Language development of Gavin from Rwandan context between 16 and 24 months: phonological, morphological, lexical/semantic and syntactic aspects.

Abstract

This study with the title of “Language Development of Gavin from Rwandan context between 16 and 24 months: phonological, morphological, lexical/semantic and syntactic aspects” was conducted with the core objective of investigating language development of Gavin between 16 and 24 months. The study focused on sound structure and sequence, phonological strategies used by Gavin to pronounce new words, how words were formed, semantic aspects of the words he acquired and syntactic structure available in the utterances he produced. The data were collected using diary keeping and sound recording, and they were presented in line with research questions using figures and tables. The findings showed that, regarding sound structure, Consonant-Vowel (CV) forms were more common than clusters in nonwords and real words; and bilabials and alveolars were the most dominant consonant sounds. Vowel sounds were available in both nonwords and real words. As for sounds sequence, the sounds that are common in the babbling stage were the first to be produced moving from the easiest to the most complicated sound structures. As for phonological processes, the findings revealed syllable deletion, syllable assimilation and substitution to produce different words, especially words with clusters. Regarding lexical/semantic development, the words that were acquired fast were monosyllabic and disyllabic. Polysyllabic words were learned through segmentation, adding prefixes to the root. From a semantic aspect, prime meaning was attached to the words and later on extended based on features the referents shared. Regarding word formation, the child was able to attach prefixes to the root of the learned words and infixes to the verbs. As for syntactic structure, the findings showed that the child used one word, v two words, and more than two-word utterances to express a sentence-like idea. He was able to produce SV (subject-verb) structure, and had not reached the level of producing SVO (Subject-Verb-Object) structure yet. The findings of this research point up how a language needs time to be fully developed. In fact, studies alike serve as a guide to people in charge of language acquisition planning, hence being particularly useful to the ministry of education, teachers facilitating the teaching and parents monitoring their children’s language development.