how birth order may effect personality

http://childdevelopmentinfo.com/child-development/birth_order/

Language Development Linked To Relationship With Older Siblings In Large Families

http://www.medicaldaily.com/language-development-linked-relationship-older-siblings-large-families-268008

When, how and why do gender differences in language begin?

http://linguistics-research-digest.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/when-how-and-why-do-gender-differences.html

 children tend to socialize in single sex groups. Gender segregation in friendship groups means that as children grow older their language use becomes increasingly divergent.

Txting is for people who can’t spell, write? Wrong - guardian article

http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2014/nov/07/mind-your-language-textisms

Confessions of a reformed grammar nazi - guardian article

http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2014/nov/14/mind-your-language-grammar-nazi?CMP=twt_gu

Influences on Sibling Relationships

http://www.education.com/reference/article/influences-sibling-relationships/

 Family constellation refers to the number and sex of the adults and children including the birth order, type of relationship (biological, adopted, stepparent or sibling), age, and spacing of the children. Although all relationships in the family are important, the parent-child relationships have the greatest impact on sibling relationships.

Birth Order

The relationship between birth order and an individual's personality has been debated since Alfred Adler (1928) described specific characteristics of children according to their birth order. He also coined the phrase "sibling rivalry."

Firstborn children tend to have distinct personality traits. Many studies depict these children as more adultlike, achievement-oriented, verbal, conservative, controlling of subordinates, and displaying a higher self-concept, but more anxious and less popular with peers than children born later (Lahey, Hammer, Crumrine, and Forehand, 1980; Zajonc, 1983).

Middle Children

Middle children are more sociable and harder to classify than the firstborns. They are sometimes called the "overlooked child." It is more difficult to be the middle child when all siblings are of the same gender.

In contrast to the first-born the middle child may be more friendly, cheerful, placid, and less studious with lower self-esteem. According to Adler (1928), the middle child is ambitious, rebellious, envious, and better adjusted than either the first born or the youngest child.

Youngest Child

When growing up, the youngest child is smaller, weaker, less knowledgeable, and less competent compared to older siblings, and often turns to attention-seeking. At a very early age, the youngest are more outgoing, exploring toys, making responses to people, and initiating more play with strangers.

Effects of older siblings on the language young children hear and produce.

Mothers told stories to their children, inserting 30 questions about each story under two conditions. In one situation, mothers were alone with their younger child, and in the other condition, an older sibling was also present. During the question-answer interactions, older siblings responded to 60%-65% of all mothers' questions before younger children had a chance to respond and provided direct answers to the questions in 57%-65% of those instances. Mothers responded by producing fewer rephrased questions, fewer questions providing hints and answers, fewer questions functioning as repetitions and expansions, and more directly repeated questions when the older sibling was present. The effect of older siblings' first responses also reduced by half the number of younger children's utterances. The younger children produced fewer noncontent and content answers and more imitated answers in the presence of the older sibling. It is concluded that the presence of older siblings may influence the language young children hear and produce.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3974217

Do second and third-born children really talk late? The effect of birth order on language development

http://www.hanen.org/Helpful-Info/Articles/Do-second-and-third-born-children-really-talk-late.aspx

• First-born children reach the 50-word milestone earlier than later-born children. But later-born children catch up quickly and there are no lasting differences in vocabulary between the two siblings.

• The overall language development of second-born children was the same as their first-born siblings, but second born children were more advanced in their use of pronouns (eg. my, mine, you, your)

• While first-born children were more advanced in vocabulary and grammar, later-born children were more advanced in their conversational skills

 For example, first-born children may benefit from more one-to-one attention from their parents. However, later-born children may benefit from a greater variety of conversations, such as overheard conversations between caregivers and other siblings.

Hyperbole

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/04/hyperbole-love-hate-language-linguistics

Guardian article on the overuse of hyperboles in our language. The example they give is of a review calling a pizza 'earth-shatteringly good' but also individual words that have lost their punch like iconic, unique and freezing.

