qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmrtyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfg

The history of English Language

English, today would be considered a lingua franca (a world language) spoken as 1st (native) language, a second language and a foreign language making it the second most popular language behind Mandarin Chinese.

But, the form we use today is vastly different to the forms during the earlier periods when English emerged as a new language.

Language change is therefore an inevitable process and is always in a constant state of flux.

Causes of language change

The most prominent causes of language change historical, socio-political factors and scientific/technological developments.

Wars and invasions brought words which were often absorbed making English richer and more versatile.

New inventions and processes encourage the introduction of new words or semantic change in order to describe the products effectively.

Commerce, immigration and emigration are often catalysts for change. Contacts with international traders can introduce new terms e.g. <pyjamas> taken from Hindu entered English due to the colonial presence in South Asia in the 1870s.

Each generation adapts language so it is fit for purpose.

Development of English

Old English (OE) 450 – 1100

Middle English (ME) 1100 – 1450

Early Modern English (EME) 1450 – 1700

Modern English (ModE) 1700 – 1900

Late Modern English (LME) 1900 – present day

These dates are approximations as changes were gradual.

Prior to 450 AD

1

The initial inhabitants of the island we know as Britain did not speak English.

The Celts (or Britons) spoke a variety of Celtic languages including Welsh, Cornish, Scots Gaelic, Irish and Manx.

They were settlers from across the North Sea and spoke Celtic until the Romans invaded and occupied mainland Britain in 43 AD. Those who worked for the Romans adopted Latin as their official language.

When the Romans withdrew to address issues in the Empire, the Britons were attacked by the Scots and the Picts.

449 AD

The reigning sovereign at the time, King Vortegern, invited Germanic tribes to help in their fight against the Scots and Picts.

When they realised the Britons were defenceless, their intentions became more sinister and they claimed the land for themselves.

“Nevertheless, their real intention was to attack it. At first they engaged the enemy advancing from the North, and having defeated them, sent news back of their success to their homeland, adding that the country was fertile and the Britons cowardly. Whereupon a larger fleet quickly came over with a great body of warriors, which, when joined to the original forces, constituted an invincible army. These newcomers were from the three most formidable races of Germany, the Saxons, Angles and Jutes.” (Bede 730 AD)

The land was named ‘Englalond’ – the land of the Angles and the language they spoke ‘Englisc’ or ‘Anglo-Saxon’.

This formed the basis of the language which evolved into English as we know it.

One significant difference was the pronunciation of English. Anglos-Saxon English was a phonetic language with almost all sounds pronounced.

Therefore, there were no silent letters.

2

Old English (OE)

There was no single version of Anglo-Saxon used but a variety of dialects, each associated with a different geographic area.

There were four distinctive dialects:• Northumbrian: spoken north of the river Humber• Mercian: East Anglia to Welsh border• Kentish: South East and influenced by the Jutes• West Saxon: South and South West

They were mutually intelligible although there were instances where mutual understanding was difficult.

“Al the longage of the Norþumbres, and specialych at York, ys so scharp, slyttyng and frotyng, and unschape, þat we Souþeron men may þat longage unneþe undurstonde”

“All the language of the Northumbrians, and especially at York, is so sharp, piercing and grinding, and unformed, that we Southern men can that language hardly understand.”

The language at this stage had not undergone standardisation as the country had not reached social or political unity.

Old English Graphology

Although Old English used the Roman alphabet in writing, OE written texts often look difficult to decipher due to the presence of some runic symbols.

These were used in addition to the Roman alphabet to represent sounds not included and were preserved in Anglo-Saxon printing.

<Æ/æ> – ‘ash’ (from its runic name) is pronounced /a/ as in the present day <at> but is different to <hall>.

<Þ/þ> – ‘thorn’ represents /th/ as in present day <thumb>. These letters were introduced later as a by-product of the Viking invasion.

<Ð/ð> – ‘eth’ pronounced /th/ as in pdE <this>. These two sounds were used interchangeably and did not differentiate the voiced or voiceless pronunciation.

3

Other runes existed in handwriting but did not appear in printed Anglo-Saxon texts.

7 – used in manuscripts as a representation of <and>.

– ‘wynn’ pronounced /w/. The sound /w/ was represented in the earliest OE printing as <uu> which was then replaced by wynn.

- ‘yogh’ pronounced /g/ or/j/ represents pd <g>.

Other letters were not common <k>, <q>, <z> or used at all <j> and <v>.

Old English Lexis

OE lexis consisted largely of Germanic words with very few loanwords borrowed from other languages.

Many OE words looked similar to words used in Present day English:Lufu fædre wif hus blæcLove father wife house black

Some, however, look similar but their meanings were different:Tide = timeWiþ = againstSellan = give

Some lexemes survived as part of compound nouns or formulaic expressions such as the Anglo-Saxon words for <man>; <guma> and <wer> in <Bridegroom> and <werewolf>.

Others looked similar but were disguised by inflections (bound morphemes; prefixes, suffixes and affixes) to indicate number, agreement and tense.

geseted: ge set ed geleornode: ge leorn ode

set out learn

The inflections indicate number agreement and past tense. You do not need to analyse anything such as this in the exam, it enables you however to say with confidence there were significantly more inflections/inflexions during this time period

Old English grammar and syntax

An important feature of Anglo-Saxon grammar was the significance of inflections.

4

Today, word order is fixed and follows SVO pattern.This allows us to establish the meaning of theconstruction easily.

<The man saw the king> does not mean the same as <the king saw the man>.

The subject (person responsible for the action) typically precedes the predicator (the action) which is followed by the object (recipient of action).

Grammatical functions (cases)

When exploring word order in PDE we determine the function of the word by its place in the construction.• Subject: Doer/person responsible for action• Predicator: action• Object: recipient of action/the affected

In Old English, we determined the grammatical function by the inflection used. They had a case system, allowing them to identify who was responsible etc• Nominative: Subject / subject complement• Accusative: Direct object / object complement• Genitive: Possession• Dative: Prepositional phrases and indirect object

OE word order, however, did not follow the SVO pattern, instead the grammatical function was indicated by inflections.

<The man saw the king>: Se guma geseah þone cyning

<The king saw the man>: Se cyning geseah þone guman

The determiner <the> changes according to the function of the word it is attached to, <se> subject and <þone> object.The OE <guma> meaning <man> takes an additional inflection indicating it is in object position - <guman>.

OE Verbs

Like PDE verbs, OE differentiated between regular and irregular verbs but were labelled as weak and strong respectively.

Weak (regular) – PDE indicates past with <ed>Base: Kiss CyssanPast: Kissed Cyste - <t> used to show simple pastParticiple: Kissed Cyssed - <d> used to show perfect past

5

Strong (irregular) – PDE indicates past with vowel changeBase: Drink DrincanPast: Drank Dranc - <a> shows simple pastParticiple: Drunk Druncen - <u> shows perfect past

Viking invasion

Towards the end of the 8th century in 787AD, Vikings from Scandinavia began a series of raids in the north and east of England.

They eventually led an invasion and although were defeated by the English after a hundred years, King Alfred allowed them to remain.

In 886AD they settled in a large area of the north, naming their land ‘Danelaw’ and spoke their own language; Old Norse.

Old Norse was in some ways similar to Old English which meant speakers could communicate with each other.

Loss of inflections

Although Old Norse was eventually absorbed by English, it did have some effects as English developed.

Old Norse had many similar words but the grammatical ending s were different therefore they were often omitted when English and Viking speakers communicated with each other. This sped up the loss of all inflectional endings due to their being unstressed.

Some ON words absorbed remained in the English language as synonyms e.g. OE <sick>, ON <ill>, and OE <hide>, ON <skin>.

Other Norse influences

Old Norse contained some words which did not exist in Old English and eventually replace them.

The most notable were third person pronouns <they>, <them> and <their>.

They also introduced place names such as <scunthorpe> with <thorpe> meaning village and supplied us with new words including <skirt> for OE <shirt>, <egg>, <skin>, <leg> and <take>.

6

Influences of Old Norse are still found in northern accents and dialects and to some extent Standard English today.

Middle English

Middle English is the term used to describe the variety of English spoken and written from approximately 1100 – 1450 AD.

The traditional end of the Old English period is recognised as 1100 although the Norman invasion in 1066 (the battle of Hastings) served as the catalyst for the next major change in the history of English.

This marked the decline and eventual loss of the OE standard West Saxon and to some extent the loss of English.

The earliest Middle English texts were dated 1150-1200AD.

Socio-political influences on ME

After the battle of Hastings, West Saxon fell into disuse and was replaced in both official and social domains by French and Latin.

William dispossessed almost all English nobility of their lands and titles replacing them with Normans.

French gained prestige and was recognised as the chosen form for communication.

As a result, written English declined rapidly, but spoken English remained as the chosen form for the common people. However, some descendants of the Norman French invaders adopted English as their language.

Therefore for the majority of the ME period there is no record of written English.

It wasn’t lost completely but remained in a phonetic sense with each vernacular developing their own written systems. This was particularly evident in Chaucer’s texts and were the first literary representations of the dialectal variations.

Trade, intermarrying and wet nursing encouraged the retention and spread of English and it began to re-emerge in its written form during 1150s.

7

The forms developed prior to its reappearance reflect the historical and dialectal variations with local patterns of spelling (orthography), grammar and lexis.

As English gained status and began to be used in official domains, the need for a standard developed.

Decline of French

In 1204, King John lost Normandy to France and the two countries became enemies.

In 1362, English was used for the first time to open parliament and was universal by 1425 establishing the language as the official language of British Isles.

The Norman invasion had significant influences on English, most notably in the lexicon with an estimated 10,000 French words entering the language.

Outcomes?

When a word was borrowed which had the same meaning as a pre-existing English term, there were only two likely outcomes:• It would replace the English word: <leod> replaced by

<people>, <stow> by <place> and <herion> by <praise>.• They would co-exist as synonyms although the meanings were

slightly different e.g. <doom/judgement>, <house/mansion> and <hearty/cordial>.

Latin loanwords

The majority of Latin loanwords were concerned with learned areas:• Religion: <dirge>, <redeemer>• Legal: <client>, <conviction>• Scholastic: <index>, <library>, <scribe>• Science: <dissolve>, <equal>, <orbit>

Most died out after a short time although some entered the language and created more synonyms.

