How children acquire and learn language

Children are excluded from the social world due to the lack of knowledge of the English language because of such a young age and they haven’t been exposed to the language yet to be able to learn it. Pointing as a paralinguistic feature will only get children so far in terms of communication. Words and language is one of the most important things a child can learn, as the whole world is built upon language.

A 15 month year old infant, who is situated in the one word stage – called Zac, uses a completely different part of the brain than adults when trying to acquire language. In infants this age their larynx is positioned high up, an advantage of this is so they don’t choke, however a disadvantage of this is that they are not able to say as much speech as they would like due to the larynx being so high up. They are unable to perform a major function in life – speech; the larynx needs to drop 3cm in order to talk, after this takes place air passes along vocal cords which produce speech. To only say one word, we use 30 muscles in order to produce it.

A child of two and a half years old will learn roughly 10 new words a day, they will be able to describe in detail and be able to react with words and think about the future. Vygotsky’s theory of social interaction is applicable here as these toddlers are like sponges soaking up new words all the time, also able to structure sentences and apply the correct syntax. They will create occasional virtuous errors because of plurals, an example of a virtuous error would be – they would say mouses instead of mice, as they have applied the logical rule for plurals however they would need to be taught the exception.

Also as a toddler they will not recognise themselves in a mirror as they lack self-awareness, once they reach the age of 18 months they will be able to realise that it is in fact themselves in the mirror.

 As they start to grow older this means they develop self-awareness of needs, therefore pragmatically they have a lack of politeness. They cause a tantrum in order to get their own way, they have realised this as they have got older. Plus,  2 year olds are able to use pronouns which links to self-awareness, therefore they use the language needed as well as tantrums in order to gain what they desire.

From the article – ‘broken homes damage brains of infant children’, the main thing which I was able to infer and gage from the text was that if parents neglected their infants from birth and fail to speak and read to them then they will be underdeveloped when they mature. Therefore this will impact the children severely when their brains will be undersized due to disregard and abandonment. This will create long term effects as they will have missed the crucial time period for development and once missed it’s not able to be rectified without extreme expenses. The children could normally grow up to become violent and drug users, due to normally what they witnessed at home when young and was never able to catch up with their education because of carelessness regarding parents. I do agree with what the article is saying as once the infant has missed the time period for development then they will never be able to properly prosper and thrive in life due to a smaller brain size.

Reflective commentary

The purpose of my article is to – comment, unambiguously commenting on disempowering language in emails and the app which was designed to correct these faults. The audience which my article was specifically aimed at was – women, the register is informal however also consist of Standard English.

In terms of graphology, I decided to position an enlarged image in the middle of the page of a computer screen with handwritten post-it notes scattered across the entire screen to emphasise the continuity of apologies that come across as weak in emails. Pragmatically, the fact I chose the post-it notes to be stuck on a computer screen accentuates and underlines that the article is about technology. The poor lexical choice of – ‘sorry’, repetitively and cyclically being demonstrated on the post-it notes shows a sign of weakness when written in emails. Therefore the recurrence of ‘sorry’, draws attention to the fact that it’s not the superlative word choice. Before I wrote the main fragment of my article, I composed a short sentence briefly explaining what the bulk of my article would consist of. This subdivided text is also in bold and enlarged to make this one of the first things people see when looking at the article, this would also give the women an idea of what to expect before reading. I also included conventions of a magazine in my article – page numbers were incorporated at the bottom left corner, also it was written in columns to emphasis the fact it was from an article.

I decided to incorporate some phonological features when writing my article, for example – lexical onomatopoeia: ‘pop-ups’, this associates with the semantic field of – technology, plus the audience would have to have an understanding of the topic to know what some of the specific jargon means. I also selected to use: alliteration, for example, ‘app alerts’

There is a semantic field of – technology, shown through the lexis, ‘message’, ‘emails’, and ‘Gmail’, also how the post-it notes are placed on a computer screen. The article uses referential language, for example – ‘emoji’s’, whereby meaning the reader will have to have some understanding of the jargon written to comprehend the article. The informality comes through in the lexis when I began to write about famous celebrities – ‘Jennifer Laurence’, the audience of: women, will know who she is; therefore making my article more applicable and they will be able to relate.

Grammatically, I encompassed various noun phrases in the article, ‘female scientist’, a noun phrase is a quintessential part of every sentence and in this case it also targets the particular audience – women. If I used the noun – ‘male’, this would not be as effective due to it being a female audience. I decided to implicate interrogatives within my article, ‘does this even make sense?’ this is a vague way of including the audience, it makes the reader feel as if they’re being questioned and gets them involved, this creates diverse thoughts in their mind when reading. I regularly used first person pronouns, ‘I’m’, and ‘my’, and therefore allows the reader to relate to my opinions stated in the article. It is also a frequent convention used when writing articles so the audience is able to share the same attitudes and beliefs. Furthermore, numerous exclamatories were used several times – ‘sorry!’ This was repeated on the image on the post-it notes to emphasise the importance of the meaning of the text – how people use disempowering language in emails, by unremittingly apologising.

