Complexity of Speech in Televisual Media and its influence on Language

Acquisition
Joshua Subramaniam
Learning in the Early Years Summative Assessment
Study: 18th - 27th February 2011, Report: 8th April 2011

This study analyses 3 television shows (In the Night Garden, Balamory & The One Show) with regard to
their complexity of speech. This was measured using the mean length of utterance in morphemes, the number of
modifiers per utterance, the word rate and the percentage of utterances with conjunctions. The study shows a clear
trend of increasing complexity with target age group, as well as highlighting some other linguistic features
present. The paper discusses the implications of television on language acquisition in young children and
comments on the findings with respect to this. It is concluded that programs are likely to be most beneficial if
educational and at an appropriate level for the target audience, of which linguistics is a component. The children‟s
shows are shown to be pitched at a significantly lower level linguistically and include elements shown by
previous research to aid language acquisition. Further research is proposed to further determine the correct level
and how this influences language acquisition.

1. Introduction & Theory
This study examines television programming
content with regard to its suitability as a vehicle for
the development and acquisition of first language.
The process of language acquisition is often
grouped into 3 main categories corresponding to 3
approaches in the understanding of development;
behavioristic, nativistic and cognitive theories
(Wanat, 1971). These approaches impart varying
degrees of significance to factors impacting on
language acquisition, including; inheritance,
imitation, reinforcement and experience (Butler,
1973). Most relevant to this study are the roles of
imitation and reinforcement. Imitation consists of
using adult‟s speech as a source for the acquisition
of language through accommodation and
assimilation, and developing the application of this
knowledge as speech. Repetition is also associated
with the imitation of speech (Corrigan, 1980).
Children have been shown to acquire single word
utterances upon hearing them repeated by an adult.
Reinforcement‟s importance in the acquisition of
language is debated (Whitehurst & Valdez-
Menchaca, 1988), with studies showing that
differential reinforcement has no impact on the
speed at which language is acquired (Brown &
Hanlon, 1970). Whitehurst et al. argue, however,
that this is specific evidence, over-generalised to
the whole of language development. Hart &
Risley‟s (1995) and Sundberg et al.‟s (1996)
research suggests the interaction between caregiver
and child, particularly the process of positive
reinforcement has a fundamental influence on the
acquisition of first language.
There a various methods for determining the level
of children‟s speech. These measures generally
show an increase in complexity as a child‟s
language develops, and these same measures can be
used to assess the level of speech in a television
programme. This study uses the mean length of
utterance in morphemes (MLUm) (Brown, 1973),
the word rate, the number of modifiers per
utterance (MpU) and the percentage of utterances
with conjunctions, to compare three selected
programmes (further details in section 2).
It is hypothesised that in Adult to Adult (A-A)
speech, utterances will be more complex and
delivered at a faster rate than Adult to Child (A-C)
speech. It is also anticipated that A-C speech will
increase in complexity and rate as the age of the
target audience increases.
It is further hypothesised that A-C programming
will contain utterances designed to imitate
interaction with the audience, and utterances said as
if directly to the viewer in contrast with A-A
programming. Another expectation is that semantic
and phonetic repetition will occur frequently in A-
C speech.
2. Experimental
Three programmes were selected for analysis; „In
the Night Garden…‟ (ITNG), „Balamory‟ and „The
One Show‟ (see Appendix A). Recordings of the
programs were converted to formats playable by
Windows Media Player, allowing complete control
of playback (seeking, pausing etc.). Then identical
processes outlined below were carried out on each
of the three programs to determine values for the 4
measures.
To determine the word rate, 5 seconds of the
programme was played and the number of words
recorded by tally. In the event of high word rates
(>15 words per 5s), or uncertainty, the 5 seconds
was replayed to confirm the count. This was
repeated for the duration of each program. Words
in music/song were counted if they were original to
the broadcast and, in ITNG, names were counted
Page 2 Joshua Subramaniam

when used by the narrator, but the repetition of the Table 2. Summary of findings (STDEV = Standard
names by characters in non-sentence format was Deviation)
omitted. See Appendix B for error calculations. Modifiers % Utterances
MpU
These counts were used to create a graph showing per with
STDEV
the variation in word count over time, including a Utterance Conjunctions
12 point centered moving average, showing the ITNG 0.20 0.46 9.5%
word rate for that minute (Fig. 3). The average
word rate for the entire show was also determined Balamory 0.88 1.02 14.0%
by dividing the total word count by the length of
the show. One Show 1.96 2.27 31.3%

