From the original blogpost about Sentnences - Sentence Structure
"Dialogue About Language, Literacy, and Learning" Blog for April 17, 2014 Part 1 of 3
Sentences (Part 1 of 3)
“Sentence” is the next unit (Sound-Word-Sentence-Discourse) of
oral language that provides a basis for learning to read and reading to
learn. Developmentally, the “average”
child begins to put words together to form “sentences” by age 2. What do children know about sentences as they
begin to put them together? They don’t
know the names of the parts of
speech that make up sentences (nouns, verbs, adverbs, etc., or the role of
those in sentences as subjects, objects…etc.), but they do learn that there are
certain kinds of words that go together (nouns and verbs, nouns and adjectives,
verbs and adverbs). As they continue to
develop, their sentences grow longer and more complex.
I am going to write about sentences in terms of three
dimensions: structure, process(ing) and
function. I’m going to begin with
structure because structure (form/grammar) is often the way sentences are
approached in school.
STRUCTURE
A few
sites are helpful. First is a chapter on
Language Development by Amanda C. Brandone, Sara J. Salkind, Roberta
Michnick Golinkoff, U. of Delaware and Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Temple
University
On Language
Development. (It was not clear from
the link which book contained this chapter)
http://udel.edu/~roberta/pdfs/Bear%20chaptBrandone.pdf In this chapter, the authors use content,
form, and use as their framework for discussing language development. They write:
“To better address typical and
atypical language development as well as strategies of prevention and
intervention, the five structural components of language-- phonology, semantics, syntax, morphology, and pragmatics--. may be simplified into three essential
aspects of communication: content, form, and use (Bloom & Lahey, 1978). Content refers to the semantics of
language—the concepts and ideas that are encoded in words. Form is the way in which meaning
is represented, including speech, sign language, and writing. In the context of
spoken language, form encompasses phonology, morphology, and syntax. Finally, use refers to the function of
language in context. Although each of these aspects of language can be
identified separately, they are inherently interconnected elements in
communication (Bloom & Lahey). Language problems may arise when there is a
disruption within anyone component of the model or in their integration. The
following sections consider the typical development of each of these aspects of
language.”
Language Development
This link shows overall language development, but there are
several references to the development of sentences:
“The next crucial milestone in the development of language
form occurs when the child discovers that rule-based combinations of words
actually express more than the meaning of any of the individual words. For
example,
by 17 months children are able to discriminate between
‘‘Cookie Monster is tickling Big Bird’’ and ‘‘Big Bird is tickling Cookie
Monster’’ (Hirsh-Pasek &
Golinkoff,1996). Comprehension of these rule-based combinations comes prior to
production using these rules. Children begin to combine words into two-word
utterances (e.g., ‘‘car go’’ and ‘‘more juice’’) between 18 and 24 months.
These early word combinations express meaningful relationships yet tend to be
missing function words (the, a), auxiliary verbs (am, is, has), and the bound
morphemes that mark plural (s), possessive (-’s), or tense (-ing,-ed). As
children learn to combine words into longer sequences, they add the function
words and bound morphemes that were absent from their first…”
Their Milestone charts show
language development of content, form, and use.
Note here the reference to syntax/sentence development across charts.
12-18 mos.
Semantic roles are expressed in one-word speech,
including agent, action, object, location, possession, rejection,
disappearance, nonexistence, denial.
Words are understood outside of routine games; still
need contextual support for lexical comprehension.
18–24 mos.
Average expressive vocabulary size: 200–300 words at 24
mos.
Prevalent relations expressed: agent–action,
agent–object, action–object, action–location, entity–location,
possessor–possession, demonstrative–entity, attribute-entity.
^Understands basic semantic roles and relations; two
word utterances and two syllable words emerge
^Utterances are telegraphic with few grammatical
markers
24–30 mos.
Understanding and use of questions about objects
(What?), people (Who?), and basic events (What is x doing? Where is x going?
^Use of no, not, don’t as negation between subject and
verb; Use of sentences with semi-auxiliaries—gonna, wanna).
30–36 mos.
Use and understand Why? questions.
36–42 mos.
Use and understand semantic relationship between
adjacent and conjoined sentences, including additive, temporal, causal,
contrastive.
^Present tense auxiliaries appear; be verbs used
inconsistently
42–48 mos.
Use and understand ‘‘when’’ and ‘‘how’’ questions.
Use conjunctions and as well as because to conjoin
sentences.
^Early emerging complex sentences types, including full
prepositional clauses, hi clauses, simple infinitives
48–60 mos.
Use conjunctions when, so, because ,and if
“… Although most grammatical structures are in place by
the age of 5, children continue to acquire more complex forms and rules of
grammar in the school setting….”
…” For
most children, the development of language proceeds without difficulty. By the age of 5, typically developing children
have mastered the building blocks of the system and are left only to refine and
integrate their skills in order to use language in an increasingly complex
range of tasks. During the course of the development of language, there is a tremendous range of what
can be considered normal.” [Use of bold print mine.]
…” Through interaction with family, peers, teachers, and
caregivers, children learn communicative competence, or how to use language
appropriately and strategically in social situations (Hymes, 1967). Because we
use language for so many purposes, many skills are involved in communicative
competence (see Becker-Bryant, 2001)…”
“Children need
to learn to ask questions, make requests, give orders, express agreement or
disagreement, apologize, refuse, joke, praise, and tell stories. They must
learn social routines (such as saying ‘‘Trick or treat’’ on
Halloween), terms of politeness, and ways to address
others. Children must also understand
how to initiate, maintain, and conclude conversations, as well as take turns,
provide and respond effectively to feedback, and stay on-topic. Crucially, they
must learn to be sensitive to their audience and to the situations in which
they are communicating. Sophistication in pragmatics continues to develop
throughout childhood and into adulthood. [bold mine]
Some additional references
for sentence form/syntax:
Some resources posted on the Brandone et. al.
link:
The public page of the website for the American
Speech-Language-Hearing Association offers resources to help all audiences
better understand communication and communication disorders. It also provides
links to early intervention references and professional referral services for
access to qualified care.
The Bamford-Lahey Children’s Foundation is a foundation
dedicated to conducting and supporting programs that will enhance the
linguistic, cognitive, social, and emotional development of children. The
Foundation’s current focus is improving the language development of children
with language difficulties.
This website provides a thorough list of references on
language disorders as well as information relevant to the goal of developing
guidelines on evidence-based practices in child language disorders
And two other google search links:
Language Development; short; commercial
Images for syntax development
Part 2 of the Sentence Series is on sentence processing.
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