Child Language Acquisition - Resource

http://www.universalteacher.org.uk/lang/acquisition.htm

Function What children are trying to do with their language (e.g., make requests, ask questions, make statements)

Meaning The states, events and relationships about which children talk Meaning here refers to meaning shown in performance. Children may have competence which they have no occasion to demonstrate.

Structure The way in which the language is put together - its grammar

Stage 1
Children's first utterances usually serve three purposes: to get someone's attention to direct attention to an object or event to get something they want Next, they begin to: make rudimentary statements (Bird gone) make requests	Children begin by naming the thing referred to (the "naming insight") Soon they move beyond this to relating objects to other things, places and people (Daddy car; There Mummy) as well as to events (Bird gone). They are concerned with articulating the present state of things, describing or relating things and events in their world. Because of the limited language forms which they can control, children convey information by intonation, by non-verbal means, or by the listener's shared awareness of the situation. (It gone - the listener has seen what it is.)	Many of the remarks at this age are single words, either the names of things, or words such as there, look, want, more, allgone. They are often referred to as operators because here (as opposed to their function in adult speech) they serve to convey the whole of the child's meaning or intention. Other remarks consist of object name and operator in a two-word combination: Look Mummy, Daddy gone, There dog.

Stage 2
At this stage children begin to ask questions; usually where questions come first.	Children become concerned with naming and classifying things (frequently asking wassat?). They may begin to talk about locations changing (e.g. people coming or going or getting down or up). They talk simply about the attributes of things (e.g. things being hot/cold, big/small, nice; naughty doggy; it cold, Mummy).	Children's questions at this stage often begin with interrogative pronouns (what, where) followed by a noun (the object being asked about) or verb (denoting some action): where ball? where gone? Articles (a/an or the) appear before nouns. Basic [subject]+[verb] structure emerges: It gone, Man run, or [subject]+[verb]+[object]: Teddy sweeties (=Teddy wants some sweets).

Stage 3
By now children ask lots of different questions, but often signalling that they are questions by intonation alone (Sally play in garden, Mummy?). They express more complex wants in grammatically complex sentences: I want daddy [to] take it [to] work.	Children now begin to talk about actions which change the object acted upon (You dry hands). Verbs like listen and know appear, as children start to refer to people's mental states. Children refer to events in the past and (less often) in the future. Children talk about continuing actions (He doing it; She still in bed) and enquire about the state of actions (whether something is finished). They begin to articulate the changing nature of things.	The basic sentence structure has expanded: [subject]+[verb]+[object] +[adverb or other element] appears: You dry hands; A man dig down there. Children begin to use auxiliary verbs (I am going) and phrases like in the basket [preposition]+[article]+[noun].

Stage 4
As children begin to use increasingly complex sentence structures, they also begin to: make a wide range of requests (e.g. Shall I cut it? Can I do it?) explain ask for explanations (Why questions appear)	Because children are now able to use complex sentence structures, they have flexible language tools for conveying a wide range of meanings. Perhaps the most striking development is their grasp (language competence) and use (language performance) of abstract verbs like know to express mental operations. Children in this stage begin to express meaning indirectly, replacing imperatives (Give me...) with questions (Can I have?) when these suit their purposes better. As well as saying what they mean, they now have pragmatic understanding, and suit their utterances to the context or situation.	Children by this stage use question forms (Can I have one?) and negation (He doesn't want one) easily, no longer relying on intonation to signal their intent. They are now able to use auxiliary verbs: do is the first to appear, followed by can and will. Children may duplicate modal verbs (Please may can I...?): this may reflect understanding that may is required for courtesy, while can indicates the fact of being able to do something. Children use one part of a sentence to refer to another part - they use (often implied) relative clauses: I know you're there (implied that after know); I want the pen Mummy gave me(implied that after pen). Now they can do this, language is a very flexible means of communication for them.

Stage 5
By now children frequently use language to do all the things they need it for: giving information asking and answering questions of various kinds requesting (directly and indirectly) suggesting offering stating intentions/asking about those of others expressing feelings and attitudes and asking about those of others	Children are now able to talk about things hypothetically or conditionally: If you do that, it'll... They are able to explain the conditions required for something to happen: You've got to switch that on first... Often they talk about things which are always so - that is, about general states of affairs. As well as general references to past and future, children now talk about particular times: after tea; before bedtime; when Daddy comes home... They are able to estimate the nature of actions or events, e.g., that things are habitual, repetitive or just beginning.	By this stage, children are quite at home with all question structures including those beginning with words like What? and When? where the subject and verb are inverted (transposed): What does it mean? When is Mummy coming? Children use sentences made up of several clauses, whether multiple (using co-ordinate clauses) or complex (using subordinate or relative clauses, and parentheses). Up to now grammatical development has mostly added to the length of sentences. Now children use structures which allow more economy (this is known as cohesion).

