Here are some notes giving you some insight on what the small essay at the end of this post is about. Hopefully it makes more sense after reading. It focuses on the biological aspect of babies in terms of language.
Notes
Every language has characteristics and if they don’t it isn’t a language
Conventionality
Idea that all of the speakers of the languages agree on the word to something
2. Productivity
You can produce an infinite amount of language
You can make a new sentence no one has ever heard (similar to how there are a lot of songs created and they’re all different)
3. Displacement
Allows you to refer to something that is not here
Language Development
Milestones in language development
Babbling —-> First words —> 2-word utterances
Usually things that they want are primarily their 1st words
Biological influences
Language acquisition Device (LAD)
Born w/ structures to learn language
Innate structures
Something innate that allows language to occur
Environmental influences
Language Acquisition Support System (LASS)
Recasting/Expanding & Labeling
Recasting Ex: A little girl is at a party and says ‘I go to the pumpkin patch’ and an adult replies ‘Oh you WENT to the pumpkin patch’
Expanding Ex: Boy sees bird and says ‘ba ba ba!’ and adult responds with ‘Oh a bird! It looks like a hawk!’
Essay
How do the characteristics of language relate to infancy?
Conventionality in regards to Infancy allows children to communicate better with adults other than their parents. Conventionality being the idea that all of the languages agree on the word to something connects to the Expanding and Labelling process in the Language Acquisition Support System(LASS). Expanding and Labeling can be a child seeing a bird and referring to it as ‘ba ba ba’ and an adult responding to them saying ‘Oh a bird! It looks like a hawk!’ The validation of conventionality shows how the child connects the idea of a hawk being a type of bird and knows what to refer to so other adults can understand.
The characteristic of productivity in regards to Infancy allows children to understand their parents have multiple names to different people. Productivity is the characteristic of a language that refers to the infinite amount of ways you can say things. This can be seen in the milestones of language development during the stage of infancy. Infants begin just babbling then move up to speaking their first word and finally to uttering two words. Their first word is often something or someone they see most often, which is why ‘mama’ or ‘dada’ is most common. After further development they learn ‘mama’ has multiple names but are still the same person. She could be ‘karen’ or ‘babe’ and this is learned through observation of the mother by the child. Eventually a child will realize their mom’s name is ‘Karen’ but only to their certain people.
Displacement in the stage of Infancy allows children to better communicate with their parents. Displacement is the characteristic of language that refers to allowing someone to refer to something that is not there. During Infancy it is seen in recasting within the LASS. For example when a child cries because their stuffed animal is absent, they cry for it. They realize that it has a name so whenever they do not have it instead of crying they can say ‘mama I want Mr. Bear!’. This is a key characteristics of language and without it, infants would have trouble being taken care of because they would not be able to refer to something they needed. Where recasting relates is the teaching of manners, when a child whines and says ‘mama I want Mr. Bear!’ the mother can recast her phrase and ask ‘Did you mean, you would like Mr. Bear please?’.