Child Language Acquisition

Looking at the transcript between Sophie at the age of 2 years and 4 months, and the transcript where she is at 3 years and 5 months, it is clear that the first transcript of her at a younger age is at the telegraphic stage. This is evident by the use of incorrect possessive pronouns that she uses, "me want that", as well as the use of contextual language, missing out the language that joins the sentence together. There is also a use of accommodation as well as colloquial slang, "bissy", which could cause some confusion if you are not aware of the context. Similarly to this, Sophie seems to be in the two word stage, "read that", meaning that actions or context is also needed. This links with theorist Basil Bernstein's view on language, that children acquire the restricted code, meaning that they use the basic language that further means that you need to be aware of the context to fully understand what they are talking about, whereas elaborated code possibly develops later on, where the listener does not need to know the context of the subject that is being spoken about, as the use of full sentences gives the full meaning.

However looking at the transcript where Sophie is a year and 1 month older, there are some clear developments and changes, moving her into the post-telegraphic stage, such as the use of inversions, "is it dark outside". This proposes a question and she understands the use of the term. She proves that she is confident with the use of inversions again, "can I borrow your corder", with the additional use of an auxiliary in "can", and colloquial language/slang, "corder", that is not entirely clear about the context still, but the reader can still assume that perhaps she meant a recorder, however will never be entirely sure. There are uses of concrete nouns, "piano", "shoes", as well as abstract nouns, "colour", "ring up", "tomorrow", which is clear that she understands the concepts of concrete and abstract nouns, unlike the telegraphic stage where children tend to get confused with concrete and abstract nouns.