Style Models for Coursework

The power of persuasion

A piece of investigative journalism-

http://www.theguardian.com/media/investigative-journalism

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jan/17/reality-britain-relationship-with-eu

A speech delivered on a controversial topic -

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm

A letter to the MP –

http://www.metric.org.uk/sample-letters

The power of storytelling

A short story –

https://americanliterature.com/author/ambrose-bierce/short-story/one-summer-night

https://americanliterature.com/author/guy-de-maupassant/short-story/two-friends

An extract from a biography –

http://www.stevejobsthebiography.com/index.html

A dramatic monologue –

http://study.com/academy/lesson/dramatic-monologue-definition-examples-quiz.html

The power of information

A piece of travel journalism –

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/725071/A-taste-of-the-best-travel-writing.html

A blog focusing on social issues –

http://thesocialissue.com/

A piece of local history –

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/trail/victorian_britain/earning_a_living/working_life_census_01.shtml

Accent Opinion Article - Bristol Facts

-First ever chocolate bar made in Broadmead in 1847
-Ribena invented in Bristol
-Home to John Cabot; set sail on the Matthew in search for discovery of new land - discovered mainland America
-European Green Capital in 2015




Bristol; the European Green Capital, the inventors of the first ever chocolate bar and of course the home city to Russell Howard and Banksy. I'm from Bristol, and all people associate me and my fellow Bristolians with farmers -- possibly due to our very predominant 'alright me lover' 'cheers drive' and 'gert lush' vocabulary.

Language and Gender Essay

Language and gender is an ever increasing hot topic for linguists to study. The main debate when considering language and gender is the 3D's theory; Dominance, Deficit and Difference. The dominance theory is one in which females are seen as the subordinate group, who's difference in language is the possible effect of male power; not only in language but also society - we live in a patriarchal society, one run by mainly men. The deficit approach is similar to the dominance approach in a sense that males have power over females - it refers to the male language as the norm and females as the deficient group. The difference theory is one in which males and females are from different 'sub-cultures' as they have been told to do so since childhood. The question really is, do males and females speak differently? If yes, why they do? And are the differences biologically or socially determined?


                                  
                                     EXPLAIN STIMULUS AND LINK TO THEORIES
















The dominance theory is one where females are seen as the subordinate group, who's difference in their use of language is the effect of patriarchy (male power). Dale Spender in her book 'Man Made Language' (1980) refers to male language as the norm and expresses her own idea of patriarchal order. She states that 'it is very hard to challenge this power system, as the way we think of the world is part of and reinforced this male power'. Zimmerman and West (1983) also explored the dominance theory - their conclusion was based on a short study of mixed-sex conversations where they found that men interrupted more than women; (LINK TO STIMULUS?) They go on to state that males dominate conversations and their tendency to do so is the effect of our patriarchal society that we live in today. They state that the reason that men tend to interrupt is to gain this power.


However, Geoffrey Beattie (another linguist) challenges what Zimmerman and West stated as he found that interruptions don't necessarily mean dominance and power. He said that interruptions come from other factors such as interest and involvement in conversation.


The deficit theory was explored by Robin Lakoff. In her book 'Language and Women's Place' (1975) she came up with a list of basic assumptions which she believed constructed the female language. Amongst these assumptions, she says that women tend to use tag questions, hedges, super-polite forms and apologise much more than men. One of the most controversial assumptions Lakoff stated was that women tend to speak less frequently. But doesn't how often we speak, have more to do with our personality traits than our gender? (LINK TO STIMULUS?) Pamela Fishman in her book 'The Work Women Do' (1990) challenges Lakoff's findings. She states that women ask questions; not because of their personality weaknesses but to show a sign of involvement; 'questions are conversation attributes'. Fishman says that women ask questions because of the power of these, and not because of their personality weaknesses.




Deborah Tannen explores the difference theory. In her book 'You Just Don't Understand' (1990) she released a series of six contrasts which she believed explained the differences between male and female language. For example, one of these contrasts was Advice VS Understanding. This suggests that to many men a complaint is a challenge to find a solution and they like to show off with their knowledge whereas women like to sympathise and relate. Another contrast is Conflict VS Compromise. This suggests that men like to compete for power in conversation, whereas women like to avoid conflict all together and come to an understanding. (LINK TO STIMULUS?)



Furthermore, Deborah Cameron (1995) also explores the difference theory. She expresses her own idea of 'verbal hygiene' and states that no matter what 'males and females have normative expectations for the mode of speech for their gender, and in different circumstances and situations, they will always fall back on it'. This is perhaps why men feel as though they need to have power? Because they are expected and pressured through society to do so?


