1)Entities e.g. a being such as mum, dog

2)Properties e.g. big, small

3)Actions e.g. going, run

4)Personal/Social e.g. mine, you

There are 3 levels that occur during acquistion of vocabulary:

1)Labelling

2)Packaging

3)Network building

a word that comments on a verb e.g. 'I did it slowly' 

'did' being the verb.

at 12-18 months child speaks using one word sentences e.g. 'milk' rather than 'that is milk' or they may combine two words e.g. 'allgone'.

Often used as a naming function. Context, intonation or gesture can be used to help the adult understand what the child means. 

words like an, the, some

e.g. I want some milk

Infliections change the mood, tense, voice etc.

For example, the plural inflection of 'dog' is 'dogs' to the plural inflection is -s

20 3-year-olds acquired inflections in the order:

1. 'ing'
2. plural 's'
3. posessive 's'
4. determiners 'the' and 'a'
5. past tense 'ed'
6. 3rd person singular pro-nouns ending in 's' e.g. his, hers
7. auxiliary verb 'be'

Children learn grammatical structure in this order:

1. memorise words indvidually, no regard for rules
2. have an awareness for general principles about inflections
3. make many overgeneralisations
4. correct inflections are used including irregular forms.

'Wug' study.

1. Indroduces a picture of a made up animal and calls it a 'wug'.
2. Asks children to complete the sentence 'there is one wug there are two...'
3. The grammatical rule for plural 's' was clearly applied by 2.5-5 year olds.

Children can overgeneralise/overregarlise because theyre trying to make language more consitstant than it is e.g.

sheeps-sheep

wented-went

mouses-mice

Although children apply grammatical rules they are not concious theyve learnt them and wouldnt be able to explain them. 

Nativist theory is the belief that all humans have an inbuilt capacity to learn language. 

Key theorist: Noam Chomsky

Language is acquired through imitation and reinforcement

Key theorist: Skinner

Child language is developed through interaction with adults

Key theorists: Brunner and Vygostsky

Language acquisition is part of a  wider development of understanding that develops as the child experiences the world around them

Key theorist: Piaget

1. Children imitate accent and dialect
2. Children learn politeness strategies and pragmatic aspects of language from watching their parents.
3. Children repeat language they have heard around them and incorperate it into their linguistic fingerprint. Lexical knowledge must be gained from being told the correct labels e.g. milk is called  'milk'

1. Children do more than just imitate language, they form sentences they have never heard before.
2. They hear incorrect grammar spoken around them but still learn correct language.
3. 'Fis' phonomenon (Berko and Brown) shows that chikdren can hear and understand correct pronunciation but cant neccisarily reproduce it.

1. Routine and rituals help children develop spoken discourse such as turn-taking
2. Hallidays research into the functions of speech suggest the importance of social interaction
3. Vincent- a hearing child born to deaf parents learned to communicate using sign language. He didnt start talking until he start schol and people spoke to him.

1. Children cant grasp aspects of language until they are cognitively ready, stages of development support this idea
2. Children produce utterances which increase in compexity as they work toward mastering a grammar rule.

1. Children with cognitive difficulties can till manage to use language beyond their understanding
2. Children acquire language without without having an understanding of it, particularly in early stages of development
3. 'Fis' phenomenon suggests childrens cognitive understanding can be present but their physiological development still imacts their ability to use language.

1. In the two-word stage questions rely on rising intonation e.g. 'Daddy gone?'
2. In the 2nd year question words e.g. who,what,when are used e.g. 'Where's Daddy gone?'
3. In the 3rd year auxiliary verbs and inversion begin to be used e.g. 'Where could Daddy have gone?'

(could being auxiliary verb and Daddy being the subject)

Labelling- naming person, object or thing

Repeating- repeating an adult word or utterance

Answering- responding to another speaker

Requesting Action- asking for something to be done for them

Calling- getting attention by shouting

Greeting- greeting someone or something

Protesting- objecting to requests from others

Practising- using language when no adult is present

1. Repetition and/or repeated sentence frames
2. Using a hight pitch
3. Using the childs name rather than pronouns
4. Use of the present tense
5. One word utterances and short eliptical sentences
6. Fewer verbs and modifiers
7. Concrete nouns
8. Expansions and Recasts
9. Yes/no questioning
10. Exaggerated pauses giving turn-taking cues