Claudia Claridge, a linguist that studies hyperboles said that it "highlights speaker attitudes and emotions with the intention of having these shared by the hearer" through what she has called "emotive persuasion"

http://zenpencils.com/comic/95-louis-c-k-we-dont-think-about-how-we-talk/

A ZenPencils comic on the same issue, using a quote from Louis C. K.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/06/internet-hyperbole-charlie-brooker

Charlie Brooker's take on the subject, mostly just mocking people that use hyperboles and/or smartphones in what has become a fairly generic 'kids these days' rant.

Language Change - World Englishes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_q9b9YqGRY

David Crystal talks about how there are different types of English spoken around the world

Language Change - The Future

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Kvs8SxN8mc

David Crystal talks about the long-term and short-term changes in the future of the English language

Language Change - Texting

http://www.ted.com/talks/john_mcwhorter_txtng_is_killing_language_jk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h79V_qUp91M

John McWhorter and David Crystal explaining how texting is not killing the English language, but enriching it.

Language Change - Mispronunciations

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/11/pronunciation-errors-english-language

This article explains how the way that words are mispronounced and accepted overtime as correct.

The Role of Schools in the Early Socialization of Gender Differences

Schools are major contexts for gender socialization, in part because children spend large
amounts of time engaged with peers in such settings.4 For nearly all psychological traits
on which young boys and girls differ (e.g., reading ability, play preferences), the
distribution of the two groups is overlapping. Schools can magnify or diminish gender
differences by providing environments that promote within-gender similarity and
between-gender differences, or the inverse (within-gender variability and between group
similarity).

http://www.child-encyclopedia.com/documents/Bigler-Hayes-HamiltonANGxp1.pdf

Gender Roles and Gender Differences

In addition to the influence on gender behaviors of biological factors, there are four principle psychological explanations of gender-linked behavior patterns: Freudian theory's process of identification, cognitive social learning theory, gender-schema theory, and Kohlberg's cognitive developmental theory.

The process by which children acquire the values, motives, and behaviors viewed as appropriate for males and females within a culture is called gender typing. Children develop gender-based beliefs, largely on the basis of gender stereotypes; the latter are reflected in gender roles. Children adopt a gender identity early in life and develop gender-role preferences as well.

http://highered.mheducation.com/sites/0072820144/student_view0/chapter15/index.html

Parental Influence on Children's Socialization to Gender Roles

In a society which is rife with gender stereotypes and biases, children regularly learn to adopt gender roles which are not always fair to both sexes. As children move through childhood and into adolescence, they are exposed to many factors which influence their attitudes and behaviors regarding gender roles. These attitudes and behaviors are generally learned first in the home and are then reinforced by the child's peers, school experience, and television viewing. However, the strongest influence on gender role development seems to occur within the family setting, with parents passing on, both overtly and covertly, to their children their own beliefs about gender. This overview of the impact of parental influence on gender role development leads to the suggestion that an androgynous gender role orientation may be more beneficial to children than strict adherence to traditional gender roles.

http://gozips.uakron.edu/~susan8/parinf.htm

Accessibility of Gender Stereotype Domains: Developmental and Gender Differences in Children

The present research examined developmental and gender differences in the relative accessibility of different gender stereotype domains. A 1988 Northeastern US sample of 256 children ages 3 to 10 years old provided open-ended descriptions of girls and boys. Responses were coded by domain to examine differences by grade, gender of participant, and gender of target. Analyses revealed that girls and older children provided a higher proportion of stereotypes, and that appearance stereotypes were particularly prevalent in descriptions of girls and activity/trait stereotypes were more prevalent in descriptions of boys. Results are discussed in terms of implications for research on the stereotype knowledge–behavior link and the need for more attention to the role of appearance stereotypes in the gender stereotype literature.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2709873/

Pink v blue - are children born with gender preferences?

