Lab 6: Child-DirectedSpeech

Materials linked on www.stfx.ca/people/jlayes

Reminders:No Lab next weekLab Exam the following week (Nov. 26th)

Learning Language from Adult Speech

The speech young children hear is the only source of information they have about the language they are learning.

Much of the spontaneous language in conversation does not consist of grammatically correct, full sentences.

Learning Language from Adult Speech

Despite hearing improper grammar, children learn the consistencies in language

They are able to learn word meaning, and grammar (how sentences are correctly formed)

e.g., -ed for past tense, -s for plurals

How do children do this?

Adults’ speech to language learning children differs from their speech to older children and adults.

Snow, 1972

Mothers speech to 2 year-olds and to 10-year-olds.

Mothers told a story and explained a task

Mothers’ language was transcribed and scored for MLU and complexity

Young children hear simplified speech

Snow (1972) found that adult speech to young children is:

Organized and redundant

Like ideal “language lessons”

In Speech to Younger Children:

Shorter, simpler sentences:

Less subordinate clauses e.g. “Joe delivers our paper” instead of “Joe delivers our paper,

which comes on Sunday”.

Fewer words before the verb in the sentence; subject-verb-object easier to pick out

e.g. “Joe threw the paper” instead of “Joe, who delivers the paper, threw it on the doorstep”

In Speech to Younger Children:

Shorter, simpler sentences (continued):

less compound words

Fewer pronouns Words that replace nouns (e.g. he, I, they, it, there, here,

etc.)

More repetitionWe often repeat what they’ve said, expanding it, and

correcting their grammar

Adults’ Modifications of Speech for Young Children

Keep children interested

Allow children to comprehend what is said

Aid children in learning language

Examples

Video of adult reading book with a 2-year-old

Video of adult reading book with an 8-year-old

Today’s ExercisePart I: You have transcripts of speech to a 2-year-old and to a

10-year-old. 1. Calculate the MLU scores2. Add the number of Pronouns3. On page 2 of exercise sheet, write your hypothesis:

-Do you expect to find a sig. difference in these? -Why or why not?

To help:Morphemes are the smallest elements of meaning

Words count as one, but also suffixes, prefixes, and contractions add morphemes Example:

“The horses ran quickly, and didn’t slow until they stopped” Contains 14 morphemes

Pronouns are words that replace nouns (which refer to a person, place, or thing), such as “He”, “They”, “You”, “Here”, “There”

Example: “They ran quickly over there to you”

Contains 3 pronouns

Today’s Exercise:Part II:

Open the SPSS data file from www.stfx.ca/people/jlayesRun two dependent t-tests

1) Compare adult’s MLU scores when talking to 2- vs. 10-yr-olds2) Compare adult’s pronoun use when talking to 2- vs. 10-yr-olds

Complete the APA Results section, reporting your findings*Submit your Exercise Sheet on Moodle before leaving*

Preparing for the Lab Exam:During your regular lab session, in regular room

Multiple choice (bring a pencil and eraser) Worth 5%

Only covers material from lab Review ppts and exercise sheets

All of your past exercises submitted to Moodle, with editing and comments, are accessible in the links where you originally submitted them. They are response files, titled with your name “LastFirst”.

Your grades can be viewed in these files, and also in an Excel sheet, which is linked on my website in the “Marks” link. If you see any discrepancy, let me know!