Concepts of Language Development
Language is the most effective tool of communication. Language is used to provide one’s needs and wants, to establish relationships with others, to redirect the behavior of the individual and the environment, to provide the existence and properties of the individual, to get to know the world outside, to get information and learn, to inform and explain the ideas of others, to imagine, to create assumptions and to create situations for the future (Yildiz Bicakci and Aral, 2009; Cameron, 2001; Doherty and Hughes, 2009; Mcdevitt and Ormrod, 2010).
Language development is an area that is closely related to both verbal and non-verbal communication (Senemoglu, 2013). Verbal communication involves talking, writing and reading activities and non-verbal communication involves movements such as, gestures, body movements, eye contact or gliding (Knapp and Hall, 2007; Hargie and Dickenson, 2004).
Language is used in three ways as gestures, receptive and productive language. Gestures begin when a child is about 8-9 months old, convey language through facial expression or body movements. For example, a baby who wants its favorite toy extends its arms, opens and closes its hands and somehow wails. Receptive language is the way the child comprehends the language in its environment. Before children start speaking, they indicate that they understand the words that are uttered to them by receptive language in the ninth or tenth month (Bredekamp, 2015). Productive language transforms language into a verbal form during the ninth to thirteenth month (Bee and Boyd, 2009; Pignot Shahov, 2012). Productive language is related to communication, speaking, phoneme, morpheme and mapping.
Communication is to express feelings, thoughts and lives verbally or non-verbally. Speaking is a way of to form acoustic signals bridging sounds and speech organs such as, lips, tongue or palate. Speaking is a motor movement which is a way to convey feelings and thoughts. This transfer enables the child to socialize, gain communication skills, recognize the world, and expand cognitive skills such as problem solving, thinking or binding (Gass and Selinker, 2008).
Language is used to supply needs and wants, to have communication with others, to shape one’s own or the immediate environment behaviors, to help put forward one’s own existence and personality, to recognize the outside world, to get or transmit information, to imagine, to make assumptions, and to create future plans (Bee and Boyd, 2009).
The system of meaning sounds in a language is called phonology and phonemes are the smallest units of sound which can deliver a change in meaning (Doherty and Hughes, 2009). In the word ‘tin’, /t/ which is the first sound, is a phoneme. When phonemes are connected in a meaningful way. ‘morpheme’ is formed. A morpheme is the smallest grammatical unit in a language. For example; when ‘T’ ‘I’ and ‘N’ phonemes are connected, the morpheme ‘tin’ is formed. Babies can produce morphemes by putting sounds together (Demirci, 2011).
In language development a morpheme is considered as the one-word stage and during this period children try to say something by using only one word (Bee and Boyd, 2009). For example, if a - one and a half year old- child points to a teddy bear and says ‘bear’, this may mean ‘Mummy, look at that teddy bear’ or ‘Mummy, bring my teddy bear to me, I want to play with it’ or so many other things.
Egocentric speech is another important concept as it is a way of speaking of a child that reflects his own point of view. Language development is closely related to brain development and an apparent acquisition is expected when children are at about 3 years old. This is the period when sentences are perceived as a whole, not piece by piece. By 4 years the child uses the language in himself and starts speaking in an egocentric style (Vygotsky, 1978; Demir, 2010).
The theorists Piaget and Vygotsky who deal with cognitive and language development have different views on egocentric speech. Piaget divides the speeches of children into two in the light of his observations and data gathered through experimental studies. The first one is egocentric speech in which the child soliloquise. It is just like a monologue, without any aim of communication. There is no worry about expecting an answer or to be listened to. According to Vygotsky’s findings 45% of the children tend to do it by nature. The second one is socialized speaking. In this type, the child needs to have a conversation, in other words he gets angry, demands something or gets information (Erdener, 2009, Vygotsky, 1978).
Telegram speech is known as the ‘two words’ period in language development. It is usually known as a speech style which is a combination of conjunctions and suffixes (Aral, 2011; Bee and Boyd, 2009). When a child says ‘Water, mum’ it means that he wants a glass of water.
While children acquire the mother tongue it is inevitable for them to make errors in early word use. In the first years children demonstrate general knowledge and understanding of basic patterns in their native language. Although children have a remarkable ability of acquiring and comprehending language in early years, they make errors and mistakes while enhancing their knowledge and understanding of language. Overgeneralization, overextension, and under extension are three main errors that children make in early word use (Fernandez and Smith Cairns, 2011).