Social Aspects of Language Acquisition

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Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2006 in the subject American Studies - Linguistics, grade: 1.3, University of Duisburg-Essen, language: English, abstract: There are many ways of talking to children and preverbal infants and also a greatvariety of opinions about how important the childs environment is or if it plays arole at all. The question is not only how and why children understandgrammatical forms and language (Ochs& Schieffelin 1995: 73), but also whichrole other aspects, such as Parentese and Baby Talk, play. Are they necessary ortotally unimportant? Should parents talk to their children at all or is it senselessbecause they do not understand what the parents say to them? Some people are ofthe opinion that Parentese only plays a minimal role (Garnica 1977: 63)whereas other people think that the verbal environment is important. In how far isthe acquisition of language the result of a process of interaction between motherand child (Snow 1977: 31)? By explaining some aspects of talk to children, suchas Parentese, Baby Talk, expansion, correction, imitation and by giving examplesof children being socialized through language, the question about which role theseaspects really play in first language acquisition should be answered.

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