Guardian article with lots of useful links and info on gender preferences and nature vs nurture

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/reality-check-with-polly-curtis/2011/dec/13/women-children

Biological components of sex differences in color preference

http://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822(07)01559-X

The long history of color preference studies has been described as “bewildering, confused and contradictory” [1] . Although recent studies [1–3] tend to agree on a universal preference for ‘blue’, the variety and lack of control in measurement methods have made it difficult to extract a systematic, quantitative description of preference. Furthermore, despite abundant evidence for sex differences in other visual domains, and specifically in other tasks of color perception [4,5] , there is no conclusive evidence for the existence of sex differences in color preference. This fact is perhaps surprising, given the prevalence and longevity of the notion that little girls differ from boys in preferring ‘pink’ [6] . Here we report a robust, cross-cultural sex difference in color preference, revealed by a rapid paired-comparison task. Individual color preference patterns are summarized by weights on the two fundamental neural dimensions that underlie color coding in the human visual system. We find a consistent sex difference in these weights, which, we suggest, may be linked to the evolution of sex-specific behavioral uses of trichromacy.

Referring to the transcripts and ideas of C.L.A, analyse the language used by Lou and Ruby (DRAFT)

Referring to the transcripts and ideas of C.L.A, analyse the language used by Lou and Ruby

Lou often uses language typical to a caregiver, for example she starts off saying ‘shall we take your jacket off’. Here Lou is demonstrating her influential power over ruby, asking permission to take the coat, even though Lou is probably going to take it off her either way. She covers this with the politeness strategy of using ‘shall we’ making the sentence interrogative which creates the illusion that Ruby has a choice in the matter. Lou may have phrased it this way rather than using imperatives because it encourages confrontation less; if Lou had just told Ruby to take her coat off she would have been more likely to refuse, causing unnecessary conflict.

After Ruby corrects Lou, telling her that her jacket is actually a coat, Lou seems to respond almost sarcastically before asking Ruby if she’s going to be a ‘bossy boots’ all morning. This is usually a gendered, condescending term used to describe women that are assertive. By Lou using this pre-modified noun, we learn a lot about her views on gender, but more importantly it raises the issue of Ruby growing up to believe that women aren’t allowed to be ‘bossy’. However, in this instance Ruby just laughs and brushes the comment off.

When talking about Lou’s cats, Ruby says that one was ‘bitted’ by a dog. By applying a regular simple past to an irregular verb she is supporting Chomsky’s L.A.D. Naom Chomsky theorised that children are born with the innate ability to learn language and grammar. ‘Bitted’ supports this because Ruby has probably not heard an adult use this word before, but she understands that to talk about a verb in the past tense, often the suffix ‘ed’ is added to the end of the word. However, because this is an irregular verb, it doesn’t quite work, but her attempt shows that she has a decent grasp on grammar.

Ruby uses Assimilation several times in the transcript, changing the consonants in words to make them easier to say, ‘wiv’ instead of with and ‘bets’ instead of vets. This is common among children learning language, when they haven’t quite gotten used to all of the phonemes, especially consonants clusters like ‘th’. Deb Roy in the Speech Home Project highlighted that a child’s phonological understanding often outstrips their phonological ability. He showed this with his son’s pronunciation of the noun ‘water’ over a three month period, and is seen here in Ruby’s assimilation of language.

CLA

Deb Roy said that adults unconsciously converge towards the child's language.

People often talk to babies as if they can understand them
Face to face communication is vital for children, using sight almost as much as sound when communicating
18 months - about 50 words, mostly context dependent ( thank you, nouns, politeness strategies)
People often use onomatopoeia with children
Nursery rhymes give children their first experience of talking for an extended amount of time - teaches them complex syntax
Possessive language by 3
Aware of external influences by 5 and often going on tangents (side sequences)

Lou and Ruby - Transcript (Annotated)

Lou: shall we take your jacket off
-Shall-politeness strategy, modal auxiliary verb
-Demonstrating influential power. Asking the child even though they're going to do it either way

Ruby: it's not a jacket it's a coat

Lou: oh (.) sorry (.) shall we take your COAT off then
-Repeating 'coat' reinforces ruby's expanding language, encouraging the use of new words