The discourse structure is – a narrative account, I chose to write in this discourse as it was able to contain emotional links with the reader as well as rational justifications.

Comparative piece

A similarity between text A and text B is that they both contain short sentences, for example in text A: ‘dependability’, and in text B: ‘it’s the same with the word secretary’. Due to the non-existent complex sentences in either texts this indicates that the job of a secretary is simple just like the sentence structure. The structure exhibits that the job of a secretary is straightforward and unpretentious, basically displaying that anybody has the capability to complete the task of a secretary. Focusing this on society in the time period of the 1970’s it accentuates the fact that women live the simple life; not needing to complete strenuous activities - unlike men. Text A uses a complex sentence to designate the boss in the industry, already identifying the boss as a male through the use of the second person pronoun, ‘he knows any job left in her hands will be carried out just as he would have done it himself-only better.’ This furthers my point about society in the time period that women are degraded to live the simple life and men are set out to do more – live a complex life. Therefore the usage of simple, short sentences in both texts helps heighten the fact that women are given the easy job as they are predicted to struggle as they are inferior to men, demonstrated here in the example of – the job industry.

A difference is that text A incorporates a picture to add to the graphological features used to give an enhanced overall effect of the text, yet text B decided against this device being used. The image is of a woman displaying what goes on in a secretarial office. This links to the audience as it’s a women in the picture and the audience is aimed towards aspiring female secretaries, this give the impression that women have the primary space to occupy this job as it is gender specifying in the image.

Language and representation

Lexical asymmetry

 An imbalance in the meanings of two supposedly matching words. For example, manliness is seen as strength and womanliness is seen as weakness – cry like a little girl (associated with being weak).

Semantic derogation

The negative meanings associated with certain words and how they are used to denigrate particular groups of people, these words carry negative connotations that can be used to insult people. Examples include: spastic, cripple, faggot etc.

Semantic reclamation

A process whereby a word has previously carried negative connotations can be reclaimed by the group it was used against and turned into something positive.

Pejoration

Semantics move from positive to negative, for example – gay meant happy and now it means homosexual.

Amelioration

Semantics move from negative to positive, for example – cute used to mean cunning and now it tends to mean sweet and attractive.

Semantic over representation

A fairly simple idea that just means there are many more words to describe a particular concept or group of people in their equivalent.

Lexical gaps

Are when we find no equivalents for certain terms, for example – there isn’t really a female equivalent for ‘stud’.

Negative semantic space

Suggests that the terms used to label women are attached to a negative ‘space’, they bring with them their negative connotations which can only be offset by adding male prefixes such as ‘male slut’ . Muriel Schultz’s semantic rule proposes that all words which become associated with women slide down the scale of semantics.

Marked form

Suggests deviation from the norm, for example – a male nurse.

Unmarked form

The assumed ‘norm’, something that is not limited or specified for example – a horse not a stallion or mare.

Semantic marking

When the semantic range of a word is limited or specified for example – a stallion = a male horse and a mare = a female horse.

Overt marking

Marking that takes place through suffixes or modification gender, for example ‘ess’ for females – lioness.

Covert marking

Marking that is understood, for example – in certain contexts ‘young’ is the marked and ‘old’ is the unmarked, we are asked – ‘how old are you?’ not – ‘how young are you?’

Generic terms and pronouns

Prejudice has been noted in the generic usage of certain terms, such as – ‘mankind’, taken to mean both men and women. Alternatives are – ‘humankind’ which is seen as being more inclusive.

Pronouns being used to represent both men and women, for example – ‘each student has to hand his homework in’ suggesting that males are more important than females. The use of non-gender specific pronouns such as, ‘their’ or the more awkward, ‘he/she’, is seen as being more inclusive.

Patronising and demeaning usage

‘Alright darling’, ‘cheer up, love’, these are a couple of the demeaning usages women have been subjected to by sexist men today.

