How Child Language Acquisition is used in children's programmes.

Tyler Vallance

Children's television shows have changed greatly over a very short space of time, but the content within aimed at children hasn't. Child language acquisition or "Baby Talk" is usually any various speech patterns used by parents or caregivers when communicating with young children, usually involving simplified vocabulary, melodic pitch, repetitive questioning, and a slow or deliberate tempo. I looked at how infant and children's television programmes communicated with with children under the age of 6 on CBeebies which is a sub-channel of the BBC. The channel name itself has been changed to suit infants as there only used to be CBBC (Children's BBC) and now CBeebies is in place for infants, the /I:/ sound within the name makes it stand out to young children because of its slightly higher pitch which therefore attracts the child and gets their attention, the /I:/ sound is used a considerably larger amount of in CBeebies programmes then in CBBC's programmes. This is done to help teach young children by the /I:/ sound being more memorable as its different to most sounds used when forming words and sentences, but also to keep their attention throughout the entirety of the programme. I specifically looked at 'In The Night Garden' and how Baby Talk is used within. When looking for it within the programme it was impossible to miss, with the slow tempo throughout, the rhyming speeches at the beginning and end of the program, and the /I:/ sound placed in every neologism you can find, such as 'Upsie Daisy' and 'Ninki Nonk' I think this is done to keep children's attention but also to entertain them and understand that these made up words are funny and to keep the programme interesting. In The Night Garden is a programme taken place in a toys dream, the show is usually aired at around 6 o'clock each evening which I think is to show children that an imagination is good and going to sleep isn't a bad thing. This programme may also help to get children tired before going to bed because of its slow tempo throughout and the soothing sounds when the narrator gives his lines, there will rarely be a harsh sound when listening to the programme which shows how child language acquisition can be used in a variety of ways and to accomplish different things, such as making a child tired, helping them learn or just as something nice to listen too. I also looked at a show called "Everything's Rosie" which is about a group of animated characters encountering different problems and overcoming them. This is similar to In The Night Garden as this show also uses the /I:/ sound a lot, mainly in characters names, for example "Rosie", "Oakley" and "Holly" this again is to get children's attention, this also has a narrator but he is one of the characters within the programme, the narrator is male with a low melodic tone in his voice, I believe this is done so children can listen and enjoy what is being said as there are again almost no harsh noises within the show to put children off it. I have a few younger siblings so I have seen children's television programmes change over the years and the ways different sounds are used has changed too, narrators are used frequently in younger children's programmes to help them understand what's going on, but almost every word is emphasised in some way, and pronounced with clarity but are not spoken harshly or loudly in contrast to the background noises. Child language acquisition is used throughout children's programmes to help children understand what they are watching, to keep their attention but also to teach them whilst watching when using a specific tempo and melodic pitch in which some speech is delivered in and the /I:/ sound.