Presents a study of the effects of training 18 subjects, 28-40 months, in the use of two-word subject-verb utterances. The study focused on: (1) the number of different semantic relations underlying the subject-verb form in which the child is trained, and (2) the relationship between the semantic relations and ongoing, experimentally manipulated…

Focus is one factor that may account for children's use of single-word utterances after they have acquired the use of multi-word utterances. The possible role that focus may play in children's use of single-word utterances in naturalistic settings, after the acquisition of syntax, was investigated. (SW)

A longitudinal study examining the role of imitation on children's lexical acquisition is discussed here. Findings did not support the view that imitation may enable new lexical items to be acquired, and it is noted that other functions of imitation in language acquisition should be explored. (CHK)

Examination of a two-year-old's early determiner-noun combinations suggested that early article use can be distributed across a variety of nouns, and that such usage does not seem appropriately characterized as a pattern of limited semantic scope. (CB)