Ruby: mmm

Lou: are you going to be a bossy boots all morning
-Bossy boots- Alliteration, pre-modified noun, mostly gender exclusive as girls aren't supposed to be bossy. converging to the childs language

Ruby: [nods & laughs] (3.0) what's up wiv Felma
-what's- contraction
-wiv- phonological problems with 'th'

Lou: Thelma [questioning intonation] (1.0) oh (.) she's been a silly girl (1.0) she's been
-fighting
-thelma- corrects ruby's pronunciation
-silly girl- pre-modified noun, girls aren't supposed to fight

Ruby: what did it (.) what what was it (.) em Simba bitted by a dog
-repeats the start of her sentence before getting it right and saying it
-bitted- applied a regular simple past to an irregular verb, Chomsky, Jean Berko Gleason

Lou: Simba got bitten by a do::g [questioning intonation] oh no is he all right
bitten- showing ruby the correct way to say it

Ruby: yeh

Lou: yes
-yes- all the time subtly correcting ruby's language

Ruby: he's better now

Lou: is he better now (.) the vet looked after him [questioning intonation] (2.0)
-Interrogative syntax to direct the conversation
-doesn't use imperatives

Ruby: no we took him to the bets two times but he's better
-bets- struggling with 'v'    Assimilation, changing the consonant at the start of the word to make it -easier to say

Lou: he's better [questioning intonation] oh that's good (.) Thelma's getting better
Ruby:                                                                                                   Sim (.) Simba
-slept on my (2.0) Fergal and Simba slept on my bed
-Ruby interupts lou, flouting grice's maxim, still getting the hang of adjacency pairs

Lou: oh (.) last night [questioning intonation]

Ruby: yeh

Lou: is there room on your bed for two pussy cats and you

Ruby: yes

Lou: is there (.) do they not get (.) do you not get pushed out of bed every night by two big
pussy cats

Ruby: no

Lou: they're almost as big as you your cats (1.0) shall we have some jam on toast

Ruby: yes

Lou: would you like some apple juice as well

Ruby: yes
-Repeatedly using simple one word sentences, letting the adult lead the conversation

Lou: what would you like first

Ruby: apple juice

Lou: apple juice (.) a little glass [questioning intonation]

Ruby: yes

Lou: yes (1.0)

Ruby: big girls have glass don't they

Lou: yes (.) big girls have glasses (.) it's all I've got (.) glasses (2.0)

Ruby: grandma has glass and cups

Lou: grandma has glass and cups does she (.) and what do you have at grandma's (1.0)

Ruby: apple juice and orange

Lou: apple juice and orange (.) there we go (.) where are you going to sit to have this (.)
do you want to sit at the table
apple juice and orange- Lou is constantly repeating what ruby says

Ruby: I'll sit (.) I want to sit in the room
Ruby can construct past, present and future tense sentences, showing her age and the stage of language acquisition she is in

Lou: oo:: no (.) not with your apple juice

Ruby: only wiz my toast (2.0)
my toast- possessive language

Lou: sit here and I'll move my things out of the way

Ruby: only in (.) only wiz my toast

Lou: okay (.) there you go (1.0) can you manage

Ruby: Mummy got (3.0) Mummy's moved a bed
'a' bed- indefinite article

Lou: Mummy's moved her bed or your bed [questioning intonation] (2.0)

Ruby: her bed (.)

