Lab 6: Child-Directed Speech

1. Lab 6: Child-DirectedSpeech Materials linked on www.stfx.ca/people/jlayes Reminders: No Lab next week Lab Exam the following week (Nov. 26th)

2. Learning Language from Adult Speech The speech young children hear is the only source of information they have about the language they are learning. Much of the spontaneous language in conversation does not consist of grammatically correct, full sentences.

3. Learning Language from Adult Speech • Despite hearing improper grammar, children learn the consistencies in language • They are able to learn word meaning, and grammar (how sentences are correctly formed) • e.g., -ed for past tense, -s for plurals

4. How do children do this? • Adults’ speech to language learning children differs from their speech to older children and adults.

5. Snow, 1972 • Mothers speech to 2 year-olds and to 10-year-olds. • Mothers told a story and explained a task • Mothers’ language was transcribed and scored for MLU and complexity

6. Young children hear simplified speech • Snow (1972) found that adult speech to young children is: • Organized and redundant • Like ideal “language lessons”

7. In Speech to Younger Children: • Shorter, simpler sentences: • Less subordinate clauses • e.g. “Joe delivers our paper” instead of “Joedelivers our paper, which comes on Sunday”. • Fewer words before the verb in the sentence; subject-verb-object easier to pick out • e.g. “Joe threw the paper” instead of “Joe, who delivers the paper, threw it on the doorstep”

8. In Speech to Younger Children: • Shorter, simpler sentences (continued): • less compound words • Fewer pronouns • Words that replace nouns (e.g. he, I, they, it, there, here, etc.) • More repetition • We often repeat what they’ve said, expanding it, and correcting their grammar

9. Adults’ Modifications of Speech for Young Children Keep children interested Allow children to comprehend what is said Aid children in learning language

10. Examples Video of adult reading book with a 2-year-old Video of adult reading book with an 8-year-old

11. Today’s Exercise Part I: You have transcripts of speech to a 2-year-old and to a 10-year-old. 1. Calculate the MLU scores 2. Add the number of Pronouns 3. On page 2 of exercise sheet, write your hypothesis: -Do you expect to find a sig. difference in these? -Why or why not?

12. To help: Morphemes are the smallest elements of meaning Words count as one, but also suffixes, prefixes, and contractions add morphemes Example: “Thehorsesranquickly, anddidn’tslowuntiltheystopped” Contains 14 morphemes Pronouns are words that replace nouns (which refer to a person, place, or thing), such as “He”, “They”, “You”, “Here”, “There” Example: “They ran quickly over there to you” Contains 3 pronouns

13. Today’s Exercise: Part II: Open the SPSS data file from www.stfx.ca/people/jlayes Run two dependent t-tests 1) Compare adult’s MLU scores when talking to 2- vs. 10-yr-olds 2) Compare adult’s pronoun use when talking to 2- vs. 10-yr-olds Complete the APA Results section, reporting your findings *Submit your Exercise Sheet on Moodle before leaving*

14. Preparing for the Lab Exam: During your regular lab session, in regular room Multiple choice (bring a pencil and eraser) Worth 5% Only covers material from lab Review ppts and exercise sheets All of your past exercises submitted to Moodle, with editing and comments, are accessible in the links where you originally submitted them. They are response files, titled with your name “LastFirst”. Your grades can be viewed in these files, and also in an Excel sheet, which is linked on my website in the “Marks” link. If you see any discrepancy, let me know!