LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT IN

HEARING CHILDREN
WHAT IS THE ADDRESS OF LANGUAGE?
 A sociologist’s answer : Language is in the society
where it is used.
 A psycholinguist’s answer : Language is in the
mind where it is born & brought up.
PRE-REQUISITES OF LANGUAGE
DEVELOPMENT
 Innate Linguistic Capacity
 Normal Cognitive Capacities

 Normal Sensory-Perceptual Abilities

 Language Input
INNATE LINGUISTIC CAPACITY
 Why don’t animals acquire language?
 They don’t, simply because they are not designed
to do so.
 This means human beings have an inborn system
for language acquisition – LAD (Language
Acquisition Device)
 A child is not born with language but with a
capacity to acquire language.
NORMAL COGNITIVE CAPACITIES
 Children with severe mental retardation also
have problems in acquiring adequate language.
 Language & cognition are very closely linked.

 Language is required for cognitive development

& Cognition is required for language
development.
 Children must have ideas, emotions, thoughts &
concepts related to themselves & the world
around.
 They must be able to perceive, understand,
process & store these ideas. This capacity is
called ‘cognition’
NORMAL SENSORY-PERCEPTUAL
ABILITIES
 One acquires a language one hears.
 Hearing plays a vital role in language
acquisition.
 Language problems of children with hearing
impairment are very severe.
 More the severity of hearing loss, greater are the
linguistic problems.
 Hearing loss makes it very difficult for the child
to expand vocabulary, form grammatical rules,
make sentences etc.
 Even blindness effects language acquisition to a
certain extent.
LANGUAGE INPUT
 LAD needs to be activated to generate language.
 Lack of language input creates problems in
natural language acquisition.
 Three E’s of Language Input : Experience,
Environment & Exposure.
 Language input may include factors like :
 Language exposure
 Language stimulation
 Opportunity to use language
 Creation of need to use language
 Feedback & reinforcement
 Self-monitoring & external monitoring
WHICH OF THESE WILL :
A) DEVELOP LANGUAGE NATURALLY
B)DOES NOT DEVELOP LANGUAGE
C)HAS PROBLEMS WITH LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT.

 A blind child
 A non-impaired Gujarati speaking child
 A non-impaired child born to Bengali parents but
raised in Marathi family
 A parrot
 A non-impaired child raised in orphanage in rural
India
 A deaf child of a deaf couple who are efficient ASL
users.
 A polio affected child
 A child raised in jungle with animals
 A chimpanzee who is getting training on language
 A deaf child
PRE-REQUISITES OF LANGUAGE
DEVELOPMENT

B
A
E

C
PHASES OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
 Pre-linguistic Period
 First Month
 1 to 4 Months
 4 to 8 Months
 9 to 12 Months

 Linguistic Period
 11 to 18 Months
 18 to 24 Months
 3 years onwards
PRE-LINGUISTIC PERIOD : FIRST MONTH
RECEPTION
 Can make out difference between /t/ & /d/
 Can identify mother’s voice
EXPRESSION
 Three types of vocalizations :
 Cry
 Reflexive vocalizations (cough, burp)
 Pleasure sounds
 Crying to indicate:
 Hunger
 Pain
 Discomfort
PRE-LINGUISTIC PERIOD : 1 TO 4 MONTHS
RECEPTION
 Eye-contact

 Social smile emerges

 Starts enjoying communication

 Can discriminate between /m/ & /p/ or /a/ & /i/

EXPRESSION
 Variations in crying (pitch/loudness/continuity)

 Cooing (/u/ or /oo/ sound)

 /k/ & /g/ sound emerges

PRE-LINGUISTIC PERIOD : 4 TO 8 MONTHS
 RECEPTION
 Understands supra-segmentals (rise/fall of voice,
loudness, pauses etc.)
 Discriminate more speech sounds

 EXPRESSION
 Vocal play (suck/play with thumb)

 Babbling (chain of repeated speech sounds) –

important milestone
BABBLING
Importance:
 Evidence of innate linguistic capacity

 More controlled action

 Practice of speech mechanism

 Visual, Auditory & Tactile feedback

Characteristics:
 Chain of speech sounds are produced

 Common combinations : /VC/, /CV/, /VCV/

 Starts with back sounds (/k/), but common speech

sounds are - /p/,/b/,/t/,/d/
PRE-LINGUISTIC PERIOD : 9 TO 12
MONTHS
 RECEPTION
 Understands meaning at phrase & word level.

 Popular baby games : “Show me ……” (pointing

game), Peek-a-boo etc.

 EXPRESSION
 Echolalia : immediate reproduction of speech
sounds.
 Jargon : string of supra-segmentals, but no
meaning.
 Proto-words : word-like utterances
LINGUISTIC PERIOD : 11 TO 18 MONTHS
ONE WORD STAGE
RECEPTION
 Starts behaving like a communication partner

 Vocabulary development

 Responding to utterances

EXPRESSION
 First Word & single word utterances

 Referential units: label objects, persons, actions

etc.
 Holophrases: single word functioning as the
whole sentence
LINGUISTIC PERIOD : 18 TO 24 MONTHS
TWO WORD STAGE
 RECEPTION
 Vocabulary explosion

 Start understanding one word – two meaning

concept
 Stories & poems

 Responding to different sentence structures –

negative, questions, imperative etc.
 EXPRESSION

 Can speak most consonants & vowels

 Two word utterances – telegraphic speech (Agent

+ action or Action + object)
LINGUISTIC PERIOD : BEYOND 2 WORDS : 3
YEARS ONWARDS

 Rapid increase in reception & expression.

 Peer-child interaction – better language
development
 Beginning use of complex sentences

 Starts understanding all 4 types of negation

formation : “No cake”
 Non-existence “There is no cake”
 Rejection “I don’t want cake”
 Denial “I did not eat cake”
 Prohibition “Don’t eat the cake”
 Question formation : Supra-segmentals & Wh-
words