Words are also used by men to objectify women, such as ‘tart’, ‘sweetie’, ‘baby’, all of which either trivialise and infantilise women or make them appear to be sweet tasting consumables, there for the pleasure of men

History of words (language and gender)

Spinster

1. The earliest record of the word spinster being used in a written text was in – 1362, ‘Langland Piers Plowman A. v. 130   and my wyf at Westmunstre þat wollene cloþ made, Spak to þe spinsters for to spinne hit softe.’
2. Spinster is a Dutch word.
3. The original meaning of the word – spinster, is - a woman (or, rarely, a man) who spins, esp. one who practises spinning as a regular occupation. However this meaning has changed over time, as it now has the denotation of – a woman still unmarried; esp. one beyond the usual age for marriage, an old maid.
4. The primary meaning has altered slightly; in 1380 the definition was - Appended to names of women, originally in order to denote their occupation, but subsequently (from the 17th century) as the proper legal designation of one still unmarried. In 1719, it was reformed to just simply - A woman still unmarried; esp. one beyond the usual age for marriage, an old maid. The emphasis is on relationship status and not profession, showing a semantic shift over time.
5. The spelling hasn’t changed and it’s persistently been used as a noun.

 

Bachelor

1. The earliest record of the word – bachelor used in a written text was in 1297 - R. Gloucester's Chron. 453   Syre ȝong bacheler...þow art strong & corageus.
2. The word originates from Italy.
3. The original meaning of – bachelor, is: a young knight, not old enough, or having too few vassals, to display his own banner, and who therefore followed the banner of another; a novice in arms. [On this sense was founded the conjectural etymology of bas chevalier.] This is in contrast to the most recent definition, whereby it relates to accommodation where a bachelor would stay.
4. The primary meaning has been extended upon; in 1386, the meaning was - An unmarried man (of marriageable age). Whereas, in 1694, the definition expanded to – an inexperienced person, a novice. This suggests that because the man isn’t married, therefore he lacks experience in that aspect of life.
5. There has been various different ways to spell the word, ranging from batcheler to bachilers. It’s used as a noun.

Bitch

1. The earliest record of the word – bitch used in a written text was in 1398 - J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomew de Glanville De Proprietatibus Rerum (1495) xviii. i. 742   The bytche bringeth forth blynde whelpes.
2. The word originates from – Germany.
3. The original meaning of the word – bitch is: the female of the dog. This is in contrast to the most recent definition of: A primitive form of lamp used in Alaska and Canada.
4. The primary meaning of the word – bitch, is a female dog however over time the word has changed completely to be an insult.
5. The spelling hasn’t changed and it’s persistently been used as a noun.
   
   

Bastard

1. The earliest record of the word bastard is in – 1297, R. Gloucester's Chron. 295   Of þulke blode Wyllam bastard com.
2. The word originates from – France.
3. The original meaning of the word – bastard is: One begotten and born out of wedlock; an illegitimate or natural child. This is in contrast to the most recent definition of - Of abnormal shape or irregular (esp. unusually large) size; spec. applied.
4. The primary meaning of the word bastard is - One begotten and born out of wedlock; an illegitimate or natural child, however over time the word has changed meaning an insult.
5. The spelling hasn’t changed and it’s persistently been used as an adjective.
   
   

Semantic derogation

Muriel Schultz (1975)

Schultz documents a process of ‘semantic derogation’ affecting sexual terms when applied to women. This means that sexual words tend to carry a heavy weight of moral opprobrium (disapproval). Sexual terms are sometimes the best arena for moral opprobrium, sexism and patriarchal/male resistance to the redefinition of sexual roles. There are no boundaries and no limits to the proliferation of sexual stories – and indeed, all activities, discourse and technologies are veritably sexualised.

Deborah Cameron (1990)

Deborah Cameron says that wherever and whenever the matter has been investigated, men and women face normative expectations about the appropriate mode of speech for their gender. Women's verbal conduct is important in many cultures; women have been instructed in the proper ways of talking just as they have been instructed in the proper ways of dressing, in the use of cosmetics, and in other “feminine” kinds of behaviour. This acceptance of a “proper” speech style, Cameron describes (in her 1995 book of the same name) as “verbal hygiene”.

Cameron does not condemn verbal hygiene, as misguided. She finds specific examples of verbal hygiene in the regulation of '"style" by editors, the teaching of English grammar in schools, politically correct language and the advice to women on how they can speak more effectively. In each case Deborah Cameron claims that verbal hygiene is a way to make sense of language, and that it also represents a symbolic attempt to impose order on the social world.

Sara mills (1995)

She researched into:

• The use of ‘he’ as a generic pronoun.

• The sexual bias of ‘man’ nouns: e.g. postman, chairman.

• Different terms to distinguish between female and male versions, often with negative connotations for the females: e.g. bachelor/spinster, master/mistress

• Terms without a female equivalent: e.g. single woman, career woman

• Offensive terms for an unattractive woman e.g. crone, bag, frump.

I discovered that there are more words for a sexually promiscuous female than a sexually promiscuous male. Words for females included: slag, slut, sket, skank, whore, hoe. Words for males includes: fuckboy, player, lad.

Words for females are all negative whereas some of the words for boys can be seen as positive. I asked around to see what other people thought and the results were the same - that there are more negative words for women than men.