Graphology

Some of the OE runic symbols declined rapidly during the ME period or were lost altogether:

• <ð> ‘eth’ – died out and was last used in 1400s

8

• <þ> ‘thorn’ – this form died out but another form survived in printed English as <y> e.g. <ye> until it was replaced by <th>.

• <æ> ‘ash’ began to fall out of common use• <Ƿ> ‘wynn’ was replaced by <uu> by Norman scribes• <Ȝ> ‘yogh’ was retained by some scribes but it also

represented <w>, <z> occasionally.

Orthography

Some graphemes which did not exist or were not commonly used in OE were introduced during ME.

A significant characteristic of ME orthography was the lack of consistency. Although the OE period had garnered a ‘standard’ this was dismissed early into this period paving the way for a more phonetic representation.

There were no fixed spelling rules as the notion of ‘correct’ spelling is a modern concept.

It was not uncommon to find scribes spelling the same word in several different ways even in the same text. E.g. <nakid> / <nakyd>.

<u> and <v>

The consonant grapheme <v> did not exist in the Old English period but the sound (phoneme) did and was represented medially by /f/ e.g. <drifan>.

The introduction of the grapheme was an influence of the Norman invasion and generally indicates the lexeme (word) to be of French or Latin origin.

The Anglo-Norman scribes therefore began to replace <f> in medial position with either a <v> or <u> e.g. <drivan> or <driuan>.

Although the grapheme was introduced, it had no concrete value and was used interchangeably with <u> for both phonemes [Ʊ] and [u] and [v].

However, a general rule existed whereby <v> was used when in initial position and <u> elsewhere e.g. <vsury> and <euery>.

If you come across this feature in a text, you must identify the word class of the words it occurs in and explain why these two graphemes are interchangeable using the information above. Once you have

9

done this, you must explain how it is different to Present day English.

<cw> and <qu>

Another grapheme which didn’t exist in OE was <q>.

OE <cw> was replaced by the Latin form <qu> giving us <queen> instead of OE <cwene>.

OE <cwellan> became ME <quellen> (to kill).

The OE phonetic representation is closer to PDE pronunciation but the use of Latin <qu> suggested prestige.

<i> and <y>Initially in OE, these two phonemes had a distinctive value but they later merged as a result of dialectal variation in early ME.

The two were then used interchangeably particularly where stroke letters (minims) were used <m>, <n> and <u>.

The long, close strokes of some letters in handwriting could confuse readers leading to the use of <y> e.g. <myn>, <homecomynge>.

In some cases, <o> replaced <u> to avoid this confusion. After the introduction of standardisation, the two graphemes began to take on distinctive values whereby <i> is recognised as a vowel and <y> a consonant.

Ormulum’s spelling reform

A Danish monk named Ormulum attempted to standardise spelling during the 12th century aiming to make spelling more consistent and relate each sound to an individual symbol.

He wrote in the East midlands dialect teaching the Christian faith in English as opposed to Latin.

The most significant feature of his attempts was the doubling of consonants to represent preceding short vowels and singular consonants indicating the preceding vowel is long.

Needless to say, his attempts at spelling reform were unsuccessful.

Phonology

10

Generally speaking, all letters in ME were pronounced including vowels so <knight> was pronounced [knIҫt].Although most OE inflections had fallen out of use, some remained but by 1300s (Chaucer’s time) the final <e> had become silent in normal speech.

Pronunciation of final <e> was optional in literature unless the following word began with a vowel.

If a word contained two <e> in spelling on either side of single consonant, the second <e> would be unstressed and removed e.g <ev’ry>.

Grammar

The most significant change to English grammar was the loss of the majority of inflections. They were not as important for indicating relationships between words.Word order became much more important and a move towards Present Day English SVO began.

Second person pronouns <thou> and <ye> (not to be confused with <the>) had distinctive uses, similar to French <vous/tu>.• Thou: singular and intimate/informal• Ye: plural and formal

<ne> was used in ME to show negation but would often be assimilated with the following word e.g. <ne + is = nis>.

Relative clauses in ME differ from PDE relative clauses insofar as they can be separated from the noun phrase they modify e.g. Aux S P OPDE: [May] [God, who redeemed mankind], [save] [you]

HW Rel Cl.

S P O Relative clauseME: [God] [save] [yow], [that boghte agayn mankynde]

Early Modern English

The Early Modern period is typically identified as 1500-1700 AD but the transition from ME began around 25 years earlier with the introduction of printing.

There were a number of factors which had significant implications for linguistic development:• Printing and standardisation• The Great Vowel Shift• King James I Bible

11

• Renaissance

Early Modern English is much closer to PDE than its predecessors making it easier to read and understand.

Printing

The first printer was introduced to Britain in 1476 by merchant William Caxton.

He established his printing press in Westminster and began printing books in English including a copy of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.

The emergence of mass literacy and demand for literature ensured the printing press was successful paving the way for a standard variety of the language. Renaissance loan words began to appear in English.

However, a problem presented itself; which dialect formed the basis of the standard variety?

East Midlands Dialect

Given the nature of English at the time, Caxton had to establish a suitable punctuation system and dialect in which to print.

The dialect chosen was the East Midlands dialect (London), not because it was considered the most prestigious form but because it was his own dialect and was used in universities, trade centres, and administration. It was the most accessible form for him.

Caxton’s protégé Richard Pynson favoured the Chancery Standard and printed in this dialect which incorporated some Northern features including the third person pronouns <they>, <them> and <their>.

It was the most accessible dialect to use and so began the standardisation process.

Standardisation

A language must progress through four stages in order for it to be standardised:• Selection: choosing a variety to form the basis• Codification: developing a written system, standardising

spelling, punctuation • Elaboration: incorporating new words, grammatical structures

to make it fit for purpose

12

• Implementation: Using it in official domains, developing currency (printing), pride and loyalty.

Standardisation is a gradual process which meant that spelling was to some extent still inconsistent throughout the EME period e.g. <things> may have been spelled <thynges> or <thingis> in the same text. In writing an exam question, should you not this, comment on it and link it back to standardisation to gain AO2 marks.

Other historical factors influencing Early Modern English include:• Education: literacy became more common during this

period, illustrated by the increase in personal letters such as the Paston Letters

• Travel: increased travel opportunities encouraged contact with other cultures which increased the number of loanwords

entering the language.• Renaissance: Increased interest in learning; literature,

classical languages and science, created demands on English since it was required to describe new concepts.

• Colonisation: In 1584AD Sir Walter Raleigh colonised Roanoke which marked the spread of English to America.

Orthography

The alphabet used in EME (sometimes considered Shakespeare’s alphabet) was much like the PDE alphabet.

<þ> ‘thorn’ was still used in EME but was typically restricted to handwriting. In printing, there was no <þ> grapheme so it was replaced by <ý> due to its graphological similarities. Note this can be common in exam texts.

<þe>, <þat> and <þem> would appear in printing in their abbreviated forms <ye>, <yt> and <ym> as they only had access to the standard alphabet.

<s> had two lowercase forms during EME; <s> or <ſ> (PDE /ʃ/). Like <u> and <v> a general rule existed with <s> being used in word final position and <ſ> used elsewhere.

<u> and <v> were still used interchangeably following the rule established during ME. It was not until the 1600s where their values were distinguished. In the late 1600s, <vv> was used as an occasional alternative for <w>.

<y> was still used sometimes in place of <i> e.g. <poynt>. But <j> was now considered an alternative form of <i>. It was therefore common during this period to find <j> in place of <i>.

13

<j> was often used in numerals e.g. <vij 7>. This stabilised in 1700s.

Where <y> appears in word final position in PDE, it was not uncommon to find <ie> in EME e.g. <verbositie> and <ortagriphie>.

Mulcaster

Richard Mulcaster published ‘Elementarie’ a book of 8000 words and their spellings in an attempt to regularise English spelling and the lack of consistent conventions.

• Vowels were spelled in a more predictable manner e.g. double vowels to represent long sounds <soon>

• Final <e> was used diacritically to indicate vowel length• <u> and <v> began to settle and stabilise• Capitalisation became conventional to indicate names,

important common nouns and beginnings of sentences.• Orthography and spoken pronunciation began to diverge• Spelling guides started to emerge identifying homophones

school children had to learn

Final <e>

Final <e> is still present in EME texts but it ceased to have a grammatical function and was used merely as a means of justification or decoration e.g. <poore>.

It also took on diacritic status (changes pronunciation) which it maintains in PDE.

Its function was to indicate the length of a preceding vowel e.g. <while>, <sore> and <onely>. This is the function of final <e> in PDE.

However, it caused some confusion with words such as <written> so it became conventional to illustrate a short vowel with the doubling of consonants e.g. <forrest>.

Etymological respelling

Spelling reforms were common throughout the history of the English language.

There were some attempts to respell existing words in a way which was intended to reflect their origins/history therefore leading to false etymologies.

14

Some words which reflected Latin incorporated silent <b> graphemes such as <debt> and <doubt> pronounced [debitum] and [dubium].

However, some of words were respelled to include the silent grapheme such as <subtle> in order to imitate Latin and lend credibility to the words.

Graphology

The punctuation system employed during EME was different to PDE punctuation as it was more rhetorical; it was designed to reflect the pauses in speech.• (.) punctus – a full stop• (:) colon – used for a variety of purposes• (/) virgule – comma

During the 16th century, semi-colons and exclamation marks were introduced and with the increase in printed texts more punctuation marks emerged resulting in the grammatical function used in PDE.

Capitalisation of all nouns, verbs and adjectives was common during EME, particularly in Shakespeare’s work but it did not follow the PDE pattern until late 19th century.

Phonology

The key phonological aspect of EME was the Great Vowel Shift, named so due to the significant affect on the pronunciation of long vowels.

It is a key difference between ME and EME with the change occurring over a period of approximately 200 years between 1400-1600.

The short vowels remained relatively stable with only minor changes such as the emerging strut phoneme /Λ/.

The cause of the change is unknown, although speculation infers it was a way to reinstate prestige forms of English and reject French.

The Great Vowel Shift

/i/ /ai/ [teem] [time]

/e/ /i/ [sae] [see]

/a/ /ei/ [naam] [name]

15

/o/* /u/ [rote] [root]

/u/ /au/ [hoos] [house]

The phonemes changed their position in the mouth with the lower phonemes (monothongs) pushing up and the higher phonemes becoming diphthongs.

Lexis

There was large scale borrowing into English from a range of other languages during EME, particularly from Greek and Latin.

