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English Structures
First Language Acquisition
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The Stages of First Language Acquisition
3. The First Words Stage |
Stage 3, the First Words Stage,starts at about one year and continues for approximately
6 to 12 months (up to approximately age 1-1/2 or 2 years old).
This stage is also referred to as the Holophrastic Stage because a "one word = one sentence" pattern seems to exist in the utterances produced by the child. Babbling may overlap with the production of the first words, and indeed the first words often exhibit the same structure as babbled syllables, with a CV (consonant-vowel) syllable used as a word. However, at this stage, meaning is attached to the syllables produced by a child, and this characteristic distinguishes a babble from a word.
Examples of some first words include:
- [no]
- [da]
(dog)
- [ma] (mom)
- [dæ] (dad).
The words produced are primarily noun-like (e.g. [da]
(dog), [ma] (mom)) with verbs second (e.g. [go]) and adjectives [ha] (hot)) third. Words also include displeasure/rejection words (e.g. [no]). Words include social interaction words (e.g [bai bai] (bye-bye) [nai nai] (night-night)).
As children begin to produce utterances that count as words, they continue to develop their abilities to produce more and more individual sound segments. The sounds they produce are typically sounds in the language of their environment, and they add to their repertoire in a systematic way.
Developmental order of sounds articulated:
1. The full range of vowels in the native language is produced before the full range of consonants
2. Consonants are typically added in the following sequence of manner (exampls of sounds in each category come from English): Nasals [m] [n] [ŋ], Glides [w] [j], Stops [p] [b] [t] [d] [k] [g], Liquids [l] [ɹ], Fricatives [f] [v] [s] [z], Affricates[tʃ] [dʒ]
3. Consonants are typically added in a front to back order of place, with certain front sounds being delayed: labials (sounds produced with the lips) come first, then alveolars (sounds produced just behind the teeth), then velars (sounds prodcued near the back of the roof of the mouth), then alveopalatals (sounds produced behind the teeth and a little further back). Interdentals (sounds produced by placing the tongue between the teeth) come last.
4. New contrasts generally show up in the initial position first. That is, when a child adds a new sound segment to his/her repertoire, he/she uses it as the first sound in a word, then puts it in other positions later (i.e., in the middle or at the end of a word).
Children can perceive more sound segments than they can produce. As a result, they will often substitute one sound for another in their own utterances. The substitutions or alterations they make are systematic in nature; they will always use the same sound as a substitute for their intended sound, such as always using [w] for [l], producing [wajk] instead of [lajk] for like. The substitutions and alterations make articulation easier until they can develop more control over the vocal tract. As control develops, more sounds are added and a vocabulary is constructed.
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Activity: Listening to a Child Entering the First Words Stage
Watch this video to see a child produce his first words near the end of the video. Click here. Now watch the same child add more words: click here.
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Activity: Listening to a Child in the First Words Stage
Listen to the first child in the video link here.
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Go to Part 4: Two Word Stage
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American Sign Language The sign language used by the deaf community in the United States.
Test of English for International Communication. A standardized exam for Educational Testing Services that is intended to determine the general capability of an NNSE to use English to conduct business. It is used by some businesses, predominantly in Asia, in hiring.
Test of English as a Foreign Language. A standardized exam from Educational Testing Services that is intended to determine the general capability of an NNSE to use English as the language of insruction .It is used as an admissions requirement by most US universities and colleges for international students.
Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. A term that encompasses both TEFL and TESL. It is the name of the professional organization to which many teachers belong. TESOL the organization has many regional affiliates both in the US and abroad.
Teaching English as Second Language. Refers to the activity of teaching the English language as a tool necessary for some daily task like instruction, shopping, or interpersonal interactions.
Teaching English as a Foreign Language. Refers to the activity of teaching the English language as an intellectual, academic pursuit to non-native speakers of English.
Native Speaker of English. Refers to a person who acquired English in infancy and young childhood as a first language.
Native Speaker. Refers to a person whose relationship to a language is that it was encountered in infancy and young childhood as the dominant language of the environment.
Non-Native Speaker of English. Refers to a person who didn't acquire English as a first language, but came to it after another language was established.
Non-Native Speaker. Refers to a person whose relationship to a particular language is that he/she didn't encounter it while initially acquiring language, but came to it after another language was established.
Limited English Proficient. An adjectival phrase used to refer to the same students as ELL refers to. LEP is falling into disuse as it focuses attention on student deficiency rather than on the positive attribute of learning. Is being replaced by ELL.
Second Language. Refers to any language gained subsequent to the first or native language. It is acquired or learned secondarily to the native language. Doesn't refer to the ordinal numbering of languages, only to the relationship of a particular language to a persons native language.
First Language. Refers to the language that an individual encounters as an infant and young child; a persons native language.
English for Specific Purposes. Refers to the goal of learning English to use it for highly focused activity, such as for business or for aviation communication.
English as a Second Language Program. refers to a school program that is purposefully structured to provide instruction on the English language to NNSEs. An ESL program does not typically include instruction in any other subjects than English. An ESL program may be a component of a larger ELL program at a school.
English as a Second Language. Refers to the subject matter of the English language and the methodology for teaching the English language to non-native speakers. ESL makes no reference to the subjects other than English, but it is not methodology alone either, it refers to teaching the English language as content area. Typically, ESL refers to the study of English in a country where it is used for at least one daily task, such as instruction, interpersonal relations, or shopping.
English Langauge Learner Program. Refers to a school program that is purposly structured to provide instruction on the English language and instruction in other content areas to English Language Learners.
English Language Learner. Refers to students who are in the process of learning English, whether they are in ESL classes exclusively or a combination of ESL classes and other subject area classes.
English as a Foreign Langauge. Refers to the study of English as an intellectual, academic pursuit, not a a language whose use is necessary or desirable for daily life, although it may be used as a research tool. Typically, EFL is the study of English in a country where English is not a language of instruction or daily interactions, such as in Italy or in Saudi Arabia.
English for Academic Purposes. Refers to the goal of learning English to use it as the language of instruction for other subject areas.
Refers to a school program that is purposely structured so that students will use two languages on a daily basis.
Refers to the use of two languages in any capacity on a daily basis. A bilingual person uses two languages on a daily basis--for work and at home, perhaps, or for different subjects at school. Can also refer to the ability to use two languages, even if not used daily.