In order to obtain the MLUm, percentage of Mean Length of Utterance (Morphemes)

utterances with conjunctions and the MpU, 50 0 5 10 15 20
utterances were transcribed randomly from
throughout each program. (except ITNG, only
containing 43 utterances in its entirety). Utterance In The Night Garden 6.78
boundaries were determined by pauses of greater
than 1 second accompanied by human
interpretation of prosodic and syntactic indicators Balamory 9.30
(Atterer et al. 2008, Crystal, 1974) or a change of
speaker in dialogue. Lengths of utterances were
determined using Brown‟s rules (Brown, 1973). The One Show 18.00
Conjunctions and modifiers in each utterance were
counted and the mean, over all utterances for each Fig. 1. Mean length of utterance in morphemes for each
program. was calculated. of the three television shows, showing a clear trend of
increase as age of target audience increases.
3. Results
Figure 2 shows similar trends for the MpU with
The One Show again containing far more complex
The results show a significant distinction between utterances than either ITNG or Balamory. However,
A-A speech and A-C speech, as well as a there is a greater contrast between the latter than
distinction between the A-C speech in the two with MLUm. Conjunctions are also shown to be far
shows designed for young children. Differences more prevalent in A-A speech than A-C (Fig. 4).
were found across all variables investigated, as well Whereas approximately a 1/3 of A-A utterances in
as some significant differences in style. The target The One Show contained a conjunction, only 1/7
age groups for the children‟s programs are listed as and 1/10 contained conjunctions in Balamory and
“under 4‟s” for ITNG and “3-5 years” for Balamory ITNG respectively.
by the BBC.
No. of Modifiers Per Utterance
(i) Quantitative Analysis 0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0

Summaries of calculated averages are shown in In The Night

Tables 1 and 2. The results clearly demonstrate The 0.20
Garden
One Show‟s utterances to contain far more
morphemes, having, on average, 1.94 and 2.7 times
as many morphemes per utterance as Balamory and Balamory 0.88
ITNG respectively (Fig. 1).

Table 1. Summary of findings, (STDEV = Standard The One Show 1.96

Deviation)
Words MLUm Fig 2. Number of modifiers per utterance for each
Error MLUm programme, as with MLU, there is almost 10 times the
per min STDEV
number in the A-A speech in comparison with the
ITNG 16.0 ±0.1 6.78 3.92 speech in ITNG, the show created for under 4‟s.

Balamory 116.0 ±0.4 9.30 6.44 The word rate shows a slightly different trend to
the others, although there is, similarly, an increase
One Show 166.6 ±0.5 18.00 14.27
in rate corresponding to the age of target audience.
Page 3 Joshua Subramaniam

Count [Words / 5 seconds]

Fig. 3. Word rate for The One Show (red, top), Balamory (green, centre) and In the Night Garden (blue, bottom). The
most solid line represents the 12 point moving average (1 min) of the word rate. The feint lines show the actual word
counts for each 5 second interval in the show, and the horizontal lines show the average word count for the show. There
is a clear upward trend in word speed with an increase in target audience age. (Colour version available online)