The increased interest in classical literature and art can be considered the catalyst for increased borrowings, in addition to trade, travel and greater communication e.g. <encyclopaedia> 1531, <temperature> 1533, <conspicuous> 1545 from Latin and <catastrophe> 1540, <larynx> 1578 and <pneumonia> 1603 from Greek.

Romance languages contributed large numbers of loanwords e.g. <rocket> 1611, <volcano> 1613 and <opera> 1644 from Italian and <tobacco> 1588, <hurricane> 1555 and <guitar> 1621 from Spanish.

Shakespeare’s influence

Shakespeare had significant influence on the development of the English lexicon.

It led to the creation of idiomatic expressions, diverse hyphenations and neologisms, some of which remain in the language today.

• Mum's the word (Henry VI, Part 2) • Neither here nor there (Othello) • Send him packing (Henry IV) • Set your teeth on edge (Henry IV) • There's method in my madness (Hamlet) • Too much of a good thing (As You Like It) • Vanish into thin air (Othello)

Inkhorn controversy

Due to such large scale borrowing, some writers opposed this and labelled the Latinate borrowings as ‘inkhorn terms’ (pretentious language of the over-learned).

16

They attempted to replace the Latinate terms with natively derived words e.g. <divisibility> = <cleavesomeness>, <impenetrable> = <unthrougfaresom> but were largely unsuccessful.

Many felt they had to apologise for their use of English: Elyot (1534) “If physicians be angry that I have written physiche in English, let them remember that grekes wrote in greke, the Romans in Latine…which were their proper and maternal tongues”.

Cheke (1561) “I am of the opinion that our tong should be written cleare and pur, unmixt and unmangled with the borrowings of other tongs”.

Whilst others defended the borrowings: Mulcaster: …“but why not English, a tong of it self both depe in conciet and frank in delivre”.

Semantics

Some common terms in PDE had a different meaning in EME and so many readers can become confused when reading in context.

<Presently>EME: immediatelyPDE: After a space of time

<Melancholy>EME: disease or ailment being caused by an imbalance in one or

other of the four basic bodily liquids PDE: mental or emotional symptoms of depression or despondency

Grammar

Generally speaking, EME grammar is very much like PDE grammar.

A significant amount of what is known about EME grammar comes from studying Shakespeare’s works and King James Bible, published in 1611.

Some non-standard features in PDE were acceptable in EME including double negatives <not nowhere> and double comparatives <more elder>.

Subordinate clauses and conjunctions were used to indicate complex sentence structures more rather than conjunctions <and> and <then> which were used in ME.

Syntax

17

Word order is similar to PDE following the SPO patterns e.g. S P[this scul] [has laine] [in the earth three & twenty years]

But Predicator – subject order is still fairly common in EME P S

[Heere] [hung] [those lipps]

Auxiliary and lexical verbs were separated when forming interrogatives just as in PDE but the typical pattern may be deviated form for stylistic reasons O Aux S P[plots] [haue] [I] [laide]

Interrogatives

Forming questions differed in EME with the introduction of the verb <do>.

In ME, the Predicator and Subject were inverted e.g. <Hadst thou?>.

In EME, the auxiliary verb <do> was used to form questions like PDE <do you know what you say?>

It was also used to form negatives <Do you not know?> where previously they would have taken the following form <Know you not?>

Shakespeare used both forms in his work, <didst thou?>

Verbs

EME verb inflections were simplified as they moved towards Modern English. In O.E. the second and third person inflections <-est> and <-eth> were still in use but <-s> was introduced by Scandinavian settlers and began to spread south.

Anglo-Saxon third person singular present <-eth> fell out of use but <-s> survived, <“with her, that hateth thee and hates vs all”>.

Present plural forms became uninflected where they had been marked by <-en>, <-th>, and <-s> previously. <-th> and <-s> survived longest in <hath>, <doth> and <is>.

Second person singular was marked for present and past tenses using <-st> or <-est> e.g. <walkedst>, <gav’st>.

18

<art> was used for the present plural form of the verb <to be>, <are>.

Perfect aspect

The perfect aspect had not been standardised in EME period due to the inconsistent use of the primary auxiliary verb <to have>.

In its place, the verb <to be> was used as in this example from King James Bible <But which of you…will say unto him…when he is come from the field, Go and sit down…”>. Although a rule existed:Where a verb was transitive (takes a direct object) <have> would be used:

S Aux P Od Oi A

[He] [hath brought] [many Captiues] [home] [to Rome]

If the verb is intransitive, <to be> would be used: S P O

[The King himself] [is rode to view] [their Battaile]

Progressive aspect

By the end of EME the progressive aspect <ing> became dominant, although other forms were common.

These included the prefix <a-> e.g. <I am a-walking> which was common in dialect forms, and the infinitive verb paired with <do> e.g. <I do walk>.

The verb <to be> and present participle <-ing> could be combined to express the passive voice without any additional markers giving us constructions such as <The house is building>.

Modal auxiliary verbs

Modal auxiliary verbs in EME were accompanied by an infinitive verb unlike in ME <I must to Coventry>, thus cementing their distinctive syntactic function.

<Shall> and <will> retained the lexical meanings from OE; ‘obligation’ and ‘volition’ respectively and developed a general rule for their use; “when expressing future tense <shall> should be used with first person subjects and <will> to be used with second and third person subjects”.

<shall> could be attached to second and third person subjects when asserting dominance e.g. <you shall do what I say>.

19

Other verbs ceased to function as modals such as <dare> from the modal <durst> and <mot>, the present form of <must>.

Pronouns

Pronouns, like OE, ME and PDE were categorised by person i.e. first, second and thirds person. Singular third person pronouns were selected on the basis of noun sex e.g. <he>, <she> etc.

<thou> and <ye> were still present and had the same use as in ME but <ye> (object form and to indicate plural) and <you> became the more common, unmarked term of address and <thou> was used more informally by 1600.

By the end of 17th century <thou> was restricted to non-standard (dialect) varieties and to referring to God.

<thee> was used in the object position , <thy> and <thine> for possession. It can be seen in formulaic phrases in PDE <fare thee well>.

Determiners and demonstrative pronouns

Most determiners in EME followed the PDE pattern in terms of their function, but some could co-occur with pronouns <this my virtue>.

A distinction was drawn between demonstrative pronouns as in PDE although <yon> and <yond(er)> are much less common, <When yond same star that’s westward from the pole>.

There were no distinctions in the use of relative pronouns in EME unlike in PDE.

Adjectives

They function largely as in PDE although there were some differences.

The position of adjectives in noun phrases differ for stylistic uses i.e. <inductions dangerous> or when in vocative expressions <Goode my Lorde>.

They could also become the headword in a noun phrase when describing a group of people e.g. <the poore haue cry’de>.

King James 1 Bible 1611

The Bible was translated in English in 1604 and was completed in 1611. It was the third official translation of the Christian bible but

20

was the one which had the most impact on the development of English.

It had significant influence on the lexicon and idiomatic phrases as well as the literary influence with Charles Dickens claiming the New Testament is “the very best book that ever was or ever will be known in the world."

Modern English

Modern English is largely considered to be the time period between 1700-1900s, although there is some debate among historical linguists.

Texts from this period look very similar to present day English with very few differences in lexis and grammar.

There were a number of significant events which influenced the development of English during this time and saw English cement its status as a national and international language.

Standardisation

Standardisation of English continued to develop gradually but was heavily influenced by Samuel Johnson’s dictionary in 1755.

It took 8 years to complete and took 6 people to compile it. Although it was not the first dictionary, it was the first of its kind.

It offered spelling and definitions for many of the words and stabilised English orthography.

At this time, phonology and orthography began to diverge significantly after the GVS and Johnson’s dictionary.

Prescriptivism

Prescriptivism and grammarians had a significant influence on standardisation during the 1700s. This came about largely as a reaction to English establishing itself as a language of science and learning.

Many cast aspersions considering English a deficient form and so this became a catalyst for prescribed forms of English.

It became associated with social class and status which is the same as today.

21

Much of this was well-meaning scholars of the time misunderstood the nature of language variation and sought to bring order into what they saw as chaos.

This then merged with the view that regional varieties are inferior.

As a result, grammars were written and produced to provide a correct usage of English. Robert Lowth was the most influential of these writers

Lowth’s introduction to grammar

Lowth published his Short Introduction to Grammar in 1762 and was responsible for the series of ‘do’s and don’ts’ in English grammar including:• <whom> as a direct object• not ending a sentence with a preposition• <X and I>

Prescriptivists called for the use of <X and I> in all instances even when it would not occur.

He formulated a rule for the use of modal auxiliaries <will> and <shall> but it no longer exists in PDE.

Orthography

Thorn <þ> became obsolete replaced in all contexts with digraph <th>.

<i> and <j> and <u> and <v> were stabilised completely taking on distinctive values as vowels and consonants respectively.

Modern English used the Roman alphabet exclusively containing 26 graphemes.

Lexis

English lexicon continued to grow as the British empire expanded introducing lexemes such as:• <bangle> 1787 <dinghy> 1810 and <thug> 1810 India

Scientific and medicinal lexemes were introduced:• <centigrade> 1812, <biology> 1819, <laryngitis> 1822• <antibiotic> 1894

During this period, American continued to diverge and create a national identity through the introduction of American English orthography. This was pioneered by Noah Webster.

22

Grammar

Grammatical changes were gradual and subtle during this time period therefore there are very few differences.

There was no distinction in the use of second person pronoun <you> as there had been during the EME. It was used to indicate singular and plural as well as formal and intimate.

Periphrastic <do> cemented its function as an auxiliary used to formulate interrogatives.

Sentence structures became much less complex using punctuation conventions rather then multiple sub. clauses.

Late Modern English 1900 – present

This the time period we are currently in today and there have been very few significant developments in English since the modern period.

The more prominent factors of English in this period are:• increased social mobility• Accents and dialects • Estuary English• International soap operas

Lexical developments continue to enter the language particularly through innovations including clippings, neologisms etc.

International varieties of English

English in America

English spread to America during the Early Modern English period, more specifically 16th century.

The Roanoke settlement of America in 1584 marked the spread of English to America but it wasn’t until 1607 when the first permanent colony was settled.

In 1620 Puritans migrated to America in search of religious freedom and settled in modern day Massachusetts.

23

By the mid-1600s, 25,000 immigrants settled in colonies in America. This time in American history is known as the colonial period.