In conclusion, it is clear to see that there is no right or wrong answer when coming to a decision why men and women speak differently, or if they do indeed at all. Along with the linguists I have mentioned , there are also some linguists who believe that the differences present in our language aren't to do with our gender. Janet Hyde for example, who is a more contemporary linguist, states that 'where there are differences, they are due to other contextual factors, such as age, occupation, education...' (COME TO CONCLUSION WITH STIMULUS - LINK TO THEORIES) Again, we have to ask the question are the differences in the way that males and females speak due to biological or social factors?

Steven Pinker Quotes

“Syntax is complex, but the complexity is there for a reason. For our thoughts are surely even more complex, and we are limited by a mouth that can pronounce a single word at a time.”
― Steven Pinker, The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language    


“Humans are so innately hardwired for language that they can no more suppress their ability to learn and use language than they can suppress the instinct to pull a hand back from a hot surface.”
― Steven Pinker, The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language


“The very concept of imitation is suspect to begin with (if children are general imitators, why don’t they imitate their parents’ habit of sitting quietly in airplanes?),”
― Steven Pinker, The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language    


“Syntax is complex, but the complexity is there for a reason. For our thoughts are surely even more complex, and we are limited by a mouth that can pronounce a single word at a time.” ― Steven Pinker, The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language

Steven Fry Quotes

http://www.stephenfry.com/2008/11/dont-mind-your-language%E2%80%A6/


-“Language is the universal whore that I must make into a virgin"
-"My language is my language and it is a piece of who I am"

Paper 2 - OPINION BASED ARTICLE - Things to include

-Be specific about audience e.g. broadsheet? tabloid? age? educated? middle-class?
-In first paragraph address audience
-1st person perspective, 2nd person address
-Rhetorical questions - assumed agreement .e.g 'you know what it's like to...'
-Intro needs to sum up opinion
-Second paragraph refer to stimulus text - show own opinion on it (make it up if needs be//use quotes from text)
-Third paragraph - provide theories, names and quotes
-Fourth paragraph - perhaps offer critique to the theories - relate to present times
-Conclusion us discourse markers

Throughout use similes, metaphors, humour and rhetorical questions to keep the reader interested!!

Paper 2 - LANGUAGE AND GENDER - Essay Plan

Paragraph 1-
-INTRO - Increasing hot topic/main debate - 3D's
-Dominance - females = subordinate, difference in language effect of male power (language and society;patriarchal)
-Deficit - similar ^^ male language = norm and females are deficient
-Difference - males and females from different 'sub-cultures' - told to do so since childhood
-Finish with rhetorical questions e.g. 'biological or social?'

Paragraph 2-

-LINK TO STIMULUS MATERIAL

Paragraph 3-
-DOMINANCE - explain as intro
-Dale Spender - 'Man Made Language' 1980, male language = norm own idea of patriarchal order; states that it is 'very hard to challenge this power system, as the way we think of the world is part of and reinforces this male power'
-Zimmerman and West 1983 - conclusion based on a study of mixed-sex conversations where men interrupted more (link to stimulus?) males dominate conversations and this creates patriarchal society - men want to gain power

Paragraph 4-
-Geoffrey Beattie challenges Zimmerman and West and states that interruptions don't necessarily mean dominance - they can be strung from other factors such as interest and involvement

Paragraph 5-
-DEFICIT - Robin Lakoff 1975 in her book 'Language and Women's Place' - list of assumptions that constructs female language - women tend to use more tag questions, hedges, super polite forms and apologise more - most controversial = women speak less frequently - doesn't how often we speak have more to do with our personality traits rather than simply our gender? #
-Pamela Fishman 1990 'Work Women Do' challenges Lakoff 'Women ask questions, not because of their personality weaknesses but to show a sign of involvement, questions are conversation attributes' and Fishman says that women ask questions because of the power of these and not because of their personality weaknesses

Paragraph 6-
-DIFFERENCE - Deborah Cameron 1990 - 6 contrasts; e.g. Advice VS Understanding - suggests men like to come to a solution to a problem and impress with their knowledge whereas women like to sympathise and relate - e.g. Conflict VS Agreement - men compete for power in conversation (dominate) whereas women like to avoid conflict wherever possible (perhaps link to stimulus?)
-Deborah Cameron 1995 'males and females have normative expectations for their gender, and in different circumstances and situations, they will always fall back on it' - rhetorical questions e.g. 'Perhaps this is why men feel pressured to be powerful in all aspects of life'

Paragraph 7-
-CONC - no right or wrong answer
- Janet Hyde - more contemporary suggests that 'where there are differences, they are due to other contextual factors such as age, occupation, education...'
-Come to a conclusion of the stimulus and link to theories spoken about
-End with the same rhetorical questions as intro