Children learn language to communicate
better or to maintain better social contact. Use is the
motivating factor (Owens, 1996).
Language is a code whereby ideas about
the world are expressed through a conventional system of arbitrary
signals for communication (Lahey, 1988) .
Language is a Code, which is a means of
representing one thing (object, event, relationship) by another
(picture, map, graph, word, sentence).
The Code is a System. It is systematic,
there are rules to combine sounds into words, words into
sentences, and sentences into conversations.
The Code is a Convention. The language code
and the way it is used is accepted and used by members of a
particular community.
Operational Model of Language
Content is the meaning of language
(semantics).
Form is the shape of language
(syntax).
Use is the function of language
(pragmatics).
Language disorder (Lahey 1988) - any
disruption in the learning or use of one's native language s
evidenced by language behaviors that are different from those
expected given a child's chronological age (Developmental
Model).
The child may develop ideas, the
conventional code, and the use of the code, but later than his
peers. The child uses the same forms to talk of the same ideas
in the same contexts and for the same purposes as the child
with normal development, but this process begins later or
proceeds at a slower rate. Such language would follow the an
expected sequence but would be delayed, either in onset or rate
of development, or in both onset and rate of development.