National Period 1776-1898

In 1776, the Declaration of American Independence was drafted and agreed enabling America to create an identity separate from Britain.

At this time, mass immigration from Europe and the Middle East continued and the population of America reached 4 million.

The settlers brought their own languages with them, which had a significant impact on English in America particularly the lexicon.

American Lexis

There are four significant categories in which differences between BrEng and AmEng are visible:• Same word in BrEng and AmEng but different meanings• Same word but additional meaning in one variety• Same word but difference in use (formality, frequency)• Same concept but different words in each variety

When America was first colonised, the English people took with them their language; grammar, syntax, lexis and pronunciation, therefore much of the lexis used was initially British.

<fall> was used in England during the 16th Century to refer to the season ‘Autumn’. Likewise, <trash> to refer to ‘rubbish’, <mad> to describe being ‘angry’ and <deck> to refer to ‘pack’ as in ‘a pack of cards’.

All of these lexemes were used in England but fell out of common use. Due to the standardisation of English and the influence of Johnson’s dictionary, the two varieties spoken in England and America began to diverge significantly.

The coining of new lexemes began as soon as colonists borrowed lexemes from Native American languages for unfamiliar concepts e.g. fauna and flora, <racoon>, <opossum>.

Languages of other colonizing nations enhanced the American lexicon

• cookie, stoop, and pit (of a fruit) from Dutch• portage ("carrying of boats or goods") and (probably)

gopher from French• barbecue and rodeo from Spanish

24

There is a large influence upon language from media, the growing popularity of American dramas and soaps often lends itself to borrowings from Am Eng. There are a number of vocabulary items which are used in one variety but not the other.

E.g. <creamcicle/popcicle>

The differences that we see can be divided into four sections although there may be some overlap.

Orthography

This is perhaps the most obvious difference between BrEng and AmEng but it wasn’t until 1804 when Noah Webster decided to diverge from BrEng spelling to help the establishment of the American identity.

Initially, Noah Webster followed the conventions for spelling as laid out by Johnson’s dictionary. This was seen in the ‘American Spelling Book’ published in 1783.

But, he later revised the book and omitted <u> from <our> endings, <k> from <ick> and published the American Dictionary of the English Language in 1828.

American English Phonology

American English pronunciation was influenced by the English settlers whom migrated during the 16th century. They, unlike, BrEng did not have an equivalent to R.P. however in recent years Network American or General American is recognised in the same manner.

Post vocalic /r/In some varieties /r/ dropping is becoming increasingly popular. This was most common along the east coast of America having been colonised by the south west English.

/a/ & / ɒ / Now sound homophonous (the same) e.g. <father>, <bother>

/ ɒ / & / ɔ / Are homophonous, the same as Scottish dialects. E.g. <caught>, <cot>/j/ Like British English /j/ dropping is increasing <news> becomes [nu:z]

/ æ/

25

In some accents /æ/ is pronounced as /eә/ before nasal consonants<Can> - [keәn]

/ ſ / Intervocalic /t/ and /d/ are often pronounced /ſ/ in words such as <butter> and <atom>.

It may also occur at the end of words ‘what’s up’.

Words such as <ladder/ latter>, <atom/Adam> sound homophonous

Grammar

There are fewer significant differences in grammar between BrEng and AmEng than there are in lexis, orthography and phonology.

It is important to remember that BrEng was undergoing standardisation at the time which English spread to America. Given the distance between the two countries, the languages evolved at different rates, therefore changes in BrEng after this time are not found in AmEng.

Most AmEng grammar is understandable to BrEng users but may not be Standard British English.

Morphology

AmEng morphology is much more simplistic than BrEng particularly when looking at tense and aspect in verbs.

In BrEng we use different morphemes to indicate tense and aspect depending on whether the verbs are regular or irregular.

In America, the tend to regularise most verbs. This means they are more likely to add the <-ed> morpheme rather than <-t> which is found in BrEng forms.

BrEng <learnt> AmEng <learned>

AmEng are innovative with morphemes particularly when creating new verbs.

They create new verbs by adding suffixes <–ize> and <–ify> to nouns.

Can you think of any more examples?

Burglarize / burglify

26

Millionise

Zero plurals

A zero plural is the form of a plural noun which is identical to its singular form e.g. <sheep>.

There are few examples in BrEng.

However, this is common in AmEng as they tend to leave off plural markers.<How many shrimp would you like?>

Quantitive nouns do not show plurality in Am Eng; this is also a common feature of British Dialects. <Eight Mile><ten pound>

Prepositions

What is the purpose of prepositions in English?

Prepositions indicate the specific relationships between the elements of sentences; they convey time, place, direction, purpose and source.

There are minor differences in preposition use within AmEng and BrEng.

<Out the shed> (BrEng) <At the back of the shed>

<Out of the shed> (AmEng) <At the back of the shed>

Prepositions and time

There are a few minor differences in terms of how AmEng and BrEng convey time.

<The sale started January 1st>

– prepositions are usually omitted before dates in AmEng.

When expressing time and duration BrEng and AmEng differ with respect of the prepositions they use.

<I haven’t seen him for six weeks.> (BrEng)<I haven’t seen him in six weeks> (AmEng)

27

Adjectives and adverbs

Am Eng uses the adjective <real> as an adverb;<That was a real good meal.>

The comparative adjective <different> is followed by <than> in AmEng. In BrEng it is followed by <to>.<This one is different to the last one.> (BrEng)<This one is different than the last one.> (AmEng)

Am Eng also tends to create adverbs by adding the suffix <-wise> to nouns; this is not common in BrEng.

MomentarilyThe SE meaning of momentarily is ‘for a moment’, however Am Eng uses it to indicate ‘in a moment’.

PresentlyThe SE meaning of presently is ‘soon’. This is the case both varieties of English.

However, Am Eng uses presently to indicate that X is here now.

e.g. they are presently here.

ArticlesIn BrEng the definite article is not needed when using the phrase <next day>.

AmEng uses <the> before this phrase.• <The next day it was raining>.

BrEng does not use the article when discussing the phrase <in future>’; AmEng insert <the> before the noun.

<In future all essays must be handed in on time>

Pronouns

The pronoun <one> was used rarely in AmEng writing and was much less common in speech. However, it is becoming used more widely, this is seen in the American TV drama ‘Big Bang Theory’.

This is used by formal educated speakers of English as well as being the SE written choice.

Reciprocal pronouns are used frequently in BrEng such as <each other> and <one another>. Am Eng uses the first but not the latter.

28

International period

America was propelled to international heights and was recognised as one of the super powers in the world.

It is now one of the more common varieties of English heard. Chinese learners often use AmEng rather than BrEng as the basis of their learning.

In 1990s the re-emergence of political correctness in America led to the changing practice in use of lexis and phrases that were considered offensive to minority groups. A practice which has since spread around the world.

Pidgins

A pidgin is a contact language created by amalgamating two or more languages for the sole purpose of communicating and is said to be the Chinese lexeme for <business>.

They occur where there is no common tongue – no lingua franca.

The language will contain features from both languages to construct a new form that fulfils the limited communication needs.

Once these needs have been fulfilled the form will no longer exist.

19th Century African slaves transported to North America created the first pidgin language in order to communicate with other slaves and their plantation bosses.

The Slaves were generally separated from their own community in order to reduce the likelihood of them formulating plans to escape.

Colonisation also influenced the development of pidgin languages, which can be seen across the world and over time.

Short life

Due to the nature of pidgins, they tend not to exist for long. Once the need for them is gone, so too is the language form.

It is rare for a pidgin to exist for more than 100 years, if they do, they tend to undergo expansion.

If this occurs, the pidgin form will become more complex and undergo creolisation to be become a creole language.

29

Given that they are spoken forms, they do not have a written form.

Pidgins are significantly reduced and simplified forms of language given their sole purpose – brief communication.

Their phonology is often reduced and grammar is simplified making it easier and more efficient in communicating.

One of the languages which forms the pidgin tends to be more dominant than the other. In English based pidgins, English would be the dominant language as a result of its status and social superiority.

Superstrate and Substrate

There dominant language which contributes more to the pidgin than the others is known as the SUPERSTRATE language.The minority languages that contribute are known as SUBSTRATE languages.

This is evident in the simplification and reduction of the languages, as well as in the mixing of languages together.

Tok Pisin is an expanded pidgin; its superstrate language is English and its substrate language is Papua New Guinean.

Simplification

Simplification refers to the process whereby grammar is made more simplistic by omitting or reducing the number of inflectional morphemes, tense markers and markers for plurality etc.

The forms therefore tend to become regularised. This means the number of ending is generally reduced. In verbs, irregular verbs, which often indicate tense with a vowel change will now do so using the regular inflectional ending <-ed>.

Verb <to run> would become <runned> to show past tense.

This can also be shown through the loss of grammatically redundant elements within structures.

If there is some information in the construction which can tell us time, place, plurality etc and is repeated in some way, then the forms will become more simplified

<I walked there yesterday>

30

Given that there are two markers for tense, one will be simplified. The verb <to walk> has been inflected with the inflectional morpheme to show past tense <-ed> and the adverb <yesterday> is used as an adverbial of time to show a past action.

One of the first things to be simplified is inflections; prefixes and suffixes. <un->, <in-/im->, <a(n)->, <de->, etc.

Since the majority of these prefixes generally translate as ‘the opposite of’, the pidgin form will only have one, this is often <un->.

Comparatives and superlatives are generally quite difficult in comparison to other adjective forms, in order to reduce this difficulty, the pidgin will use one form for positive and attach the prefix un- to form the negative.<Good> = <un good>

In terms of grammatical structure pidgins tend to be very simple.

They do not have subordinate clauses or relative clauses. They tend to use SVO structures and use separate words to indicate tense/aspect. They repeat words to indicate plurals, superlatives They tend not to have pronouns, function words or the copula (verb <to be>) Nouns etc tend to have no inflections (monomorphemic

structures)

Reduction

Reduction refers to the reduction of articulated sounds, in particular whereby some syllables are slurred in speech.

It is very common in natural speech and can sometimes be visible in pidgin / creole languages.

Phrasal verbs <Going to> => <gonna> <Lot of> => <lotta>

As the pidgin language begins to develop we can see instances of reduction being integrated into speech, although these will generally be adopted as the standard word in that language.

