Describes a study of three infants whose parents presented vocal models for the infants to imitate. Parents presented vocal models both with and without social praise. Infants showed systematic increases in matching after praise was introduced. Nonmatching vocalizations did not increase with introduction of praise. Findings demonstrate generalized…

Offers some conversational suggestions (modeled on a typical day in the life of the preschool) intended to motivate children to communicate and to build a better relationship between pupil and teacher. (Author/ED)

This paper provides a brief outline of some of the constituents of speech, language, and universal stages of the development of talking in children up to the age of 2 1/2 years. Mention is made of theories put forward to account for universal aspects of speech and language development; recent research into the way adults talk to very small…

The connections among language learning, language education, and children's wordplay are explored in this book. Each chapter examines some aspect of the interrelations between wordplay activities and the goals of language education. The book is divided into three sections, with the first section exploring wordplay and language learning in the…

Two children's spontaneous utterances containing the comparative structure are examined for their semantic content. Many comparatives are found to encode the notion "A has property X," and this use is often found in reference to the presence of X to an extreme, rather than a non-extreme, extent. The uses of the comparative are analyzed…

The ability of young children to communicate at the time they produce their first words was studied, with particular reference to the question of whether children are able to modify their requests depending on the adult's response. The subjects were four children ranging in age from 15 to 18 months; the data were their requests of adults coded…

INCLUDED IN THIS REPORT ARE BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF 36 CURRENT, PROJECTED, OR RECENTLY COMPLETED SOCIAL DIALECT STUDIES IN ENGLISH. THE THIRD IN A SERIES, REPORT NO. 3 COMPLETELY SUPERSEDES THE PREVIOUS REPORTS (WHICH WERE ENTITLED "CURRENT SOCIAL DIALECT RESEARCH AT AMERICAN HIGHER INSTITUTIONS, NOS. 1 AND 2"). THE PROJECTS OUTLINED IN THIS REPORT…

The effect of verbal labeling in a serial position short term memory task was investigated. Forty female college students were given 16 trials each. Eight trials involved only central items which had to be recalled. The other eight trials involved both central and incidental items. Half of the subjects verbalized the names of the central items as…

Infants raised the pitch of their vocalizations when stimulated by vocalizing parents. Nonvocal stimulation did not repeat the effect. Intonation contours did not change during different conditions. The pitch of the parents' vocalizations also rose during vocal interaction. Changes in infant pitch were interpreted as a function of imitation.…

Research is being conducted to determine the factors behind linguistic retardation in children. A first question raised was whether the linguistic system of the deviant child is qualitatively different from that of a normal child. A matching-up of deviant and normal children according to linguistic level suggests that the onset of base syntax may…

This report describes an investigation of the acquisition by children of a symbolic system, specifically English nomenclature--that set of nouns that serves the function of naming, denoting, or referring to objects. The five studies involve nine experiments dealing with one or another of the aspects of this problem. Two questions guided these…

Noting that linguistics and the neurological sciences have developed independently, this paper presents a coordinated approach to man's understanding of language, cognition, and mind. A neurological model is developed following a discussion of the rationale of such an approach. Chapters include: (1) the relation of neurological evidence to models…

This paper explores the questions of how and why children learn names for things. The acquisition of reference is set within a broader discussion of linguistic representation, which defines language as a system functioning in a three-way relationship among the individual language user, the world of experience, and the social community. It is…

A report on the state of the research in bilingualism among children to determine whether or not first and second languages are acquired in the same way. Several studies are described and classified; usage, pronunciation, interference and the question of dominant language are discussed. (Text is in French.) (AMH)

Children in grades 1-3 were asked to retell and explain a series of riddles. Ability to recall riddles was not predictive of ability to explain them. Three cognitive factors seemed to determine level of riddle competence. Implications concern the relationship of riddle competence to reading ability and metalinguistic facility. (CHK)