Article Five: The Place of Dialogue in Children's Construction of Meaning

Submitted by: Debbie Bonanza

Although researchers have defined four stages of language development, Halliday focuses on the last three phases in the development of language:
Phase 1: Symbolic-protolinguistic, ‘protolanguage’
Phase 2: Transition (protolinguistic to language)
Phases 3- Symbolic-linguistic

· Before Halliday’s Phase 1, there is a “presymbolic stage” that occurs within the first few weeks of life. In the early development of language, language develops through a series of interactions between himself and a significant other eventually achieving a ‘personal identity’. The interactions contain no content but do carry meaning that is jointly constructed. Within 4-5 months, a transition to the symbolic phase begins to occur. A “third party” is introduced that is a ‘happening’ or ‘commotion’, an interaction with the child’s environment. The significant other begins to respond to the ‘happening’ in her own tongue. Through language, the ‘third party’ begins to acquire reality.

· Between 7-10 months, the child enters Phase 1: Symbolic-protolinguistic, ‘protolanguage’. The child is not only discovering his own body, but his environment. He is now beginning to crawl and has the freedom of space and time. During protolanguage, the child begins to understand the relationship between the system and the instance by the dialectic relationship that ensues.

· Between the ages of 1-2 years of age, the child enters Phase 2- transition. Protolanguage coincides with crawling and language coincides with walking. The difference between protolanguage and language is that language has grammar, a symbolic system that is in between content and the expression.

· As the child enters the last phase, his grammar evolves to the point in which information can be shared and discussion can ensue. The child begins to use pragmatic and declarative modes to communicate a demand or a simple statement that requires no action,

· At this point, to understand what the child is trying to communicate, you must have shared the same experience. Conversation evolves through the ones that shared the experience. Once the system of meaning-making is mastered can a listener understand the experience the speaker is communicating. Knowledge is transferred from a knower to the non-knower.

· As the child learns to refine his language, significant others help by asking “wh” questions. Eventually the questioning and answering that go both ways, aides in the development of dialogue.