English Experts

[Henry Cunha]

I have a grandchild (Jasmin) who's just turned two last March, and she's now talking up a storm. She's figured out that all things have names, so when she comes over she starts pointing to things she can't yet name and asks "What's that?". So lately when she walks in, she'll take my hand and walk me around the house, pointing to whatever:

She: What's that?
Me: A painting.
She: A painting? A painting. And what's that?
Me: The ceiling.
She: The ceiling? The ceiling. What's that?
Me: A doorknob.
She: A doorknob? A doorknob. What`s this?
Me: The rug on the floor.
She: The rug on the floor.

The routine lasts a few minutes. She just seems able to absorb whatever words come her way, but at the same time doesn't seem to worry if some of them are gone. It's like a sponge; it just drips when it's soaked. It all seems so effortless. It feels like she's just manipulating language like a toy, an object of interest, a curiosity, not something necessarily instrumental, to be put to some good use right away. Maybe we can learn something from child language acquisition methods (or lack of method).

There is a great site that goes through the ages and stages of language learning, like this for 24-month olds:

Can name a number of objects common to his surroundings
Is able to use at least two prepositions, usually chosen from the following: in, on, under
Combines words into a short sentence-largely noun-verb combinations (mean) length of sentences is given as 1.2 words
Approximately 2/3 of what child says should be intelligible
Vocabulary of approximately 150-300 words
Rhythm and fluency often poor
Volume and pitch of voice not yet well-controlled
Can use two pronouns correctly: I, me, you, although me and I are often confused
My and mine are beginning to emerge
Responds to such commands as "show me your eyes (nose, mouth, hair)"

See http://www.childdevelopmentinfo.com/dev ... ment.shtml

[Flavia.lm]

Interesting.

Seria interessante se algum dia alguém conduzisse um estudo/comparativo dessas habilidades de uma criança de dois anos, nativa, e um estudante brasileiro - a gente ainda confunde I, my, me and mine depois de muuuuitos anos de estudo, rs.

E também fiquei imaginando como seria o encontro de duas pequenas crianças nessa fase de aquisição de vocabulário, só que uma canadensesinha e uma brasileirinha.