Pointing gestures of verbally advanced two-year-olds were contrasted with those of less advanced peers to examine the relationships of gesture to language during the acquisition of each. Formal and functional aspects of each communicative skill were measured. Gesture and language corresponded only in their functional aspects. (Author/AS)

Investigated interactions between stress level of syllables and articulatory difficulty as influences on children's early words. Subjects were 32 two-year olds asked to imitate nonsense words and syllables that varied in articulatory difficulty. Found that both factors had significant effects on aspects of children's imitations. (MOK)

The study investigated the ability of 60 children, age 6-8, to monitor grammaticality in the past progressive, perfect progressive, and perfect verb forms. Children achieved a significantly higher rate of accurate judgments monitoring grammatical forms than ungrammatical forms. Context surrounding ungrammatical verb forms and child's age…

The study compared communication patterns of male adolescents with Down Syndrome with males matched for chronological age and mental age. The Down Syndrome group was significantly different for mean length of utterance, comprehension of syntax, single word articulation, selected diadochokinetic tasks, and some aerodynamic tasks. (Author/JDD)

ONE APPROACH TO CHILD LANGUAGE ACQUISITION IS THAT OF TRANSFORMATIONAL, GENERATIVE GRAMMAR WHICH EMPHASIZES MAN'S ABILITY TO UNDERSTAND AND PRODUCE AN UNLIMITED VARIETY OF SENTENCES THROUGH CONTROL OF A LIMITED NUMBER OF LANGUAGE RULES. THUS, A CHILD LEARNS TO SPEAK BY DEVELOPING HIS OWN THEORIES OF THE STRUCTURE OF HIS LANGUAGE. STUDIES OF…

To study development of social speech, 18 dyads of children, ages 3 1/2 to 5, were videotaped in 15-minute play sessions. Results suggest that early forms of social speech entail a surprising level of interpersonal understanding, and that these speech forms are amenable to systematic study. (ST)

Gives examples of the potential for language development within practical science activities at the elementary school level. Contains 12 references. (WRM)

Evaluated was the comprehension of maternal and experimentally posed Wh questions (such as what, why and who) by two 5-year-old Down's Syndrome children. Weekly taperecordings of mother-child play situations and videotapes of individual sessions with the experimenter were analyzed in terms of form, content, and appropriateness of Ss' response.…

A study of the extent to which relationships exist between pupils' verbal associative learning ability and seven indices of pupil ability to verbalize utilized 32 third-grade and 34 fifth-grade pupils randomly selected from six Las Cruces schools. Raw data were collected from transcribed language samples, the Verbal Paired-Associate Test, the…

ORAL LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT OF TWO GROUPS OF DISADVANTAGED FIRST-GRADE CHILDREN WAS COMPARED. ONE GROUP OF 52 SUBJECTS PARTICIPATED IN A PROJECT HEAD START SUMMER PROGRAM, AND THE OTHER GROUP OF 52 SUBJECTS DID NOT. TO DETERMINE IF CHILDREN OF LIMITED OPPORTUNITY, PARTICIPATING IN PROGRAMS DESIGNED TO BROADEN EXPERIENCES, EXHIBIT SUPERIOR LANGUAGE…

The study examined the role of verbal mediation in language processing by 88 children (ages 8-12 years) with low verbal/high performance Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) profiles. (Author/PHR)

Phonological development in children is described in terms of four stages; (1) preverbal vocalization and perception (birth to 1;0); (2) phonology of the first 50 words (1;0 to 1;6); (3) phonology of simple morphemes (1;6 to 4;0); and (4) completion of the phonetic inventory (4;0 to 7;0). (CTM)

Describes a very unstructured approach to the dual problem of preschool language preparation for the disadvantaged, and increasing teacher receptivity to such children. Evaluations from the points of view of the psychologist, teacher volunteers, the teacher, and parents are attempted. (AF)