Lou: right (.) where's she moved it to

Ruby: (3.0) that (.) bit [pointing left]

Lou: that bit [laughs]

Ruby: then the baby's mattress is (.) on that bit [pointing right]

Lou: a::h I see:: (1.0) so Mummy's moved her bed so she can fit the bed in for the baby (.)
you excited about the baby [questioning intonation]
She repeats what ruby has said, to maybe show her how to put it more coherently

Ruby: (2.0) it's coming after Christmas

Lou: after Christmas (.) is Father Christmas going to bring it

Ruby: no (.) Mummy's made it

Lou: [laughs] Mummy's made it has she (.) she's clever your Mummy isn't she

Ruby: we don't know how she made it cos the books shows us (.) how's it (.) she made it

Lou: oh right (.) has she read the book with you (1.0) or are you getting a book

Ruby: (2.0) we haven't got a book about the baby we getting a book

Lou: are you looking forward to the baby (.) do you want a baby brother or a baby sister

Ruby: (3.0) I want a girl

Lou: a girl (2.0)

Ruby: I want to call it Dora

Lou: [laughs] Dora (.) after Dora the Explorer

Ruby: and when she gets bigger (.) she (.) she can explorer [laughs]

Lou: [laughs] when she gets bigger she can be an explorer

Ruby: no (.) Mum said when we at Sun (.) Sunday dinner (.) she'll be adorable [laughs]

Grice's Maxims

1. The maxim of quantity, where one tries to be as informative as one possibly can, and gives as much information as is needed, and no more.
   
2. The maxim of quality, where one tries to be truthful, and does not give information that is false or that is not supported by evidence.
   
3. The maxim of relation, where one tries to be relevant, and says things that are pertinent to the discussion.
   
4. The maxim of manner, when one tries to be as clear, as brief, and as orderly as one can in what one says, and where one avoids obscurity and ambiguity.
   As the maxims stand, there may be an overlap, as regards the length of what one says, between the maxims of quantity and manner; this overlap can be explained (partially if not entirely) by thinking of the maxim of quantity (artificial though this approach may be) in terms of units of information. In other words, if the listener needs, let us say, five units of information from the speaker, but gets less, or more than the expected number, then the speaker is breaking the maxim of quantity. However, if the speaker gives the five required units of information, but is either too curt or long-winded in conveying them to the listener, then the maxim of manner is broken. The dividing line however, may be rather thin or unclear, and there are times when we may say that both the maxims of quantity and quality are broken by the same factors.

Lou and Ruby - Transcript

Text A is a transcript of Ruby (3 years 4 months) with her Auntie Lou. Ruby has just 
arrived at her aunt’s house and they are in the kitchen. Thelma, Fergal and Simba 
are cats.

Referring in detail to the transcript and to relevant ideas from language study, analyse 

the language used by children and their caregivers.                                 

 (48 marks)

Key: (.) indicates a normal pause.
Numbers within brackets indicate length of pause in seconds.
Words between vertical lines are spoken simultaneously.
:: indicates elongated sounds.
Words in capitals indicate an increase in volume.
Other contextual information is in italics in square brackets.