<Come up> => <kamap> (Papua New Guinea Creole)

Mixing

31

They will be a mix of two languages. When you speak a foreign language you will almost certainly have an English accent and may well use English expressions and grammatical constructions.

It will therefore be common to find lexis from both forms although the superstrate will typically dominate.

Many pidgins are difficult for the BrEng user to understand because the mixing and wildly differing pronunciation (which is reflected in the spelling) means the language appears alien.

Tok Pisin: talk pidgin

Tok Pisin was an expanded pidgin spoken in Papua New Guinea but has undergone creolisation and the language form is more complex.

It is now a first language for many speakers in Papua New Guinea and no longer a lingua franca for those without mutual understanding of one language or another.

Its form however, is still much more simplistic in comparison to its superstrate language; English.

Creoles

Evolution of pidgins

Although pidgin languages tend to exist for less than 100 years and disappear once their purposes are lost, occasionally it will acquire native speakers and begin to expand.

Once this begins, the pidgin undergoes creolisation which involves the expansion and development of the grammatical systems, lexicon and written systems.

New generations are taught the expanding form which then becomes their native (first) language. As a result and with little influence from older speakers, the language forms develop into a fully functional language (socially and message oriented).

The nature of creoles

Most creoles (within Europe) derive from four continents having originated in the slave trades: Europe Africa North and South America

32

Historically, creole languages were considered low in status and referred to as ‘patois’ / ‘patwa’.

Creoles do not demonstrate a lack of stability – they are as describable as any officially recognized language and are not ‘simple’ languages.

Levels of creole

Like pidgins (and indeed any form of language), there exists a variety of forms:

Acrolect: The ‘top’ level. These are closest to the standard, in this case Standard English

Mesolect: In the middle will be versions further from the Standard both grammatically and lexically. They will show some features of creole.

Basilect: These are far from the standard and are deep creoles. These are difficult for BrE uses to understand.

Mesolect

The form you are most likely to see in your exam is the mesolect form as it enables you to discuss features of creolisation and how it differs from Standard English.

There are many distinctive features found in mesolect varieties of creoles, many of which vary depending on a number of factors, much like BrEng dialects and accents.

Jamaican Creole is one of the more prominent creole language forms but is not to be confused with Jamaican English.

JamEng is a variety of English, in the same manner as AmEng and AusEng.

Creole development

As the creoles develop and evolve, many of the features absent in the initial pidgin forms will begin to be reintroduced (although not to the same level as in Standard English – or the superstrate influence).

Grammatical forms become more complex with additional clauses in some structures.

33

Creoles tend to have a larger, more expansive lexicon and more morphologically complex lexemes.

The copula and inflectional morphemes may be present.

Vocabulary

Like any form of English (be it a regional dialect in the British Isles or an international variety) there will be a large number of words that are specific to that form. It may be that these are words which reflect the Caribbean or adaptations of existing English words. You will encounter this pattern in American and Australia English.

Examples of some Jamaican Lexis <To carry> to take or transport <Dread> terrible/excellent <Duppy> ghost <Licks> a beating <Vex> angry

Grammar

Although not as complex as Standard English, creole grammars are systematic and have their own rules.

Nouns are not usually marked for plurality using inflections, instead a quantifier is used. But when referring to people, <dem> is attached to the noun e.g. <di gyal-dem> - <the girls>.

Pronouns have some similarities to Standard BrEng:1st person sing. <me> plural <we>2nd person sing. <you> plural <unu>3rd person sing. <him> plural <them>

Verbs tend not to be inflected to show 3rd person <-s> and tense markers are usually omitted.

The past tense is likely to be identical to the present forms e.g. <he pull-up> therefore auxiliary verbs and adverbs may be used to indicate tense.

The copula <to be> is often omitted altogether or used in its infinitive form (base form) e.g. <be>.

Interrogative pronouns <wh-> may be inverted with the subject when used to create interrogatives.

Phonology

34

There are some distinctive features in creole phonology, most of which result from mixing. These features sometimes found in urban areas of the UK.

/t/ and /θ/ are not distinguished and both are pronounced /t//d/ and /ð/ are not distinguished and are pronounced /d/ There appears to be a lack of dental fricatives, with the creoles using alveolar plosives in their place

Consonant clusters are reduced with the final consonant being omitted e.g. <most> - /məʊs/

Elision and reduction are common in creoles: e.g. <and> - [æn], <for> - [fə]

Another common feature in creole forms is metathesis. This is the rearranging of phonemes and syllables in lexemes.

One of the most common examples is the verb <to ask>. In creoles and AAVE <ask> is often pronounced /æks/.

This derives from Old English verb form <ascian> which had derivations including <acsian> / <axian>. The form used most commonly in ME was <aks>.

Code switching

People of Afro-Caribbean descent born in Britain often learn BrEng as their first language but can use and understand creole forms.

This may result in the use of features from both the creole language and BrEng in the same sentence/utterance.

This is known as code-switching and is common in bilingual speakers when the conversation is private and informal.

Code-switching however, is frowned upon in some language communities.

Decreolisation

This is a hypothetical phenomenon whereby over time a Creole language reconverges with one of the standard languages from which it originally derived.

35

This is influenced more so by the Superstrate language than the substrate language.

Typically, the language with higher prestige (most often the lingua franca) will exert a much greater influence on the lower prestige language (the Creole).

Thus leading to the reintroduction of such complexities in the superstrate language e.g. inflections, subordination.

Child Language DevelopmentSpoken acquisition

The acquisition of language is a gradual process regardless of the time or state at which it begins.

There are many factors which contribute to language learning and myriad theories describing the process. When examining the range of perspectives, it is imperative you acknowledge the paces at which children learn.

There are three common factors which contribute: Physical growth – the maturity of speech organs Social factors – influence of environment and culture Critical age – age of child when acquisition begins

Language acquisition theories

There are four predominant theories outlining the process of language acquisition:

Behaviourist Cognitive Nativist Interactive

These approaches explore language acquisition from different angles and examine the influence of a range of factors.

Behaviourist approach

36

The underpinning concepts of this approach are imitation and reinforcement.

B.F. Skinner, an American psychologist studied the influence of environmental factors on cooperative behaviours and related this to language acquisition.

He believed children acquire language by repeating language structures and vocabulary they hear (imitation).

The caregiver, then rewards the child’s efforts with praise and repeats the lexemes and grammatical structures back, correcting any errors (reinforcement).

Child language behaviourists believe that children acquire language, as they learn modes of behaviour.

As the behaviour is copied, the language is copied.

This theory fails to explain, how children ignore adult correction and resist to use their own language.

Skinner took a more radical view. He presented verbal behaviour as a function of controlling consequences and stimuli, not as the product of a special inherent capacity.

It seems that language is merely a vehicle to support human behaviour.

Gilbert Ryle was a soft behaviourist. He believed that we can tell a persons state of mind by observing them (implying a mind or internal origin of language).

Criticisms of Behaviourist

There are some criticisms of this theory:

Children can construct new sentences they’ve never heard before so they aren’t directly imitating.

They don’t memorise thousands of sentences to use later, so their development can’t be exclusively based on repetition

Imitation can’t explain over generalisations <he runned away> - children don’t copy these errors as adults don’t make them

37

If the acquisition of language was entirely dependent on parental reinforcement, there would be much more variation between individual children

All children pass through the same stages of language development regardless of the type and amount of reinforcement they receive.

Modelling correctionChild: my train is beaMother: no (.) not ‘by there’ (.) just ‘there’Child: my train is beaMother: no just ‘there’Child: oh (.) my train is just bea

Why does this child hold on to its own language?

Nativism

This theory of language was devised by Noam Chomsky and looks at language acquisition as an innate ability - a predisposition to language that is inbuilt in our brains.LAD (language acquisition device).

Chomsky used this concept as a way to object to Skinner’s theory of behaviourism. He rejected it claiming the brain is a blank state upon which experiences can be imprinted.

The idea of a LAD cannot be proven or disproven but his ideas are illuminating.

His basis for the LAD are the unique phrases and syntactic constructions uttered by children.

<her got her rattle> / <her not gone> / <he wented out>

These are unique and have never been uttered by adults, which suggests children have some subconscious understanding of syntax despite never having been taught it.

This, he referred to as the deep structures of language. Chomsky considers the difference between surface structures and deep structures in all languages and suggests that while the surface may be different, the deep structures are all the same.

Virtuous errors

This is the term used to refer to the syntactic and grammatical errors generated by children when acquiring language.

38

These are more than simple mistakes as they reflect the child’s language understanding and intelligence.

Common virtuous errors include the formation of past tense in irregular verbs such as <go> and <hold> and forming plurals in nouns such as <foot>.

Chomsky argues these errors indicate an understanding of how past tense and plurality works but occur as a result of the irregularity of some lexemes.

It is unlikely children will have heard syntactic structures such as these so why do they create them?

It would appear they understand the application of bound inflectional morpheme <-ed> enables us to express the past when attached to the base form of the verb.

This is thought to be a consequence of exposition to large stores of regular patterns in speech and language. But it is impossible for any child to hear and be exposed to every single possible construction in language, which provides further ammunition for Chomsky’s rejection of Skinner’s Behaviourism concepts.

Poverty of Stimulus

This refers to a theory of learning which provides evidence for Chomsky’s innate ability to acquire language.

Children are exposed to a cacophony of sounds, including, but not limited to: People talking simultaneously People talking quickly, sometimes inaudibly Incomplete utterances InterruptionsAll of which affect the fluency of language. Given the stimulus exposed, children edit their language to omit these features.

So, Chomsky argues this provides evidence for a LAD.

Support and criticisms for nativism

Speed at which children acquire language and learn to speak Children from all languages pass through similar stages of

language development The existence of grammatical features common to all

languages such as nouns, verbs, subject, predicators etc

39

The main criticism of this theory is the underestimation of interaction.

Chomsky’s theory implies that if a child is exposed to language, he will automatically acquire that language. BUT will he competent?

Case study – Jim

Bard and Sachs 1977

Psychologists studied the language competence of a child named ‘Jim’ who was the son of two deaf parents.

Jim was not deaf himself and was not taught much sign language as a means of encouragement to speak.

Jim watched a significant amount of TV and listened to the radio but his language skills were seriously retarded.

His speech did not begin to improve until her began sessions with a speech therapist. He was clearly ready to speak but the lack of human contact reduced his competence.

Nature vs Nurture

Jerome Bruner generated a supporting concept in connection with the LAD, Language acquisition support system (LASS) which considered the impact of the child’s environment.

