This book is an accessible introduction to learnability theory and its interactions with linguistic theories. Working within the principles and parameters framework, the book surveys general concepts from formal learning theory and complexity theory, together with important findings from developmental psycholinguistics, historical linguistics, and…

This volume compiles papers from a 1996 conference on communication held at Clark University (Worcester, Massachusetts). The goal of the conference was to share the work and ideas regarding the development of communication and meaning comprehension. The papers are organized into three parts, covering the organization and the origins of…

Suggesting that the process of reading, however complex, is knowable, and that the scientific study of reading is both necessary and possible, this book brings together what has been learned through the scientific study of reading by carefully observing readers in the act of reading. The book looks at reading in the real world, at how readers and…

This book contains a collection of current research in the development of speech perception and perceptual learning. The collection integrates research involving infants, young children, and adults, and explores systematically how adult perceptual abilities develop from early infant capabilities, focusing particularly on the nature of transitional…

This book concerns a neglected aspect of the education of bilingual children, namely, their potential desire and ability to learn to read before age 5. The basis of the study is considered in the chapter on children as early learners, which provides accounts of children being taught to read from the age of 6 months to 4 years. The next part of the…

As the first title in the new series, "New Directions in Communication Disorders Research: Integrative Approaches", this volume discusses a unique phenomenon in cognitive science, single-word reading, which is an essential element in successful reading competence. Single-word reading is an interdisciplinary area of research that incorporates…

Aimed both at readers interested in cognition and/or writing and at instructional psychologists, this book explores the notion that various writing strategies involve different kinds of thinking, which ultimately affect the written product. The first part presents concepts central to the writing process, including two models of this process, an…

The concern of this book is to examine written language and its relation to what is ordinarily understood by the term oral language, the process of its acquisition, and the place of written language in the process of mental development. The eight chapters (1) examine the relation of written language to oral language and trace the phonocentric…

The following papers are included: (1) "The Theoretical and Practical Relevance of Simple Codes in Second Language Acquisition" (Krashen); (2) "Talking to Foreigners versus Talking to Children: Similarities and Differences" (Freed); (3) "The Levertov Machine" (Stevick); (4) "Acquiring a Second Language when You're Not the Underdog" (Edelsky and…

The study of speech errors, or "slips of the tongue," is a time-honored methodology which serves as a window to the representation and processing of language and has proven to be the most reliable source of data for building theories of speech production planning. However, until "Kids' Slips," there has never been a corpus of such errors from…

A revisionist account of the development of ideas about semantics in modern theories of language is presented, focusing on the rift between Noam Chomsky and Generative Semanticists about the concept of deep structure, or the role of meaning in grammar. The discussion re-appraises the paradigm that has dominated American linguistics since the…

This brief survey of the field of psycholinguistics is intended for both students and anyone interested in language. It contains a summary overview of the main features of this area of language study: scope and principles of inquiry; basic concerns; and key concepts. Chapter topics include: language acquisition (first words, the birth of grammar,…

Intended for those who want to know more about reading and how it is taught, but who will themselves probably not specialize in the teaching of reading, this book addresses such questions as (1) Why read? (2) What motivation does one have for reading? and (3) What does reading provide as a means of communication that cannot just as easily be…

This handbook provides an introduction to research findings related to bilingualism in minority-language children, and describes the implications of these findings for issues of current concern in Canadian education. Bilingualism is defined as the production and/or comprehension of two languages by the same individual. The phrase…

The temporal patterning of speech, primarily within the context of interpersonal exchanges, is traced in this cross-section of research exploring the major directions such studies have taken. Eighteen authors contributed selections to support the thesis that time as a dimension of speech reflects many of the important processes that occur during…