're 6 or 7 years old
       • The earliest consonants they master tend to be /M/ and /N/ known as NASALS. /P/ , /T/ and /K/ known as VOICELESS PLOSIVES - the last ones are the /TH/ sounds in words like thought and this.. and other sounds known as fricatives like /V/, /tS/ and /dz/ as in very, church and jack.
         • Children find using consonants at the beginning of words (word-initials) easier than consonants at the end of words (word final) i.e. easier to say the T in teddy than the T in sit.

2. Simplification helps children communicate - mainly applies to consonants.

   • Pronouncing words is difficult at first but children can still communicate - they use simpler versions of words.
     • Deletion - Sometimes a child DROPS a consonant altogether, particularly at the end of a word I.E. say CA rather than CAT.
       • Substitution - This is where they REPLACE the consonant with an easier one I.E. WEGS rather than LEGS.
         • Cluster Reduction - When there's more than two consonants in a word - the child will drop one of the consonants I.E. GEEN rather than GREEN
   • BERKO+BROWN (1960) - The FIS phenomenon: Child refers to toy fish as FIS. Adult asked is this your fis? Child said NO. stating instead that it was his FIS. Adult then asked is this your FISH? Child replied Yes, my FIS.
     • Recognise+understand a wider range of phonemes than they can produce.

3. Some other very common features

   • Addition: A vowel is added to the end of the word e.g. dog to dogu
     • Assimilation: When one consonant in a word is changed cos of the influence of another in the same word i.e. TUB goes to BUB due to the word-final B
       • Reduplication: A phoneme is repeated i.e. moo-moo (for cow), or bik-bik (for biscuit)
         • Voicing: When voiceless consonants like p,t,f,s (sounds produced without vocal chords) are replaced by their voiced equivalent b,d,v,z I.E. sock = zok
           • De-voicing: Opposite to voicing I.E. bag = pag.

4. Takes longer to Develop Intonation: CRUTTENDEN (1985) found that 10 yr olds had difficulty distinguishing between

   • She dressed, and fed the baby.
   • She dressed and fed the baby.

5. CHILD'S LANGUAGE HAS DIFF. FUNCTIONS.

   • Initially - a child can get responses or reactions by using proto-words BUT after a while they begin to use recognisable words, which have different functions depending on their context. I.E. Dummy - a demand or a question.
     • HALIDAY (1975) States that the early language of children has 7 functions:
       • 1) INSTRUMENTAL: To get something
       • 2) REGULATORY: To make requests/give orders.
       • 3) INTERACTIONAL: To relate to others
       • 4) PERSONAL: Convey sense of personal identity+To express views and feelings
       • 1-4 resemble the child satisfying their social, emotional and physical needs.
       • 5) HEURISTIC: To find out about the immediate environment
       • 6) IMAGINATIVE: To be creative through lang. that relates to imaginative play, storytelling, rhymes and humour
       • 7) REPRESENTATIONAL: To convey information
       • 5+6 Are about the child coming to terms with their environment and their place within it.
     • CHILDREN quickly learn how to interact with others.
       • Learn about social conventions like turn-taking with "peek-a-boo' as it's an early form of social interaction
         • Even at BABBLING STAGE - child's carer may respond to the babbling as if they were having a convo.
           • As a child PRAGMATIC development continues - they can interact in more sophisticated ways - start convo's, use full range of speech functions and show politeness features.THEY THEN start to use more adult forms of interaction like turn-taking, adjacency pairs. and opening+closing sequences. NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION i.e. hand gestures+facial expressions. + NON-VERBAL ASPECTS OF SPEECH (pitch, volume, intonation and pace) also become increasingly sophisticated as children grow up.