Child Language Acquisition Stages

Language acquisition for small children occur in stages...

• Babbling (apx 6 months) - Child produces the full range of possible speech sounds, even those which do not occur in speech heard in immediate environment, (the target language) and which s/he may later find "impossible" to reproduce when learning a foreign language.
• Holophrastic/One word stage (apx 12-14 months) - the words produced in holophrastic speech are not just any words. For example you get: cookie drink bad fast go yes/no But never: *in *the *and
• Two word stage (apx 24 months) - Still virtually no closed class words: some pronouns, especially me/you.
• Telegraphic Speech - no 3-word stage -basically English sentences, but still without closed class items. -some affixes (past tense marker, plural) -SVO word order (almost invariable) -constant changing/adding of rules

Sources: http://www.ling.upenn.edu/courses/Fall_1998/ling001/acq.html

Paper 2 - Language and Gender Resources

Theorists flashcards

https://quizlet.com/9012037/language-and-gender-theorists-flash-cards/alphabetical

Language and gender in detail

https://sites.google.com/site/englishatknutsford/home/english-language-as-a2/language-and-gender/language-and-gender-the-theorists

Our Teenagers Need Social Skills, Not Social Networks

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/mar/22/teenagers-social-skills-not-social-networks-work-ncs

Language and Gender

Men	Women
Dominate a conversation by topic initiation, topic shifts, holding the floor, lack of turn-yielding clues, interrupting and generally speaking more.	More submissive in a conversation and likely to speak less. Unlikely to interrupt, initiate or change topics or attempt to hold the floor.
Use a more informal register through their use of accent, taboo, slang, dialect, sociolect and grammatical variations. Likely to use covert prestige to sustain a masculine identity.	More likely to use overt prestige to help create a feminine identity and succumb to stereotypes on how a ‘lady-like’ woman should talk (more formal lexis and less phonological variations).
More likely to be factual, competitive, direct and detached when speaking while maintaining a need for status.	More likely to be supportive, cooperative, polite, apologetic and emotional when speaking.

1. Robin Lakoff (1975)

1. 1Hedges: Phrases like ‘sort of’, ‘kind of’, ‘it seems like’
2. 2Empty adjectives: ‘divine’, ‘adorable’, ‘gorgeous’
3. 3Super-polite forms: ‘Would you mind …’, ‘Is it Ok if …?’
4. 4Apologise more: ‘I'm sorry, but I think that …’
5. 5Speak less frequently
6. 6Avoid coarse language or expletives
7. 7Tag questions: ‘You don't mind eating this, do you?’
8. 8Hyper-correct grammar and pronunciation: Use of prestige grammar and clear articulation
9. 9Indirect requests: ‘I'm so thirsty.’ – really asking for a drink
10. 10Speak in italics: Use tone to emphasis certain words, e.g., ‘so’, ‘very’, ‘quite’.
11. 
    

      Deborah Tannen (1990)

• Status vs Support: Men use language to show power and dominance in conversations; women are more likely to use language choices that support and agree with others.
• Independence vs Intimacy: Men will use language to show they do not need to rely on others; women will prefer to use language as a way of connecting with others and maintaining closeness.
• Advice vs Understanding: Men are more likely to offer solutions to a problem through their language choices; women will show empathy and understanding to a given situation.
• Information vs Feelings: Similar to Tannen's Advice vs Understanding concept, men are far more likely to be factual in their language choices; women, in contrast, will use language choices that are less factual and stem from a more emotional viewpoint.
• Orders vs Proposals: In conversations, men are far more likely to be direct in their language using imperatives to command others; women will avoid such a commanding tone and be more suggestive in their language choices (for example, a man may say ‘Close that window it's cold’ whereas the woman is more likely to say ‘Isn't it cold in here?’ suggesting the window needs to be closed).
• Conflict vs Compromise: Men are more likely to use language to argue a point; women will use language to avoid such conflict and are far more likely to negotiate with others to try and find a solution or compromise.

Eight Words That Reveal The Sexism at the Heart of the English Language

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/27/eight-words-sexism-heart-english-language

This article explores a list of words that come under fire for sexist definitions, showing the history of terms that refer to women and how deep the negative attitudes go. In particular, the author focuses on eight specific words that represent how women were addressed and represented during older times.

A-Level English Language Blog

http://englishlangsfx.blogspot.co.uk/
This blog features posts that are applicable to both students and teachers studying A-level English language. This blog posts mainly past papers and useful teaching/studying resources.

The Sexist Surcharge - How women get ripped off on the highstreet

http://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2016/jan/19/the-sexist-surcharge-how-women-get-ripped-off-on-the-high-street