Sociology

a) As the title of the essay suggests, Jerome S. Bruner focuses on the linguistic developments of the child. He begins with the factors that contribute in the communication and speech acquisition of children and how with advancement of age, a child starts talking rather than just communicating with gestures, facial expressions etc.

Since the writer deals with language development of infant he speaks about and use examples of cases that relate to small babies who are somewhere between a couple of weeks to one and a half year old. The theoretical framework of the essay is such that it weaves many related findings of experts and psycholinguists who have closely studied language development in the nascent stages of the children. The idea of initial cognitive endowment is dealt with elaborate examples of how a child learns to react and communicate its feelings by a small group of people who are most likely to be the ones who will have a great impact into a childs life even when he grows up. This group of course comprises of the childs parents, siblings, grandparents and sometimes neighbors.

While elaborating on the process of language development, the writer throws light upon the fact that children learn things not only due to the efforts of the elders around them rather their own innate ability to be excellent listeners. Since the mind of the children is extraordinarily sharp and can grasp and retain almost everything that is taking place around them, they start relate to words and recognize them in an increased speed. The writer supports the fact that the more a child is exposed to words the better will be his vocabulary. Hence it is the responsibility of the adults to shower children with as many new words and sounds as possible in the early stages of their lives.

b) I would like to discuss about the case of a young mother who is one of my close relatives. She was very excited at the time of the birth of her only child and fondly remembers all the activities of the child since day 1. She has discussed with me many times that her child was very active since the time he was born. Before the childs birth my cousin had not been in a childs company since a long time. So she was expecting her baby to lie down quietly and come with close eyes when the nurse brings it to her for the first time. But to her excitement the eyes of the child were wide open and it was looking at my cousin in such a way that it is difficult for her to forget even when the child is 8 yrs of age now. As soon as the nurse laid the child beside her, the child started tilting its head towards the breasts of the mother. According to my cousin this was the first instance of communication between her and her child which at once strengthened the bond between the two. In just a few weeks, the child was able to recognize its mother from a group of people and within a month it could recognize even the mothers touch. Needless to say its body language and facial expressions were highly evident to understand that it knows when the mother is holding it and when someone else is holding it.

In a couple of months the mothers smile was the most prized possession of the child and the childs smile was the most prized possession for the mother. If a mother didnt smile at a child when he had achieved something like keeping a toy in place or finishing all the milk, the child seemed to be irritated. On the other hand, if the mother smiled back the child seemed to be elated. I t has been rightly pointed by Bruner While the childs attachment to the mother (or caretaker) is initially assured by a variety of innate response patterns, there very quickly develops a reciprocity that the infant comes to anticipate and counts on. (p.121) Hence in my case the person whom I know confirms the reading. This helped me to understand the person not as a human being or a cousin but from the point of view of a mother for whom her child matters more than anyone else and for whom the memories of even the small gestures and transitioning of the child from its communication to talking phase is as fresh as a dew drop.

c) This reading provides immense positive contribution in understanding the area of child development. It explains the transition from prelinguistic communication to the linguistic phase of a child in a very detailed manner. Since the writer cites innumerable examples of experts to make the readers understand this journey, the authenticity of the presented information becomes stronger. The essay suggests that before the child enters the world of language, it should have the working knowledge of the world itself.  This is a great observation and an excellent piece of information that would help the new mothers and care takers. It will help them in understanding that vocabulary will increase automatically if a child experiences a lot of new feelings or is exposed to a lot of things, places, animals and people. The more a child is exposed to the world around him the better will be its communication and language grasping capabilities. Thus, The child must master the conceptual structure of the world that language will map  the social world as well as the physical. (p.125)

Other positive contributions that the reading points out are that rather than grammar or semantics, language acquisition involves learning speech acts. Adults play a very important role in the childs language development as the children imitate the adults completely. This means that the adult is responsible for not only the good words but also the bad words that a child is picking up. Also, development of language is supported by scripts and routine events.

d) The writers claims seem absolutely believable while he talks about the role of cognitive, social and biological factors that contribute in the communication status of children. This essay is extremely beneficial to young parents and caretakers in order to learn the art of how to communicate visually with children.

There is enough evidence provided by the writer that children are excellent at coordinating their gestures, facial expressions and body language with those of the person who is closest to him. Children are indeed very smart observers. Communication is a basic necessity of every human being and a child is conditioned to demand this basic necessity from a tender age. Too much of silence irritates a new born child when he is awake and he starts giving signals of this irritation by crying.

The moment it feels the human touch or hears a voice it stops crying. This way it gives signals about its feelings to the adults around him. These are the theoretical claims that have been beautifully delved by the writer and that adds immense weight to the practical experience of upbringing. The theoretical claims are interrelated to the biological claims of the writer. He gives description of certain biological factors like smell, the facial characteristics and eyes of the mother that plays an integral role in mother child bonding. This bonding is the pillar stone of future complex communication patterns that starts from talking with a limited vocabulary and graduates to talking in a full fledged manner.

The methodological account of how encouraging the child by displaying encouraging gestures and gradually using phrasal substitutes of the common gestures that child has well understood helps in understanding the learning process of the child. From baby talking to fine tuning elements like action and speech are all minute but highly important issues that make the essay informative and interesting.