F A L L

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the

Lingering on Linguistics

LINGUISTICS

What is Language Acquisition?

The process by which humans acquire the
capacity to perceive and comprehend language,
as well as to produce and use words and
sentences to communicate. It is one of the
quintessential human traits!
Strategies for Acquiring Linguistic Skills
IMITATE

INTERPRET

LABELING

Imitating childrens
sounds, words and
actions shows them
that theyre being
heard.

Interpret what your

child is trying to say
to you by saying his
actions out loud, in
a sentence format.

Refer to objects
with their proper
names often, and
repetitively.

THE LOREM IPSUMS

FALL 2016

BJ NOVAK: THE BOOK WITH NO PICTURES

Actor, author, and stand-up comedian BJ Novak has
created a childrens book, as its title suggests, without
any pictures. How does this grab hold of a childs
interest? It contains only words of different fonts,
colors and sizes. Many of the words contained are
ridiculous in nature, in which children will be able to
get quite a laugh out of a grown-up having to say
these utterly ridiculous words over and over in their
presence. Highly recommended!

STORYTELLING AS AN ART
One of the best possible ways to teach the past tense is through the art of storytelling.
Through storytelling, one is able to include personal experiences, historical fact, and even feats
of fanciful fantasies, all in the same story. There is no better way to capture a childs attention
than by capturing their IMAGINATION.

ICONICITY AND SIGN LANGUAGE

For spoken and written language, the arbitrary relationship between a words form and its
meaning is a particularly challenging feature of language acquisition. Sign language often
include signs that represent aspects of a words meaning in one form or another. The common
belief is that sign language would be more difficult to teach children who can hear just fine, yet
the opposite is normally true. Teaching the signs of what words mean to children is an
informative and delightful way in helping them understand what a word truly MEANS. For
instance, in sign language, the sign for EAT is bringing your hand to your mouth just as you
would if you were bringing food in for consumption. Many people practice sign language with
their children and my not even realize it. There can possibly be no better tool in helping your
child understand language and its many mechanisms.

REFERENCES
Cherry, K. (2014). An overview of early childhood
development. Retrieved from
http://psychology.about.com/od/developmentalpsycholo
gy/ss/early-childhood- development_4.htm
Cortese, R. (2013). Helping toddlers expand their language
skills. Retrieved from
http://www.childmind.org/en/posts/articles/2013-8-20helping-toddlers-talk-expand-language-skills
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