scholarly journals Lexicon–phonology relationships and dynamics of early language development – a commentary on Stoel-Gammon's ‘Relationships between lexical and phonological development in young children’

2010 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
JAN EDWARDS ◽  
BENJAMIN MUNSON ◽  
MARY E. BECKMAN
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Language Development ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Phonological Development ◽  
Early Language ◽  
Phonological Representations ◽  
Comprehensive Account ◽  
Early Language Development ◽  
Child Centered ◽  
The Relationship

We applaud Stoel-Gammon's (this issue) call for a more comprehensive account of the relationship between lexicon and phonology, and we strongly endorse her suggestions for future research. However, we think that it will not be enough simply to integrate findings and methods from the adult-centered and child-centered literatures. Both of these literatures suggest that we need to rethink standard assumptions about what phonological representations are and how they emerge to support the very large vocabularies that speakers develop over the course of a lifetime. Our commentary focuses on three themes relevant to this reconceptualization.

Early language experience and underspecified phonological representations

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (6) ◽  
pp. 1325-1329
Author(s):  
Cynthia R. Hunter ◽  
David B. Pisoni
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Clinical Importance ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Phonological Development ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Early Language ◽  
Phonological Representations ◽  
Language Input ◽  
First Year Of Life

Taking as a premise that phonological working memory (PWM) influences later language development, in their keynote article, Pierce, Genesee, Delcenserie, and Morgan aim to specify the relations between early language input and the development of PWM in terms of separable influences of timing, quantity, and quality of early language input. We concur that prior work has established that PWM and language development have reciprocal influences on one another during development (e.g., Baddeley, Gathercole, & Papagno, 1998; Gathercole, 2006; Gathercole, Hitch, Service, & Martin, 1997; Metsala & Chisolm, 2010). The goal of the keynote article was to describe how early language experience may influence the development of PWM. Pierce et al. argue that this can be done by comparing the development of PWM across groups of children with differing language experiences during early childhood, specifically (a) delayed exposure to language, (b) impoverished language input, or (c) enriched language input. The authors suggest that this comparison may contribute to establishing that individual differences in PWM are due, in part, to early language experience. Sensitive periods for phonological development that are open roughly in the first year of life are discussed, and it is suggested that the quantity and quality of early language input shapes the quality of phonological representations. Efforts to specify mechanisms by which early language input may influence the development of PWM have both theoretical and, potentially, clinical importance. Considering this, Pierce et al.’s article, which aims to create a platform for future research in terms of the timing, quantity, and quality of early language input, is a valuable contribution.

Changes in the Synchrony of Multimodal Communication in Early Language Development

2018 ◽  
Vol 61 (9) ◽  
pp. 2235-2245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Murillo ◽  
Carlota Ortega ◽  
Alicia Otones ◽  
Irene Rujas ◽  
Marta Casla
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Multimodal Communication ◽  
Early Language ◽  
Lexical Development ◽  
Communicative Behaviors ◽  
Temporal Synchrony ◽  
Spanish Speaking ◽  
Early Language Development ◽  
Vocal Productions ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose The aim of this study is to analyze the changes in temporal synchrony between gesture and speech of multimodal communicative behaviors in the transition from babbling to two-word productions. Method Ten Spanish-speaking children were observed at 9, 12, 15, and 18 months of age in a semistructured play situation. We longitudinally analyzed the synchrony between gestures and vocal productions and between their prominent parts. We also explored the relationship between gestural–vocal synchrony and independent measures of language development. Results Results showed that multimodal communicative behaviors tend to be shorter with age, with an increasing overlap of its constituting elements. The same pattern is found when considering the synchrony between the prominent parts. The proportion of overlap between gestural and vocal elements at 15 months of age as well as the proportion of the stroke overlapped with vocalization appear to be related to lexical development 3 months later. Conclusions These results suggest that children produce gestures and vocalizations as coordinated elements of a single communication system before the transition to the two-word stage. This coordination is related to subsequent lexical development in this period. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.6912242

scholarly journals How arbitrary is language?

2014 ◽  
Vol 369 (1651) ◽  
pp. 20130299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Padraic Monaghan ◽  
Richard C. Shillcock ◽  
Morten H. Christiansen ◽  
Simon Kirby
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Development ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Vocabulary Development ◽  
Corpus Analysis ◽  
Early Language ◽  
Early Stages ◽  
Early Language Development ◽  
The Relationship

It is a long established convention that the relationship between sounds and meanings of words is essentially arbitrary—typically the sound of a word gives no hint of its meaning. However, there are numerous reported instances of systematic sound–meaning mappings in language, and this systematicity has been claimed to be important for early language development. In a large-scale corpus analysis of English, we show that sound–meaning mappings are more systematic than would be expected by chance. Furthermore, this systematicity is more pronounced for words involved in the early stages of language acquisition and reduces in later vocabulary development. We propose that the vocabulary is structured to enable systematicity in early language learning to promote language acquisition, while also incorporating arbitrariness for later language in order to facilitate communicative expressivity and efficiency.