Text A

Lou: shall we take your jacket off
Ruby: it's not a jacket it's a coat
Lou: oh (.) sorry (.) shall we take your COAT off then
Ruby: mmm
Lou: are you going to be a bossy boots all morning
Ruby: [nods & laughs] (3.0) what's up wiv Felma
Lou: Thelma [questioning intonation] (1.0) oh (.) she's been a silly girl (1.0) she's been
fighting
Ruby: what did it (.) what what was it (.) em Simba bitted by a dog
Lou: Simba got bitten by a do::g [questioning intonation] oh no is he all right
Ruby: yeh
Lou: yes
Ruby: he's better now
Lou: is he better now (.) the vet looked after him [questioning intonation] (2.0)
Ruby: no we took him to the bets two times but he's better
Lou: he's better [questioning intonation] oh that's good (.) Thelma's getting better
Ruby: Sim (.) Simba
slept on my (2.0) Fergal and Simba slept on my bed
Lou: oh (.) last night [questioning intonation]
Ruby: yeh
Lou: is there room on your bed for two pussy cats and you
Ruby: yes
Lou: is there (.) do they not get (.) do you not get pushed out of bed every night by two big
pussy cats
Ruby: no
Lou: they're almost as big as you your cats (1.0) shall we have some jam on toast
Ruby: yes
Lou: would you like some apple juice as well
Ruby: yes
Lou: what would you like first
Ruby: apple juice
Lou: apple juice (.) a little glass [questioning intonation]
Ruby: yes
Lou: yes (1.0)
Ruby: big girls have glass don't they
Lou: yes (.) big girls have glasses (.) it's all I've got (.) glasses (2.0)
Ruby: grandma has glass and cups
Lou: grandma has glass and cups does she (.) and what do you have at grandma's (1.0)
Ruby: apple juice and orange
Lou: apple juice and orange (.) there we go (.) where are you going to sit to have this (.)
do you want to sit at the table
Ruby: I'll sit (.) I want to sit in the room
Lou: oo:: no (.) not with your apple juice
Ruby: only wiz my toast (2.0)
Lou: sit here and I'll move my things out of the way
Ruby: only in (.) only wiz my toast
Lou: okay (.) there you go (1.0) can you manage
Ruby: Mummy got (3.0) Mummy's moved a bed
Lou: Mummy's moved her bed or your bed [questioning intonation] (2.0)
Ruby: her bed (.)
Lou: right (.) where's she moved it to
Ruby: (3.0) that (.) bit [pointing left]
Lou: that bit [laughs]
Ruby: then the baby's mattress is (.) on that bit [pointing right]
Lou: a::h I see:: (1.0) so Mummy's moved her bed so she can fit the bed in for the baby (.)
you excited about the baby [questioning intonation]
Ruby: (2.0) it's coming after Christmas
Lou: after Christmas (.) is Father Christmas going to bring it
Ruby: no (.) Mummy's made it
Lou: [laughs] Mummy's made it has she (.) she's clever your Mummy isn't she
Ruby: we don't know how she made it cos the books shows us (.) how's it (.) she made it
Lou: oh right (.) has she read the book with you (1.0) or are you getting a book
Ruby: (2.0) we haven't got a book about the baby we getting a book
Lou: are you looking forward to the baby (.) do you want a baby brother or a baby sister
Ruby: (3.0) I want a girl
Lou: a girl (2.0)
Ruby: I want to call it Dora
Lou: [laughs] Dora (.) after Dora the Explorer
Ruby: and when she gets bigger (.) she (.) she can explorer [laughs]
Lou: [laughs] when she gets bigger she can be an explorer
Ruby: no (.) Mum said when we at Sun (.) Sunday dinner (.) she'll be adorable [laughs]

Melodic Utterance

at 9-18 months, comes the MELODIC UTTERANCE STAGE, when children pick up the melody, rhythm and intonation of their mother tongue. At this point a child will sound as if she is talking despite the lack of actual words.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZGi57Zl1Qk&feature=related

For example, one child used the rhythm and melody of ‘tum ti tum tumtum’ to ask for a game of ‘Round and round the garden’, whilst others can be heard to copy the rise and fall intonation of all-gone. (Crystal, 1986)

Pragmatics

PRAGMATICS:  non-verbal language also develops a great deal in this month.
At around 9 months children use gesture and body language a great deal.
This shows that the child is acquiring a good understanding of the language she cannot yet express verbally

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gSZfW4gVhI&feature=related

Babbling

BABBLING STAGE, when the sounds become less varied but more frequent and stable

www.youtube.com/watch?v=13hRsyEbX4Q

Turn Taking

An early example of a child learning 'turn taking' as part of communication

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKD6jzUxkek

Horizon Documentary - How We Learn To Speak

Language is what defines us as human
Children learn language with minimal effort as oppose to how difficult adults find it
One theory is that children learn language through a natural process rather than being taught
Nature or Nurture debate: To what extent are we born with the ability to speak?
How we learn to speak is still unknown
The Speech Home project by Deb Roy was a very important recent study of how children learn language : an effort to closely observe and model the language acquisition of a child over the first three years of life.
Positive reinforcement encourages language
Parents simplify their speech for children - elongating pauses and simplifying lexis
They converge towards the childs language - Parentese
Babies don't listen to words, but sounds - Phonological awareness outstrips semantic awareness
By the time a child is 5 they will know 5,000 words and learn roughly 30 thousand more a year
Without knowing the noun of an object, a child will use determiners instead 'that one'. sometimes with a point
New born babies respond to their mother's voice in a way that they do not respond to others
Noam Chomsky  is known as the Godfather of linguistics 
The forbidden experiment - raising a baby with no communication
There is a gene that controls our ability to shape words: FOXP2 That suggests we are born with the ability to speak
Chomsky's LAD (language acquisition device) is supported by FOXP2
We are born with the ability to speak but it must be stimulated to develop properly

