Language Disorders

Semantics

• The study of meaning
• Includes the study of vocabulary (lexicon).

Lexicon

• Lexical entries are organized in the mental dictionary according to well-defined rules
• Allows the young child to acquire a peak average of 10 new words per day.
• By 24 months the average child knows 50 words.

Lexicon Growth

• The subsequent exponential growth makes it difficult to determine vocabulary size with exactitude.

Environmental factors predicting large vocabularies

• Reading and discussing children's stories
• The quality of dinner table conversations
• Large mother-produced number of words
• Higher socioeconomic status (SES)
• Being the firstborn ( Hoff-Ginsberg, 1998 )
• Quantity and sophistication of mother's vocabulary ( Snow, 1998 ).

Pragmatics

• A number of sub-domains reflecting communicative competence.

Sub domains of Pragmatics

• Rules of conversation (turn-taking, topic maintenance, conversational repair)
• Politeness
• Narrative and extended discourse
• The implementation of communicative intents

Pragmatic disorders

• Little variety in language use
• May say inappropriate or unrelated things during conversations
• May tell stories in a disorganized way
• Can often make demands, ask questions, and greet people
• Has trouble organizing language to talk about what happened in the past.

Pragmatic disorders

• Appear to pull topics out of the air
• May not use statements that signal a change in topic, such as "That reminds me."
• Peers may avoid having conversations with such a child.
• Can lower social acceptance.

Language Developmental Trajectory

• Canonical Babbling

• Word comprehension

• Word production

• Word combinations

• Telegraphic speech

• By age 3, most normal children have mastered the basic structures of their native language