scholarly journals AN ANALYSIS OF THE EARLY DISCOURSE OF BALINESE PRESCHOOL CHILDREN’S DIRECT SPEECH IN SINGARAJA

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 89
Author(s):  
I Luh Meiyana Ariss Susanti
Keyword(s):  
Preschool Children ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Language Development ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Extended Family ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Language Preference ◽  
Early Language ◽  
Direct Speech ◽  
Early Language Development

This study analyzes the early language development of young Balinese preschool children in Singaraja. Specifically, the study focuses on the early discourse abilities of the novice language learners. The study involved ten 4 – years – old preschool children and their caregivers (parents, extended family members, and nannies) from Singaraja. The data were analyzed to see what discourse types were used by the children and in what language (Indonesian or Balinese). The results suggest that children produce more response discourse type in their utterances due to the fact that these young language learners have very limited communicative repertoire. It seems that their conversation range primarily revolves around the typical question and answer conversational dyad. Furthermore, it has been found that young children make use of the Indonesian language in their responses more than their native language (Balinese language). This language preference may be due to the fact that children are exposed to L2 influences such as: movies, song, and other learning materials.

Referential style at thirteen months: why age-defined cross-sectional measures are inappropriate for the study of strategy differences in early language development

1990 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 625-631 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian M. Pine ◽  
Elena V. M. Lieven
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Significant Relationship ◽  
Early Language ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Early Language Development ◽  
Development Level ◽  
The Relationship

ABSTRACTThis study examines the relationship between cross-sectional measures of referential style taken at 1;1 and measures based on the first 50 words in 12 first-born children. Since no significant relationship is found it is argued that age-defined cross-sectional measures are inappropriate for the study of strategy differences in early language development because they confound such differences with variation due to differences in development level.

A longitudinal study of the relationship between early language development and play development

1991 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 273-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamiko Ogura
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Language Development ◽  
Single Word ◽  
Early Language ◽  
Japanese Children ◽  
Rate Of Development ◽  
Early Language Development ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
First Words ◽  
Play Development

ABSTRACTTemporal correspondences between the attainment of specific milestones in play and language were examined through a longitudinal study of four Japanese children (aged 0;7 to 0;11 at the beginning of the study). There were developmental correspondences between the onset of six language landmarks (the emergence of first words, naming words, vocabulary spurts, word-chains, nonproductive two-word utterances, productive two-word utterances) and the onset of subcategories of play. Language and play both reflected the development of underlying symbolic ability, and both developed in a parallel manner at the single-word stage. After the emergence of word-chains, language and play developed interdependently. All the children proceeded through the same sequence of stages, but the rate of development was different depending on their environment.

Overheard: Know Your Morphemes

ASHA Leader ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (7) ◽  
pp. 16-17
Author(s):  
Julie Wolter
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Literacy Development ◽  
Morphological Awareness ◽  
Early Language ◽  
Online Chat ◽  
Early Language Development

Julie Wolter, an expert in early language development, recently led an online chat about the contribution of morphological awareness to semantic understanding and literacy development. Here's what the Leader overheard ...

scholarly journals Variations in the Home Language Environment and Early Language Development in Rural China

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 2671
Author(s):  
Yue Ma ◽  
Laura Jonsson ◽  
Tianli Feng ◽  
Tyler Weisberg ◽  
Teresa Shao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Child Language ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Rural China ◽  
Home Language ◽  
Early Language ◽  
Early Language Development ◽  
Language Environment ◽  
Conversational Turns ◽  
Home Language Environment

The home language environment is critical to early language development and subsequent skills. However, few studies have quantitatively measured the home language environment in low-income, developing settings. This study explores variations in the home language environment and child language skills among households in poor rural villages in northwestern China. Audio recordings were collected for 38 children aged 20–28 months and analyzed using Language Environment Analysis (LENA) software; language skills were measured using the MacArthur–Bates Mandarin Communicative Developmental Inventories expressive vocabulary scale. The results revealed large variability in both child language skills and home language environment measures (adult words, conversational turns, and child vocalizations) with 5- to 6-fold differences between the highest and lowest scores. Despite variation, however, the average number of adult words and conversational turns were lower than found among urban Chinese children. Correlation analyses did not identify significant correlations between demographic characteristics and the home language environment. However, the results do indicate significant correlations between the home language environment and child language skills, with conversational turns showing the strongest correlation. The results point to a need for further research on language engagement and ways to increase parent–child interactions to improve early language development among young children in rural China.

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