Unlike the measures examining each utterance, (i) Qualitative Analysis

there is greater similarity between Balamory and
The One Show, and a significant contrast with
ITNG. For 78% of the 5 second intervals in ITNG
no words are spoken, this compares to 3.7% in The
One Show and 7.4% in Balamory. Figure 3 further
demonstrates the contrast between ITNG and the
other programmes.
Utterances with Conjunctions
0% 10%
In The Night
9.5%
Garden
Balamory
The One Show
Fig. 4. The percentage of utterances containing a
conjunction, as with figures 1 and 2, the trend shows The
One Show having a significantly greater measure of
complexity than either of the children‟s shows. Again,
ITNG, designed for younger children, has a lower
percentage.
An attempt to engage with the audience was
frequent in Balamory. A prime example: “[Main
character looks to camera] – Whats your name?
[Character pauses] Ah of course!”. Although this
direct „interaction‟ occurred only a few times,
much of the speech appears directed towards the
viewer and the characters look straight at the
camera. The connection with the audience in ITNG
20% 30% 40% is more subtle. The narrator takes the place of
observing with the viewer, but can also interact
with the characters. A typical example is when the
narrator asks “Can we [the viewer and me,] go with
you?” to the characters on screen. The magazine
programme, The One Show also contained
14.0% imitated-interaction with the audience primarily at
the beginning and end of the show, e.g. “have a
fantastic weekend, see you Monday”. Throughout
31.3%
the pre-recorded features of the show (e.g. history
of food segment) the presenter is also talking into
the camera as if to the viewer. This does not fit the
hypothesis, as it seems there are as many
interaction imitating utterances in adult to adult
programming as there are in adult to child
programming.
Semantic repetition was evident in both children‟s
programs, with both including a recap of the story
Page 4
towards the end of the show. This was not present
in The One Show, and it was generally the case that
topics were not returned to once they had been
discussed.
Phonetic repetition appeared to be a focus of ITNG,
with many utterances containing similar or
identical sentence structure and/or contents. For
example, at the end of the show the narrator
instructs “… Go to sleep pontypines… Go to sleep
macca pacca… Go to sleep…[repeats 6 times in
total]“. Phonetic repetition is apparent in
Balamory, and generally occurs in the frequent
songs sung by the characters. The phrase “What’s
the story in Balamory” (and other adaptations of
the same phrase) is spoken/sung many times
throughout the show. There was little phonetic
repetition apparent in The One Show.
4. Discussion
This research was carried out to analyse the content
of child and adult television programmes, and to
determine the correlation, if any, between target
age group and the linguistic aspects of the show.
The hypotheses were, in general, confirmed by the
results, with the exception being the presence of
imitated interaction in adult programming. It was
expected that, as children‟s speech grows in
complexity, the chosen measures would also
indicate more complex speech for programmes
designed for older audiences. This was confirmed
by the data for all four measures. The variables
showed similar increases with target audience in
MLUm, MpU and percentage of utterances with
conjunctions. This consistency, to an extent,
demonstrates a reliability of our chosen variables as
a measure of speech complexity.
Butler (1973) describes imitation to be a key
process in the acquisition of language in young
children. In order for this to be successful, input
from their environment (more specifically here,
Television) must be both comprehendible and
replicable for the child to achieve repetition.
Findings of this study show that attempts have been
made by producers of ITNG and Balamory to
provide linguistic content appropriate for the age
group, an important factor in determining the
educational value of television (Close, 2004). The
successes of these attempts are beyond the scope of
this research, but future investigation into
children‟s response to speech of varied complexity
is required for a more developed understanding.
The work of Corrigan (1980) demonstrates the
relation between repetition and imitation. Leading
Joshua Subramaniam
from this, it was hypothesised repetition would be
present in both children‟s shows. This hypothesis
was confirmed, although- as with all results
obtained this way- it is not possible to determine if
this is intentional on behalf of the show producers.
Therefore, we cannot say whether children‟s
television programs contain this in general, or even
if it is a feature in well produced television shows.
In that way, this research is limited, with only 3
television shows analysed, and only one episode of
each, it is impossible to make any generalisations.
Alongside this, the target age groups of the shows
overlap in the children‟s shows and there is a large
gap in target age group between the children‟s
shows and the adult‟s. Future research should aim
to establish a clearer relationship through a larger
sample with more distinct age categories.
It was also hypothesised, based on research such as
Hart & Risley (1995) and Sundberg et al. (1996),
that imitated interaction would be present in the
children‟s programs and not in the adults‟, as this
would make some attempt to replace the
reinforcement process present in A-C interaction.
Although imitated interaction was present in the
children‟s shows, it was also present in the adult
show. This may be to simply engage with the
viewer and hold their attention, and further research
would be required to clarify the intended purpose,
and incidental effect, of speech in this form.
Despite children under 2 watching 1.3 hours of
television a day (Rideout, Vandewater & Wartella,
2003), it is still undetermined whether television is
beneficial or obstructing to children‟s development.
The findings of Close (2004) indicate that
television may be beneficial to language
development under certain conditions for children
over the age of two. Of particular note is the
emphasis on suitable, age-appropriate programmes.
Both the American Academy of Paediatrics and the
Australian Government recommend that children
under the age of two do not watch television
(Zimmerman & Christakis, 2005), however, the
children‟s television programme, ITNG claims
“valuable child developmental benefits” can be
gained from watching (BBC Worldwide, 2007).
This does not specify, however, any benefits to the
development of language in particular.
The results of this study reveal the linguistic
aspects of children‟s TV shows to be significantly
different to those of an Adult‟s. Television‟s role in
the acquisition of language is controversial;
however, it is clear that with the prevalence of
televisions throughout the western world, children
will receive more benefit from educational
Page 5 Joshua Subramaniam

programming. The research of Close (2004)

emphasises the value of age-appropriate
programming, and our findings confirm the speech
contained within two of the BBC‟s shows is less
complex than a show aimed at an Adult audience.
Further research is required to determine if this
speech level is appropriate and the implications this
has on language acquisition.