He agreed with the notion of innateness but added the significance of input from others.

If the input is absent, how does this affect language acquisition and competence?

Interaction? What about feral children?

Bruner acknowledges the innate ability for language acquisition but disregards Chomsky’s notion of poverty of stimulus.

Bruner and other researchers state the predisposed talent for acquisition is assisted by carefully structured input from caregivers from their immediate environment.

40

This places significance on the interaction with adult speakers and used the term ‘motherese’ to describe this.

Other terms used include ‘caregiver speech’ or ‘child-directed speech (CDS) which can refer to any influential speaker.

Critical Age Hypothesis

Popularised by Eric Lenneberg in 1967, the critical period hypothesis states that the first few years of life is the crucial time in which an individual can acquire a first language if presented with adequate stimuli.

If language input doesn't occur until after this time, the individual will never achieve a full command of language—especially grammatical systems.This evidence seems to contradict Chomsky’s theory of innateness.

Features of Bruner’s theory

Simplified grammar and meaning Shorter sentences (8 words per sentence to 4 – for two year

olds) Restricted range of sentence types Expansion and repetition of sentences Slower speech Use of special words and sounds (blanky, poopy) High pitch Large number of interrogatives Embedded in the here and now (rather than past/present,

imaginary or hypothetical)Interaction Theory

This idea builds upon Bruner’s concept of the LASS and places a significance with the amount of interaction and input from caregivers.

This is often referred to as Child Directed Speech and observes the ways in which adults speak to children.

In addition to the forms outlined previously, adults will introduce new concepts by creating their own adjacency pairs e.g. <What’s this? It’s a flower>. This can become habitual when introducing new lexemes.

What strategies does the mother/caregiver adopt to help her child communicate?

C: ball (.) ball

41

M: Yes that’s a ball (.) it’s a big ball isn’t it (.) big ballC: big ballM: Yes (.) what colour is the ball Sophie (3.0) Tell mummy what colour the ball isC: PinkM: It is pink (.) It’s pink (.) it’s a pink ballC: Pink ballM: Do you want to play with the ball (2.0) shall we play with the ball?

The input from caregivers, not only enables the children to acquire language but outlines the rules of conversation inc. turn taking, forming adjacency pairs and helps develop pragmatic understanding.

But, the extent of the influence of interaction is difficult to measure in regards to linguistic development.

It does not seem essential that adults address children in particular ways, as children raised in cultures whereby adult speech is not altered when speaking to children succeed in acquiring competent forms of language.

Child directed speech

Common features of CDS:Phonology Slower, clearer pronunciation More pauses between phrases and sentences (utterances) Higher pitch Exaggerated tone and stress

Lexis Simpler, more restricted vocabulary Diminutive forms <doggy> Concrete nouns in reference to immediate environment

Grammar Simpler constructions Frequent use of imperatives High degree of repetition Interrogatives Use of proper nouns (personal names) rather than pronouns

<mummy> instead of <I>

Many of these features ensure language is accessible for children and allows the development to progress more easily. It gains their attention for longer periods of time and so appear to listen more intently.

42

Effects of CDS

Research suggests the frequency of interrogatives improves understanding of modal auxiliary verbs.

Pausing after utterances encourages children to do the same and introduces them to conversational rules.

There is some discussion of ‘baby-talk’, claiming it interferes with the development of language as it provides inaccurate and distorted versions of normal speech.

CDS can also be used in other contexts such as lovers speaking with each other, and addressing pets. There is also evidence of this when communicating with elderly people.

Cognitive Theory

This approach to language acquisition focuses on the mental process and was pioneered by Piaget.

She stated children needed to have developed certain mental capabilities in order for them to acquire language.

When children begin language development, they cannot process concepts outside of their immediate environment which was coined as egocentric.

Once they reach 18 months, they begin to realise objects outside of their environment exist all time. This is known as object permanence.

She claimed that once children comprehend object permanence, it coincides with a significant increase in vocabulary and ultimately develops their understanding of abstract ideas and concepts.

Piaget was interested in the overall cognitive development of children – not just their language acquisition.

She was intrigued by their understanding other concepts such as volume and size and suggested there were links between this and their linguistic development (the acquisition and comprehension of comparatives and superlatives).

Their understanding of active and passive develops at a later stage once they can use and recognise complex language structures. <The red lorry is following the blue one> <The blue lorry is being followed by the red one>

43

Lev Vygotsky – socio-cultural theory

Vygotsky, a psycholinguist, followed Piaget’s work and devised theories about the importance of the wider social environment on their cognitive and language development.

He claimed the experiences of different social and cultural contexts are important for language development and identified two factors he believed where significant in their contributions:

Private speech (talking aloud to themselves) The zone of proximal development (ZPD) (helping the child)

He believed other people (can be an older child) play an important role in advancing a child’s understanding – he referred to these influences as more knowledgable other (MKO).

Criticisms of cognitive theory

A significant concept of this theory is the close link between cognition and language.

But, many critics believe this link is not as close as initially thought particularly when you examine the linguistic ability of some children with learning difficulties.

It is expected, to some extent, that language development in children with learning difficulties would be impaired based upon the deficiency in their cognitive development. But since, there are some children who have acquired language fluently, it calls into question, how closely connected these functions are.

Functional Approach

The functional approach was devised by linguist M.A.K. Halliday in order to analyse language development.

His evidence for this theory comes from observations of his own son, Nigel.

His approach explores language as a functional tool for communication rather than a system of structures. He focused on human communicative goals (physical, emotional and social) and suggests there are four primary functions:

Instrumental: expressing needs for food Regulatory: controlling the actions of others Interactional: making social contact Personal: expressing feelings

44

He suggested that even in very young infants, these features are evident in the pre-speech stage. Many of these include gestures.

What gestures could you use to indicate the four stages?

At a later stage, Halliday suggests the child needs to achieve further communicative goals. These help with – and come to terms with their environment.

Heuristic: asking for information Representational: conveying information Imaginative: telling stories, even lying to create an

imaginary world

These stages can be considered metalinguistics; language to talk about language, rather than any other function.

Pragmatics and Discourse

These two concepts often overlap in language as you study the overall structure of the texts, you may be engaged in the underlying meaning of the language used – which may include anecdotes, jokes, phone conversations etc.

Your social awareness is instinctive which means you may not be aware of the rules which govern language use and communication until someone flouts them.

Children generally acquire (or learn through imitation and reinforcement) these discourse conventions.Politeness conventions

Children need to adjust their language use to fit in with others’ needs. This means their understanding of politeness (or manners) is crucial in social interaction.

There are many adverbs which are never included in textbooks despite the fact they are influential. They add little in terms of content but their function can be significant.

Hedging and mitigated imperatives alter the strength of an utterance/sentence and make them less demanding.

<I just wanted…> <Actually, I wanted…> <…not possible though>

Other politeness markers may involve an initial agreement followed by a contradiction e.g. <yeah, but…> or modal auxiliary verbs <could you …>.

45

These conventions are learned primarily through imitation and reinforcement. They understand that some social interactions require specific conventions such as opening a telephone conversation with <hello> and ending with <goodbye>.

Nature of LanguageWhen examining language development, it is important to do so in two ways:

Structure: focuses on forms such as grammar and phonology

Function: communicative approach which focuses on meanings; examining semantics and pragmatics

Ferdinand de Saussure used two linguistic terms to describe the differing focuses of language development: Langue (language) and Parole (speech). These two concepts explore the link between language (signs) and the interpretation imposed as a result of environment and represent the two different roles language plays.

Structural approach

This will focus on the development of forms of language using a range of key constituents including:

phonological acquisition grammatical acquisition

The aim of this section is to explore the commonalities in children’s acquisition whilst bearing in mind, there are exceptions to every rule. While these features are common, it is unwise and can be difficult to fit these to every child.

You must take care not to adopt a deficit rule whereby child acquisition is compared to adult competency and use Chomsky’s descriptions of <virtuous errors>.

Stages of development

There is an accepted pattern when exploring child language acquisition:

First stage: babbling Second stage: single words (holophrastic stage) Third stage: two word combinations Fourth stage: Telegraphic stage Finally: child reaches pinnacle of grown-up language

46

Although this is an interesting summary, treat this model with caution.

There are other forms of communication which can suggest language development begins much earlier than simply babbling

Beginning of language development

Children around the world appear to acquire language by passing through a similar set of stages. But the time and pace at which individual children progress from one stage to another varies according to the child.

The stages, themselves appear to be universal as the same pattern of development is evident regardless of the language being acquired.

There is some evidence which suggests language development occurs before birth.

Before and after birth

It is suggested a baby can become acclimatised to the sounds of its native language whilst in utero.

Mehler et al (1988) found that French babies as young as four days old were able to distinguish French from other languages. When they were exposed to French, they sucked their dummies more strongly than English or Italian.

The research suggests that babies become used to rhythms and intonation of the language spoken around them.

Other research…

DeCasper and Spence (19986) found babies sucked on their dummies more when their mothers read them the same story that they’d read aloud to them during the last six months of pregnancy.

Fitzpatrick (2002) found the heart rate of an unborn baby slowed when it heard its mother’s voice.

This reinforces the idea that children are accustomed to patterns in voice and recognise them once born.

Using their vocal chords

47

Babies begin to use their vocal chords immediately and express themselves through crying and cooing – although this occurs around 6-8 weeks old.

Different cries are used to express a range of emotions including hunger, distress or pleasure. Research claims English mothers can differentiate between the cries of foreign babies as readily as they can those of English babies.

This suggests cries are instinctive noises and cannot therefore be considered ‘language’.

Cooing

This stage begins when babies are 6-8 weeks old and start with a small range of sounds as they get used to moving their lips and tongue.

The range of sounds made is small and generally begins with vowels such as /u/ and /a/. Once they begin to control their vocal chords, extended vowel combinations appear /u:/ and /a:/. They, then begin to include velar consonants /k/ and /g/.

These sounds carry no meaning – it is simply the baby experimenting with sounds. Once they become more defined and are strung together, this is known as babbling.

Babbling (6 months+)

This is one of the most significant events in a baby’s first year of life. It usually begins around the age of 6 months.

These sounds often resemble adult language and may include reduplicated monosyllables <ba>, <ma> etc.

Many parents are eager to believe their child is speaking its first words - they are simply exercising their vocal chords and the reduplicated patterns therefore hold no meaning or significance.