http://www.education.umd.edu/HDQM/labs/Rowe/LDPL/Publications_files/Rowe_JCL_2008.pdf

Child-directed speech: relation to socioeconomic
status, knowledge of child development
and child vocabulary skill*
MEREDITH L. ROWE

http://sallygoddardblythe.co.uk/2009/12/

Sally Goddard Blythe on how movement and music affect language acquisition

http://sitemaker.umich.edu/nicolesling/innateness_hypothesis
Talks about innateness hypothesis and general development of language


http://users.ecs.soton.ac.uk/harnad/Papers/Py104/pinker.langacq.html
Detailed article about language acquisition and development

David Crystal Child Language articles

http://www.davidcrystal.com/books-and-articles/child-language

The acquisition of language by children

http://www.pnas.org/content/98/23/12874.full

how infants break into the system, finding the words within the acoustic stream that serves as input to language learning
how children acquire the ability to rapidly combine linguistic elements to determine the relationships between these elements
how children impose grammatical structure onto their perceived input, even to the extent of creating a new language when none is available

Language and Power

  The text is a speech written for preparation in case the moon landing in 1969 failed and the astronauts could not return to earth to be delivered by the current President Nixon to the American population. The speech was written by William Safire for Nixon with the intention of him having the upper hand in the power imbalance between him and the audience.

  The speech uses imperatives to give the speaker power. This is seen when it says that there is ‘no hope of [the astronaut’s] return’. By saying this with absolute certainty, the speaker is giving the impression that everything in his power has been done to bring them back, neutralising any potential claims that there is anything that can be done to save them. This makes the audience feel powerless in the situation, trusting that the more powerful participant - the speaker - is right in what he says.

  The text uses repetition when saying that the man went to ‘explore in peace’ and now will ‘rest in peace’. By repeating the word ‘peace’ the speaker is trying to manipulate the feelings of the audience, trying to minimise the chance of anyone reacting in anger through calming language. The repetition furthers this effect and brings a connection between their mission and their demise, implying that they knew the risks from the start and carried on anyway.

  There is an extended metaphor throughout the text that Armstrong and Aldrin sacrificed themselves for the good of mankind. This is stated several times throughout the speech; ‘These two men are laying down their lives in mankind's most noble goal’ ‘in their sacrifice, they bind more tightly the brotherhood of man.’ This is another example of how the less powerful participant (the audience) is being made to think a certain way. The speaker wants them to view the poor lost souls as heroes making the choice to give their lives for the furthering of our knowledge of space and everything in general. This takes the focus away from the fact that it was actually the inadequacies of the space program to bring them back, discouraging anyone from bringing this up or protesting any future expeditions.

This whole speech seems to have the intention of shifting blame away from NASA and onto the universe and fate, for being so cruel to these heroes. This is taking to almost ridiculous lengths when it says that ‘Mother Earth that dared send two of her sons into the unknown.’ This may seem like taking it a little bit too far, but in context with the entire world watching this event, it would have been important to emphasise the tragedy of what happened and not point out any faults with America’s space program.

The text draws a comparison between the doomed astronauts and ancient peoples Gods, saying that they are now where they saw their heroes ‘in the constellations’, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin are now as ‘epic men of flesh and blood’. This implies that they have transcended the world of man to live among gods, forever remembered in their sacrifice, rather than men left to die in the cold emptiness of space. 

AQA English Language link

http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/english/as-and-a-level/english-language-b-2705