Telegraphic speech, according to
linguistics
Linguistics is the science, scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure ...
and
psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between ...
, is speech during the
two-word stage of
language acquisition in children, which is laconic and efficient.
Background
The name derives from the fact that someone sending a
telegram
Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...
was generally charged by the word. To save money, people typically wrote their telegrams in
a very compressed style, without
conjunctions or
articles.
Term in anthropology and developmental psychology
As children develop language, they speak similarly: when a child says "Daddy here", it is understood that the child means "Daddy is here", omitting the copula. The words dropped in this style of speech are
closed class
In grammar, a part of speech or part-of-speech ( abbreviated as POS or PoS, also known as word class or grammatical category) is a category of words (or, more generally, of lexical items) that have similar grammatical properties. Words that are ass ...
or
function
Function or functionality may refer to:
Computing
* Function key, a type of key on computer keyboards
* Function model, a structured representation of processes in a system
* Function object or functor or functionoid, a concept of object-oriente ...
words.
In the field of
psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between ...
, telegraphic speech is defined as a form of communication consisting of simple two-word long sentences often composed of a noun and a verb that adhere to the grammatical standards of the culture's language. For example, an English-speaking child would say "Give cupcake" to express that they would like a cupcake rather than "Cupcake give", as a Turkish- or Japanese-speaking child would.
Researchers have noted that this period of
language acquisition occurs some time between the ages of 18–36 months and is present not just in English-speaking cultures, but can be found worldwide.
Clinical term
In adults, regression to telegraphic speech may indicate a neurological problem such as
multiple sclerosis. Telegraphic speech is also common in non-fluent aphasia (
Broca's aphasia), which is caused by a stroke damaging the posterior-inferior frontal lobe.
It is also a potential symptom of schizophrenia, as a manifestation of manneristic speech.
See also
*
Critical period (linguistics)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Telegraphic Speech
Language acquisition
acquisition-stub