Content, form and use model

This model was first developed by Bloom and Lahey (1978) and further described by Lahey (1988). The Content, Form and Use (C/F/U) model is primarily a language production approach based on the study of normal language development in North American children. Language is seen as involving interactions between its meaning

(content), shape (form) and function (use): the C/F/U plan is a hypothesis about the sequence in which these interactions can best be learned through intervention.

The content or semantics of language comprises topics and content. Content - the general categories that children talk about, for example animals - remains constant across cultures. Topics, however, vary across cultures and age - an urban English child may talk about hamsters whereas a rural Kenyan child may talk about chickens - so that vocabularies are different. Lahey (1988) discusses three categories of content: objects, relations between objects and relations between events. In the category of objects, there are particular objects and classes of objects. Relations between objects may reflect the relation of the object with itself (for example, existence) or with other objects (for example, attributes such as relative size) or the way that objects from different classes interrelate (for example, possession). Similarly, relations between events may reflect relations within a single event (for example, when the event occurred) or relations between events (for example, causal relations). The model is schematised in figure 9.3.

Content (Semantics)

Object Knowledge Object Relations Event Relations

Particular Classes of Reflexive Intraclass Interclass

objects objects

existence attribution action

disappearance quantity possession

etc etc etc

temporal causal

etc

Mother cats this chair big dog eat cake 'working

Tower of trees chair gone three balls my shoe before

London hats etc etc etc eating'

etc etc etc

Language Topics

Figure 9. 3: Language content and topics, adapted from Lahey (1988)

Language form is divided into three broad categories: phonology, morphology and syntax, each o f which contribute to the grammar, or underlying rule system of a language, and which represent a categorisation o f the superficial forms of (spoken) language. As in the behavioural model, phonology is divided into segmental and non- segmental, referred to here as suprasegmental, aspects. The C/F/U model elaborates the category of morphology to divide words into ‘content words’, the nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs that carry meaning, and ‘function words’, the prepositions, articles, conjunctions and pronouns that link the content words. Content words can be further classified as substantive words, or objects, and relational words, verbs and adjectives. In English, morphological inflections are bound to content words: for instance, the morpheme ‘-s’ indicates plurality, possession or habitual actions. Syntax, the arrangement of words in a sentence according to the meaning relations among them, can be described in terms of linear relations or hierarchical relations. A

linear structural relationship reflects an arrangement in which the addition of new words does not alter the meaning of the sentence. In contrast, a hierarchical structural relationship results in a superordinate meaning in comparison to the individual meanings of the separate words. For instance, when the noun ‘ball’ is combined with the noun ‘mother’ to produce ‘mother’s ball’, the superordinate meaning is possession, which is separate from the meaning o f the individual words. Syntax is dependent on both function words and morphological inflections. The aspects of language form are schematised in figure 9.4:

Syllable Intonation Verb Pronoun Progressive

Pause Adjective Preposition Plural

etc Adverb Conjunction etc

etc etc

Categories of Spoken Form

Phonology Morphology Syntax

Segmental Supra- Types o f words

segmental

Inflection Word Order

Substantive Relational

Content words

Function words

Phoneme Stress Noun Article Past Linear

Hierarchical Modifier Sentence types

etc

Figure 9. 4: Categories of spoken language form, adapted from Lahey (1988)

Language use or pragmatics can be separated into language functions and language contexts. The functions of language can be described in reference to personal and social goals. Personal goals, also called intrapersonal or mathetic functions, denote the use of language to achieve goals not involving other people, for example solving a

problem or making a comment to oneself. Social goals, also called interpersonal or pragmatic functions, refer to language use to achieve socially-mediated objectives such as obtaining information or gaining another person’s attention. The second aspect of language use describes the contexts and rules a speaker uses to decide which form of the message will best serve its function. This involves non-linguistic and linguistic contexts, the former referring to situational cues, the skills o f adapting to the needs of the listener and various conversational devices and the latter describing the relationship o f the message to what has been said before. Non-contingent messages introduce a new topic of conversation whereas contingent messages relate to prior utterances, creating a sequence on the same topic. Aspects of language use are schematised in figure 9.5.

Language Use (pragmatics)

Function Contexts

Personal Social Nonlinguistic Linguistic

Non- Contingent

contingent

Comment Request object

Problem Gain attention

solve etc etc Perceptual support dynamic static Adapt to needs of listener conversational devices turn-taking initiating terminating etc Social Imitate Question Add info. self other

Figure 9. 5: Language Use, adapted from Lahey (1988)

status relations politeness direct vs indirect requests etc