References

Atterer, M., Baumann, T. & Schlangen, D. (2008):

Towards Incremental End-of-Utterance Detection in
Dialogue Systems In Proceedings of Coling,
Manchester, UK.
BBC Worldwide Ltd (2007):
“http://www.inthenightgarden.co.uk/en/about-
development.asp” – Retrieved March 2011
Brown, R. (1973): A first language: the early stages
Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, pg. xi
+ 437
Brown, R. & Hanlon, C. (1970). Derivational
complexity and order of acquisition in child speech.
In J. R. Hayes (Ed.), Cognition and the development
of language. New York: Wiley, pg. 155-207
Butler, L. (1973): Language Acquisition of Young
Children: Major Theories and Sequences. Presented
at Nat. Council of Teachers of English, Philadelphia
Close, R. (2004): Television and Language
Development in the Early Years: a review of the
literature. National Literacy Trust
Corrigan, R. (1980): Use of repetition to facilitate
spontaneous language acquisition. Journal of
Psycholinguistic Research, Springer Netherlands, 3,
9, pg. 231-241.
Crystal, D. (1974): Review: “Brown, R. (1973): A first
language: the early stages” Journal of Child
Language, 1, pp 289-307
Hart B., & Risley T. R. (1995): Meaningful differences.
Baltimore: Paul H. Brooks.
Rideout V., Vandewater E. & Wartella E. (2003): Zero
to Six: Electronic Media in the Lives of Infants,
Toddlers, and Preschoolers. Menlo Park, Calif:
Kaiser Family Foundation;
Sundberg, M., Michael, J., Partingdon, J. & Sundberg,
C. (1996): The Role of Automatic Reinforcement in
Early Language Acquisition, The Analysis of Verbal
Behavior, 13, pg. 21-37
Wanat, S. (1971): Language Acquisition: Basic Issues.
The Reading Teacher, 25, pg. 142-147
Whitehurst, J. & Valdez-Menchaca, M. (1988): What Is
the Role of Reinforcement in Early Language
Acquisition? Child Development, 59, pg. 430-440
Zimmerman, F. & Christakis, D. (2005): Children‟s
Television Viewing and Cognitive Outcomes. Arch
Pediatr Adolesc. Med, 159, pg. 619-625
Appendix A – Programme Details

(Descriptions from BBC Website)

1. In the Night Garden…

Episode: S1 E38 – “Following”

First UK Broadcast: 17 October 2007
Duration: 28mins Approx.
Producers: BBC
Format: DVD converted to MPEG Video

Description: The Tombliboos are playing inside their house, but Tombliboo Eee can't decide what to do. She doesn't
want to play with the bricks or drums with her brothers. She wants to play the piano. Age: Under 4’s

2. Balamory

Episode: S3 E13 – “Horsepower”

First UK Broadcast: 22 Mar 2007
Duration: 20mins Approx.
Producers: BBC
Format: DVD converted to AVI

Description: Live action series for preschool children based around the small island community of Balamory in
Scotland. Miss Hoolie and her visitors are looking forward to a tour of Balamory on Edie's bus, but there is a clunk and
a click that even Archie can't fix. Age: 3-5

2. The One Show

Episode: 25/02/2011
First UK Broadcast: 25 Feb 2011
Duration: 30mins Approx.
Producers: BBC
Format: TV Rip converted to AVI

Description: Chris Evans and Alex Jones are joined by one half of The Mighty Boosh, Noel Fielding. Gyles Brandreth
looks at the effect Mary Whitehouse has had on our TV screens, we celebrate 40 years of Freddie Mercury and the
music of Queen, and food critic Jay Rayner explains the virtues of the after-hours favourite, the doner kebab.
Age: Adult Broadcast

Appendix B – Error Calculations

For the word count the estimated human counting error was 1 count in 20 (5%).
This error for each 5 second interval was added in quadrature (root of all errors squared and added) to determine the
error in the final word count. (The error in the duration of the programme was negligible).