Analysis.
At the
beginning of the transcript, the child shows evidence for the ‘Behaviourism’
theory. For example, her Mum says ‘you’re gonna show me what’, and Leah
reformulates her words by saying ‘gonna show you what we what’s over here’. By
saying the words ‘gonna show you what’ it shows that the child needed to repeat
her Mum’s words in order to aid her into starting a statement. This could
suggest that because Leah is only in the early stages of language, she has not
yet learnt how to start off a conversation but has learnt how to take part in
the adjacency pairs with her Mum.
Another
element of grammar that Leah shows in the transcript is the use of her
demonstratives. For example, she says ‘look at this’. By using the word ‘this’
it is an example of a demonstrative, suggesting that she wants her Mum to look
at what she has in her hand. Her non-verbal communication of pointing to the
mirror shows that she has used this demonstrative in the right way. Leah also
uses personal possessive pronouns well. For example, ‘your special mirror’.
The context of this interaction shows that
Leah is speaking to her Mum so Leah knows exactly whose mirror it is. By using
‘your’ it shows that although Leah is only 2 years old, she may be already on
the post-telegraphic stage of her language. This theory suggests that children
in the telegraphic stage struggle to use pronouns, however, Leah shows evidence
that she uses them comfortably.
Also, Leah
uses determiners. An example would be ‘a mirror’ and ‘a wall’ and ‘a glass
slipper’. By using the indefinite article of ‘a’ it shows that Leah is passed
the stage of a one-word utterance where she would address the mirror as just
‘mirror’. Also, by saying the ‘it is your mirror’ rather than just ‘your
mirror’ could be evidence that Leah is into the telegraphic leading into the
post-telegraphic stage as she knows how to use grammar correctly.
Another
element that Leah uses well is negatives. For example, ‘can’t get it til it’s
mother’s day’ shows that she has used the negative auxiliary verb ‘can’t’. This
shows that Leah has used a complex utterance involving a correct use of a
negative. The telegraphic stage theory suggests that younger children have
difficulty in understanding negatives and use ‘no’ in utterances instead. However,
Leah shows evidence that she is already at stage 3 of negatives and confidently
uses negatives which are attached to auxiliary verbs.
During the
transcript Leah uses conjugated lexis. For example ‘it’s’. This could be an
example of Chomsky’s theory that language it innate because it is unlikely that
Leah has been taught to conjugate prepositions.