The repetition of these sounds is known as canonical or reduplicated babbling.

At times, some of the sounds are not repeated exactly and will sound like <goo–gi–goo-ga>; this is variegated babbling.

Evidence for the lack of meaning comes from the babbling which occurs in deaf children. They do this with their hands having been exposed to sign language which indicates this is an instinctive activity, not an attempt to convey meaning or language.

48

There is, however, some research which argues babbling is the beginning of speech. Petitto and Holowka (2002) claim babbling comes from the right side of the mouth which is controlled by the left side of the brain. It is this side of the brain which is responsible for speech production. As such, they argue babbling is a form of preliminary speech.

Babbling can be divided into two distinctive stages: Phonemic expansion Phonemic contraction

Once the child’s babbling increases its range of sounds, this is known as phonemic expansion. Bilabial phonemes are generally those produced first.

But, normally at the age of 9/10 months, the baby will reduce the range of phonemes made by omitting sounds not heard in its native language. It is at this stage of development, children of different nationalities begin to sound different.

Proto words

Intonation patterns begin to emerge once the child starts babbling and they will reflect the rhythms of adult speech.

At the end of a babbling sequence, the intonation may rise thus mirroring the intonation used when forming interrogatives. These may also be accompanied by gestures, whereby the child may point.

As phonemic expansion progresses, strings of phonemes are combined and begin to carry meaning. A child may say <mmm> to show they are hungry. While this is not a word, it functions like one.

These are called proto words and may also be accompanied by gestures.

Other proto words begin to emerge such as /dæ/ when a child refers to a cat. Although this is just a phoneme rather than a word, it refers to an object so is not a random utterance.

At around 9 months old children start to attempting to speak and sound as though they are making up their own language. This is known as jargon.

During the later stages of babbling, sound and meaning begin to merge and reduplicated babbling takes on meaning. /ma –ma/ means <mam> and /ka-ka/ means <car>.

49

Phonological development

There are some general patterns of phonological acquisition, although children can vary from this and acquire them at different rates.

Most children will be able to use all vowel phonemes by the time they are 2.5 years old. Consonant development, however, is not considered complete and confident until the child is approximately 6 or 7 years old.

The earliest consonants tend to be nasals or voiceless plosives and the last are likely to be fricatives including dental, palato-alveolar and possibly some labio dental phonemes.

Some generalisationsThe place and manner of articulation can influence the acquisition of some phonemes: Front consonants /b, p, t, d/ come before back consonants /k, g/ Plosives /b, p, t, d, k, g/ come before fricatives /f, v, s, z, etc/ Word initial plosives develop before word final plosives <book> <book> Word final fricatives develop before word initial fricatives

<Louise> <Spike> Consonant clusters are often reduced to one consonant through simplification Consonant clusters in final position develop before those in initial position <orange> <green>

Vowel Phonemes

Most vowel phonemes do not pose the same issues regarding development but there is some research which looks at vowel acquisition.

Some unstressed syllables tend to be deleted e.g. <pretend> could become /pen/

Addition of extra vowels between consonant clusters <blue> - /bəlu/

Assimilation of consonant phonemes and reduplication <doggy> - /gɒgi:/

Devoicing (substitution of voiced phonemes with voiceless phonemes <gup> - /kʊp/

Methods of simplification

Children often simplify their language if they find it difficult to pronounce and occurs with consonant phonemes.

50

Deletion: omission of a consonant, most likely in word final position Substitution: replace a phoneme with another which is easier to pronounce e.g /wegz/ instead of /legz/

Cluster reduction: Omits the second consonant in a cluster

Berko and Brown (1960) reported what they referred to as the fis phenomenon. A child referred to his plastic fish as a fis which suggests they recognise and understand a wider range of phonemes than they use.

Other phonological features

Addition: adding another phoneme to the end of the word e.g /dogu/

Assimilation: consonant phoneme changes due to influence from following phoneme e.g. /tub/ - /bub/

Reduplication: phoneme or syllable is repeated <choo-choo>

Voicing: Some voiceless phonemes are voiced so <sock> /sok/ would become /zok/

Devoicing: Voiced phonemes are replaced by voiceless phonemes <bag> -

/pæg//l/ (lateral) and /r/ (V approximant) tend to be replaced by /w/(VL approximant) and /j/ (V approximant)

This is because children find these difficult to produce in the early stages.

Pronunciation is not usually standardised until 2-3

Lexical and Grammatical development

Over- / under extension

This is common in language acquisition when a child first begins to acquire lexemes and develop their semantic understanding of the words, particularly as they learn each word in a specific context.

Over-extension refers to the process whereby children apply a word learned to any person or object which displays the same characteristics e.g. <daddy>

Under-extension occurs when a child uses the lexeme in a narrow sense and does not understand that other people or objects can be described in a similar manner e.g. <bear>

51

Thus if the child says <bye bye> when his mother leaves for work, the child may not realise that <bye bye> may be used as a marker of farewell to anyone.

They may label anything round as <clock>, for them it is sufficient that the named objectis round.

Synonyms and antonyms can illustrate developing knowledge. A young boy may use the noun phrase <little boy> to refer to themselves but will not acknowledge the synonym <small> as an alternative.

Much of this can be attributed to the exposure to variety of lexical items and the concept of social environment debate.

Common lexical terms

The three most common areas of reference for early lexis are: Body functions Toys Food

These are followed by areas of the house, animals and formulaic phrases with a social function such as <yes, no, please and thank you>.

Word classInitially, they will acquire concrete nouns that refer to their immediate environment.

Then once object permanence is understood, they acquire abstract nouns but may still over - generalise these meanings.

It is not until their 2nd and 3rd years that adverbs, verbs and adjectives are added, although there may be some difference in use.

Speed of learning

18mths- about 50 lexemes

24mths – usually about 100 , but expands rapidly at this point as the child learns grammar.

By 3yrs they learn that words are restricted in meaning and that they have to learn a new vocabulary in order to compensate. At this point they will be able to use about 1000 words. They also realise that words can have different

52

meanings e.g. bear, tape.

Grammatical Development

Children cannot be taught the rules of grammar explicitly.Instead they extract the rules from the speech they hear.Several ‘stages’ of acquisition may be identified.

Holophrastic stage (One word) Two word stage Telegraphic stage (utterances) Then the child reaches the pinnacle of acquisition

Most children are aged one when they utter their first words and will come in single words, at first.

Occasionally, more than one word may be involved but will usually have been learned as, and will therefore function as a single unit. This means the child is not fully aware of the lexeme boundaries.E.g. <allgone>

In many situations, the single word will serve a naming function and will be accompanied by a physical gesture such as pointing.

More complex functions?

The child will use a single word to convey more complex meanings.

When a child says <water> it may carry additional meaning such as:<I want water><I want more water><There is water><Is that water?>

Gestures and intonation may indicate the difference between these utterances.

Although at this stage, the child’s own utterances are limited, his understanding is more advanced. They seem to have a greater knowledge of forms than they can produce.

Three items of evidence support the holophrastic stage: The child who utters a single word understands more in the

speech of others. Children will vary their intonation at this stage (rising for

questions, falling for statements).

53

Given identical situations children will utter different parts of the proposition at different times. This demonstrates that they understand the full utterance but are unable to produce it in full.

But

At this age a child’s comprehension is not totally linguistic. It relies on features like gaze and arm movements to augment its understanding.

Adaptive parents who attempt to ‘interpret’ the child’s utterances are very important in this stage.

The Two-word stage 18-20 months

The two-word stage normally begins around 18 months old and by the time the child is 24 months a variety of these utterances will appear: <Baby eat> <Mammy chair> <Cat bad>

The utterances will follow SVO syntax and will be grammatically standard in sequence including:

Noun + Verb <Jenny sleep> Verb + Object <draw doggy> Subject + Object <Sophie juice> Subject + Complement <daddy tired>

Imitating

A child may attempt to repeat what adults say, but will often omit some of the lexemes<Look, Ben is playing in the garden>

The child will generally remove the components of the sentence that are ‘unnecessary’ to convey meaning and will follow the standard syntax patterns<play garden>

This illustrates their focus on key lexemes within the utterance.

Semantics / Meaning

These utterances can convey more complex meanings and shows that the child understands that words interrelate and one word can change the meaning of others.

Interpretation relies on context but can function as a range of different sentence moods.

54

The ambiguity of some utterances occurs due to the absence of inflections.

Telegraphic Stage 24-36 months

This is the first stage whereby it is universally agreed as being present in all languages and usually occurs between the ages of 24 – 36 months.

Telegraphic utterances are typically condensed forms of sentences structures without function words (closed class lexemes).

The name derives from the form of communication ‘telegram’, where the message conveyed was shortened due to the cost per lexeme, similar to SMS.

Due to the natural omission of closed class lexemes in children’s speech, this stage provides further evidence for human predisposition to language and our innate abilities.

This illustrates an intuitive sense of language structures and the lexemes required for meaning to be conveyed.

Grammar

An area of interest in telegraphic utterances is the child’s understanding of how to manipulate declaratives into other sentence moods or negatives:

<She is going><I want that>

How do we alter the above structures to show these forms?Notice the difference between simple present and present progressive.They include periphrastic <do>.

Interrogatives and negativesChildren often develop these structures in stages and may opt for intonation at first to illustrate the function of the utterance.

They then begin to use interrogative pronouns such as <what>, <where>, <why>, <when> and <who> although the first two tend to appear before the latter three.

Is this connected to behaviourism or cognition?

Example

55

C: My teacher holded the baby rabbits and we patted them.A: Did you say your teacher held the baby rabbits?C: YesA: What did you say she did?C: She holded the baby rabbits and we patted them.A: Did you say she held them tightly?C: No, she helded them loosely.

The child is NOT being taught language by its carers. Instead the child constructs, via what is said to them, possible ways of using the language.

They try constructions and see if they work.

Adult correction seems to have no part to play. Children ignore corrections and continue to use their own forms.

Complex structures

Complex sentences and passive structures are considered one of the more complex ideas in language and may be considered more difficult to grasp and therefore implement.

Passive: <I think this idea might have been assimilated from experience of folk tales>

Complex: <I like that book as it’s colourful>

This is reflected in GCSE writing whereby pupils who rely on the use of coordinating conjunctions to form compounds are scored lower than those who use passive constructions in formal writing.

