Discuss ways in which Tom and his mother are using language here.

Ranveer Sohal

The following transcript is of a conversation between Tom, aged 4 years 8 months and his
mother. They are playing playing an imaginary game with Toms toy cars.
One of the most noticeable features of the conversation between mother and son is the
frequent use of child directed questions in the form of questions. The mother is seen to ask
questions several times throughout the conversation, an example of one being, is that,
um, the breakdown man? and then later, I know they have flashing lights, don't they?.
Both these questions share the same intended purpose of eliciting a response from Tom.
The frequent use of tag questions, aim to encourage the conversation to flow, whilst also
encouraging topic shift to occur.
Another noticeable feature of their language, is the simplistic language used by the
mother, another feature of child directed speech. Again, looking back at the previous quote
where the mother asks, is that, um, the breakdown man? The mother takes Toms age
into account when asking this question, referring to a mechanic as more simply, a
breakdown man. She does this in order to ensure that Tom is able to follow the
conversation fully, whilst being able to participate as he fully understands the topic at hand
and the vocabulary being used.
Along with making use of simplistic language, the mother is also seen to make a number
of voiceless pauses, slowing the conversation down. One of the many examples from the
transcript is when she says, Youll see me (1) Im wearing a pink dress. This slows the
pace of the conversation, essentially allowing Tom to keep up with the frequent topic
changes, and again, allowing him to fully understand exactly what is being spoken about.
Throughout the conversation, Tom is seen to make use of simple sentences, with very few
conjunction words noted. An example of the simplicity of Toms language is seen where he
says, yes they do this bad ones yours mmm both (2) SERIOUS. The use of
such simple language highlights Toms age and inability to string complex sentences
together at this early stage in life. According to Piagets stages of language acquisition,
Toms language and age suggest that he is currently in the pre - operational, as his
thoughts may be seen as being egocentric, and he can most certainly classify objects as
single features.
Another feature of Toms language that also ties in with the previous point, is the often
noted incorrect grammatical structure of his speech. Tom is seen to say, your radar has
broke instead of using the word broken. Although a minor mistake, this highlights Toms
inability to use speech confidently without any grammatical errors. Again, this is mainly due
to his age as he is still in the very early stages of language acquisition.
Many times during the conversation, the mother is seen to frequently ask questions in
order to elicit a response from her son. Her questions, encourage the flow of the
conversation and prompt topic shift. She is also noted to simplify her language, and slow
her speech down to ensure that Tom follows the conversation and is able to keep up and
understand what they are talking about. Tom on the other hand, is seen to also utilise
simple language, however this is not by choice but rather the stage of language
development that he is going through at the the time of the conversation. His grammatical
errors in speech reinforce the idea that his speech is still developing, and is still far from
being able to hold a conversation with minimal effort.