Child's Talk: Learning to Use Language

TLDR

Bruner examined language learning in natural home settings, showing that children acquire language through everyday, play‑based, scriptlike interactions with caregivers and that simple games such as peek‑aboo reveal key aspects of acquisition. He proposes a Language Acquisition Support System that frames adult‑child interactions to move children from object reference to making requests. Bruner contends that this system teaches children not only how to speak but also what is canonical, obligatory, and valued in their linguistic community.

Abstract

To carry out his investigations, Bruner went to clutter of life at home, the child's own setting for learning, rather than observing children in a contrived video laboratory. For Bruner, language is learned by using An central to its use are he calls formats, scriptlike interactions between mother and child in short, play and games. What goes on in games as rudimentary as peekaboo or hide-and-seek can tell us much about language acquisition.But aids the aspirant speaker in his attempt to use language? To answer this, the author postulates the existence of a Language Acquisition Support System that frames the interactions between adult and child in such a way as to allow the child to proceed from learning to refer to objects to learning to make a request of another human being. And, according to Bruner, the Language Acquisition Support System not only helps the child learn how to say but also helps him to learn what is canonical, obligatory, and valued among those to whom he says it. In short, it is a vehicle for the transmission of our culture.