Morphology

The wug test demonstrates the child’s understanding of the ways in which words can be constructed; adding bound morphemes to the root word.

The children were presented with an image of a blue, bird-like creature and told ‘This is a wug’. They were then shown another image and asked ‘Now there are…’.

If the child understood inflections they were able to show plurality through the addition of the inflection morpheme <-s>. If they did not, they tended to use a cardinal determiner instead e.g. <Now, there are two wug>.

Morphology

56

By the time the child is 3 years old, it is going beyond telegraphic speech and is starting to incorporate inflectional morphemes.

The present tense inflection <–ing> progressive morpheme is added to verbs <mummy reading, baby walking>

Regular <–s> plural on nouns such as <cats> and <books>

This process is often accompanied by over-generalisation, but this illustrates the child’s underlying understanding of morphology.

Over-generalisation

This means the child adds the –s form to all nouns including irregular.<Mans, foots, fishes>

The other –s plural sounds (dogs and houses) will also be over-generalised.<Boyses, footses>

At the same time the child starts to learn the irregular plurals such as men, but shortly after will start to apply a variety of rules at the same time giving some potentially unusual forms.

<Mens, menses, foot, foots, footses, footsesiz>

Acquisition of Inflections

Brown 1973- 20-36 months oldSequence of acquisition

1. <-ing>2. Plural <-s>3. Possessive <-s>4. <the> <a>5. Past tense <-ed>6. 3rd person sing verb ending <-s>7. Aux <be>

Verb forms

A similar process can occur with verb forms.

Many irregular forms appear first (since they are used by carers more often).

The first irregulars to appear are <went, came, are and was>.

57

When the child masters the <–ed> inflection this is applied to all forms – even the previously correct irregulars!

<Wented, walked, walkeded, comed>

Interrogatives

18-26 months

In the two word stages the child will us a wh- word plus rise in intonation.

<Where kitty? when home? Why bed?>

22-30 months

Same as above but an agent is added.

<Why me bed? What book name? Where mummy gone?>

24-40 months

Subject verb inversion starts but wh- word questions do not always show this.

Why kitty can’t stand up?Will you help me?Did I caught it?How that opened?Can I have piece?

18-26 months

No/not is added to the beginning of utterances

no teddynot sitno bed

22-30 months

No, not, can’t and don’t start to appear. He no bite youThere no squirrelsYou can’t danceI don’t know

24-40 months

58

By this age other auxiliary forms start to appear such as didn’t and won’t.

The simple use of no and not starts to disappear. Isn’t is a very late form.

I didn’t caught itShe won’t let goHe not talkingThis not ice-cream.

Discourse/Conversation

The child’s acquisition of language is done in order to communicate, not for the sake of it.

Several areas relevant to conversation need to be considered:

Articles

The use of articles (definite and indefinite) is important, as they have to take into account listener’s knowledge and perspective.

He put the frog in the pond.He put a frog in the pond.

Children aged 32-60 months have a fairly advanced use of articles. When they use the ‘incorrect’ one it will usually be because they have a specific reference in mind.

Indirect Speech Acts

Indirect speech acts are language events where the function of an utterance must be distinguished from its content.

Put your toys away (direct)Why don’t you put your toys away? (indirect)

Children understand direct speech acts before indirect ones as they need to develop a pragmatic understanding.

Their ability to produce indirect speech acts is proceeded by the ability to understand them.Children aged 3yrs were shown a puppet show. The puppet gave the following speech acts.

1. Give me sweets2. I would like some sweets

59

3. May I have some sweets?

The children said that speech act 3 deserved the sweets because they said please!

Speech style

In order to modify its speech style to suit various contexts a child needs the following:

Flexible grammar and vocabularyA recognition that different listeners have different needs.A recognition that different modes of address are more polite than others.An ability to tell which audience demands a more formal style.

A group of 4yr olds were asked to teach a group of 2yr olds and adults the rules of a game. It was found that they used more indirect speech acts for adults showing some awareness of listener needs.

Conclusions

As children grow older they become less dependent on context for producing and understanding language. They gain lexical flexibility early and by 3 can refer to absent people and events.

By 4 yrs they become aware of listener needs and are able to successfully detect underlying meaning.

SemioticsThe interpretation of signs

Children write for a number of reasons:Record their existenceRecord thingsExpress themselvesCommunicate with others not present.

If the child does not have a reason to write, they will not see the value in doing it.

In order to write, they must develop an understanding of the relationship between signs and language.

Semiotics outlines the relationship between signs and meanings (similar to connotations and denotations).

60

One of the most significant concepts in language acquisition is understanding how things relate to each other.

A child must learn that "THIS" refers to "THAT“

(THIS) A sound, image, scribble, symbol = Object, concept

"THIS" does not mean "THAT"

Signs are not interpreted in the same way…

Each child will interpret signs in a different way. They are subjective and influenced by their individual experiences.

This is influenced by what they have been exposed to in their environment. This is known as ‘environmental print’.

The more the child is exposed to, the greater their influences are. They will be able to draw upon their experiences to generate meanings and associations.

Environmental print is extremely important for children to develop their written skills. Without exposition to signs or sign systems, they are unlikely to develop properly.

Lev Vygotsky discussed the significance of this in regards ‘The Zone of Proximal Development’.

Zone of Proximal Development

“What a child can do with help and without help”

This concept is based upon the idea that children learn via imitation.

The role of the educator is to provide children with experiences in their ZPD in order to encourage and advance individual learning.

Early Research

Early research into childhood literacy failed to consider the importance of signs and systems in improving their learning.

The exposure to signs and sign systems in early childhood is suggested to influence the development of literacy skills i.e. reading and writing.

61

Early Literacy Development

The development of early literacy occurs in several stages through which children progress in different ways and paces.

Suggested to occur between the ages of 5-8.

Individual children may take a variety of routes to master the skills needed to be competent readers and writers.

Literacy

There are 4 stages of literacy:

Emergent literacyEarly literacyEarly Fluent literacyFluent literacy

Within each stage of literacy there are several stages involved in the process of reading and writing.

Emergent Literacy

Emergent LiteracyAny reading/writing-like behaviour which mimics components of the activities that are generally considered reading or writing

Emergent readingChildren comprehend or attempt to comprehend a message encoded in graphic signs

Emergent writingChildren attempt to produce graphic signs representing oral speech

Processes they undergo

Understand written language conveys meaning Pretend to read and write, pretending to turn pages

and inventing stories using images and memory (links to environmental print)

Begin to match spoken words with print May know some letter names and sound

associations May recognise some words/letters in their

environment but not in other contexts Can write some letters in their name In writing, letters may be reversed and mostly in

upper case

62

May make scribbles or some strings of random letters with no spaces, one letter may represent a whole word

May ‘read’ or attribute meaning to his marks but may not be able to ‘re-read’ at a later time

Children’s Written Language

“Drawing” and “writing”

Children, like adults, “write” for a purpose.

They acquired spoken language by imitation and acquire written language in the same way.

The only context in which it can be argued they write for the sake of writing is education.

Having no purpose for writing can be problematic for children.

Research into early literacy suggests that functions are more important than forms.

How quickly a child progresses depends upon:

How much practice they have Their intelligence Role models who write

What do they understand?

When writing, a child understands: print carries meaning it is different from drawing speech can be encoded in print it can be read aloud it has direction (left to right in English)

Writing is not deciphering and translating, it is a learning process, much like the acquisition of speech, therefore it is argued that children do not simply copy from the adult model.

Ferreiro and Teberosky carried out some experimental work in early literacy and found that children experiment with signs, in the same way they experiment with speech.

Children understand the written system and how it works before they become competent users of it.

63

They need to understand that symbols can be combined in a number of ways.

They need to comprehend the system for writing e.g. directionality, spacing, lower case and capital letters, and punctuation.

They also need to understand that the function of the text can determine its form and content.

Early writing

Writing however, doesn’t just involve understanding. It includes the development of motor skills and the practical ability to hold and manipulate a pen.

In the very early stages of writing, children tend to ignore linearity and write anywhere on the page, and includes letter-like forms.

Stages of development

There are said to be 6 clear stages of development, but can differ depending upon the theorist.

Barclay 1996 argues there are 7 stages of development whereas Kroll 1981 suggests there are only 4 and links them to specific age groups.

Barclay 1996

Scribbling: Random marks are made but do not relate to letters/words.

Learn mechanical skills of holding pencils/crayons.Talk about their scribbles.

Mock handwriting: Draws shapes but they are unrecognisable and letter-like forms begin to appear in or with drawings and first signs of ‘emergent writing’.

Mock letters: Random letters, no awareness of spacing or matching sounds with symbols

Conventional letters: Sound and symbols begin to match. Words are spaced

Use initial consonants to refer to entire word.

Invented Spelling: Most words are spelled phonetically but some simple/familiar words are spelled correctly

64

Appropriate spelling: Sentences become more complex as child becomes more aware of standard spelling systems. Writing is more legible. Correct Spelling: Most words are spelled correctly.

Kroll 1981 – 4 Stages

Preparatory stage: (from 18months)Develop motor skills.Begin to learn basics of spelling.

Consolidation stage: (6-8 years)Begin to write in same way they speak.Use lots of colloquialisms.Short declarative sentences and familiar

conjunctions.Not sure how to finish off sentences.Little punctuation used.

Differentiation stage: (8-Mid-teens)More aware of spoken/written conventions.Understand different genres.Begin structuring work using guides/frameworks.More complex grammar/sentence structures.Accurate/consistent punctuation.

Integration stage: (mid-teens upwards)Writing is more accurate, wider vocabulary and

accurate spellingUnderstand style changes for audience and

purpose.Narrative/descriptive skills improve.Develop a personal style.

Drawing

Within Barclay’s scribbling stage and Kroll’s Preparatory stage, children develop their fine motor skills enabling them to hold pencils/crayons.

Children use “drawing” as method of communicating meaning, even though it is often unrecognisable.

Betty Edwards and Viktor Lowenfeld outline several stages of drawing, but we are only concerned with the first two stages.

When a child begins to draw people, they generally draw a large head with arms and legs attached.

65

When a child passes from the early “drawing” into “scribbling” stages, this is where we begin to observe the earliest forms of emergent writing.

Children mimic the behaviour of the adult and view their writing as having a purpose which will determine the shape and form chosen. It is here that we can distinguish between “writing” and “drawing”.

Thus it is clear that, even in imaginary play, writing has a purpose; a functional role.

The End

66