Linguistic for Literacy Assignment 2022

Running head: LINGUISTICS FOR LITERACY
LINGUISTICS FOR LITERACY
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1LINGUISTICS FOR LITERACY
Theories of child language development
Behaviorist theory of language acquisition:
Early researches have proved that all learning is a result of stimulus response and people
learn when they are rewarded for learning and for putting their efforts. This has been proven to
be an out of trial for animals as animals do not learn how to talk. The theory demands knowledge
of both psychology and neural work and proved to be adequate for language acquisition and
language learning (Saville-Troike & Barto, 2016). The theory emphasizes on the conditional,
building and developing from a simple conditioned response to a more complex behavior. This
means that the phrases and sentences learned gradually have long stimulus responses. Therefore,
each stimulus acts as the caser of a response and gradually becomes the initiator of a stimulus
and the process gets repeated (Song, 2018). A variety of questions were raised in this context
about the view on language learning. The question asked were mainly focused on the uniqueness
of human language learning efficiently and it was even learnt that the language learning is as
simple as the stimulus response, then why can’t animals learn languages and are unable to talk.
Therefore, the scientists believed and tried experiments with those animals who are similar to
that of human in terms of physiology, across the world like ape family and chimpanzees and
taught these animals to speak.
Cognitivist theory of language acquisition:
Some researchers gave shape to this theory who felt that learning language is not just
simple as described by the behaviorist theory. The researcher of this theory believed that there
must be something unique bout learning language. The theory was backed up by the outcome

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from the animal experiment in the previous theory that showed that chimpanzees cannot produce
‘novel sentences’ or the sentences that are new to them that is something babies can accomplish.
Chomsky, 1959, established human possess some unique features, a Language Acquisition
Device (LAD). Chomsky’s theory on the language acquisition is based on the ‘novel sentence’
and he stated that an individual who is a young language learner has the ability to create ‘novel
sentences’ or the sentences which were not taught before (VanPatten & Williams, 2014).
Sociocultural theory of language acquisition:
The socio-cultural concept describes the growth and teaching of children and enables
them to deeper comprehend their learning, and their influence on the adults and peers on the
learning process. Children are seen from this view as effective respondents in the learning
process which are affected by the culture in which they grow. The theory states that learning and
cognitive development can happen through social interactions. It argues that while human
neurobiology is necessary for the purpose of better thinking, major forms of human cognitive
activity develop through social and material interaction (Lantolf, Thorne & Poehner, 2015).
Phonology:
Phonological development relates to how kids develop in their stages of growth to
organize sounds into significance or language (phonology). Sound is at the beginning of
language education. In attempt to obtain phrases and expressions children must study to
differentiate distinct tones and divide up their speaker flow into parts – eventually significant
parts. One of the innovations in generative grammar is its clear philosophical dedication to
language acquisition, including generative phonology (Rose, 2017). In general, a theory designed

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to economically compensate for the behavior of adults cannot account for this behavior. In the
language creations of children, almost every phonetic and phonological event, including babbles,
can be observed. This involves the quality and quantity of babbled words as well as all behavior
such as the deletion or alteration of the parental sound and syllable types which the child tries to
copy. Child phonology adds significant findings often structured in aspects of time phases for
development, which range from the oldest babbles of a child to the point when he or she controls
sound, sound mixes, and surpassing the environmental (target) language. The children can have
phonological problems when he or she is unable to coordinate the lips, teeth, tongue, palate and
jaw for clear speech. As a result, complex words can be simplified in predictable ways until they
develop the coordination necessary for clear articulation. For instance, consonant clusters can be
reduced to one single consonant, such as “pane” for “plane” or delete the weak syllable in a word
saying, “nana” for “banana” (Rose, 2017).
Child’s lexicogrammar:
Lexicogrammar, used in systemic linguistics (SFL) is an expression used to stress the
interdependence between vocabulary (lexis) and meaning (grammar). Generalizations of
language structure inform us little about how individuals use the language and therefore how a
language really is. The linguist's introspection or some of the instances selected for fitting the
models of organizational and lexical conduct. The word "formulaic patterns," which may be
applicable to invariable patterns found in (allgone) child expression or in discussion (d'You
know what I mean?), is used by researchers who are engaged in psycholinguistics and
vocabulary development (Sriniwass, 2017).

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Morphemic knowledge refers to the knowledge of word structure or how one or more
meaningful linguistic units consist of words. In short, it is a type of orthodoxy which relies on
the significance of phrases in their smallest shape (morphemes) and on how they can be changed
when producing compound words. Phonemic awareness influences the growth of the morphemic
element of language understanding. For the development of morphemic knowledge, the
capability to perceive sound differences related to inflexion is necessary. As children listen to
their language, receptive understanding of the meaning change elements of morphemes begins to
evolve. for instance, "You can have a cracker" versus "You can have these crackers," , indicates
that the significant differences for the child (Pacton et al., 2013).
Children learn their language's syntax, phrase structures, via contact and communication
with caregivers and others, but especially without official instruction. As Chomsky argued
against Skinner's statement that English is ' oral ' conduct, it has been a subject of intense
discussion how the kids control the pronunciation of their English. Chomsky argued that
language knowledge cannot be taught by experience alone but is driven by genetics. This part of
a language called ' Universal Grammar ' consists of an abstract language skill and a linguistic
computer system (Lidz, Waxman & Freedman, 2003).

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References
Lantolf, J. P., Thorne, S. L., & Poehner, M. E. (2015). Sociocultural theory and second language
development. Theories in second language acquisition: An introduction, 207-226.
Lidz, J., Waxman, S., & Freedman, J. (2003). What infants know about syntax but couldn't have
learned: experimental evidence for syntactic structure at 18 months. Cognition, 89(3),
295-303.
Pacton, S., Foulin, J. N., Casalis, S., & Treiman, R. (2013). Children benefit from morphological
relatedness when they learn to spell new words. Frontiers in psychology, 4, 696.
Rose, Y. (2017). Child Phonology. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics.
Saville-Troike, M., & Barto, K. (2016). Introducing second language acquisition. Cambridge University
Press.
Song, S. (2018). Second language acquisition theories. In Second Language Acquisition as a Mode-
Switching Process (pp. 9-36). Palgrave Pivot, London.
Sriniwass, S. (2017). A child's model for social interaction: The transition to the adult linguistic
system. Journal of Modern Languages, 17(1), 32-60.
VanPatten, B., & Williams, J. (Eds.). (2014). Theories in second language acquisition: An introduction.
Routledge.