To gain some insight into the problem of deviant speech development in low income populations, this study investigated the environmental factors that encourage the development of normal speech. Two specific questions were examined in this study: (1) If specific vocalized environmental sounds are presented contiguously with reinforcement, will…

Two stages in the vocabulary development of two-year-olds are reported. In the earlier Receptive stage, the child says many fewer nouns than he understands and says no verbs at all although he understands many. The child then enters a Productive stage in which he says virtually all the nouns he understands plus his first verbs. (Author/DEP)

Describes a study of four- to five-year-old children's interpretations of statements involving "know" (savoir) and "think" (croire). The study tried to ascertain the language operations that modify a proposition or a basic assertion and to show the speaker's attitude towards the event asserted in the statement. (SED)

Results showed that 12 language disordered children (four to six years old) selectively marked new information in verbal communication, just as normal children do. Language disordered and normal children, furthermore, manifested the same developmental sequence of strategies for deemphasizing old information. (Author/CL)

Presents a simple scheme, based on formal categories, for coding stylistic variation in the early lexicon. When applied to the first 50 and 100 words of 12 children between 0;11 and 2;3, the major dimensions of difference are found to be the relative proportion of common nouns and the relative proportion of frozen phrases. (31 references) (GLR)

Experiments with groups of 30 children (aged 3 through 6) and 32 children (aged 5 through 8) showed that (1) children use linguistic form-class information with familiar discrete objects, (2) children do not use linguistic form-class information with familiar food, and (3) children use only object category information with unfamiliar items.…

Production of grammatical and lexical verbs in narratives from 29 individuals with Down syndrome and 29 controls matched on linguistic level was examined. Individuals with Down syndrome produced fewer lexical or grammatical verbs per utterance compared to the control group but produced a greater diversity of lexical verbs. (Author/CR)

Two studies investigated factors affecting children's (n=48) choice of pronouns as referring expressions. Findings indicate the children (ages 2-3) did not use pronouns differentially when the adult model them or they witnessed a target event, but did use pronouns differently depending on the immediately preceding discourse of the experimenter.…

Three experiments on the comprehension and acquisition of temporal terms are described. Methodological innovations were applied to control for possible methodological effects on children's performance. Each experiment involved 24 children aged 3 to 5. In the first experiment, subjects manipulated toys in response to instructions containing the…

The use of imitation as a language learning strategy was explored in a case study of a child in a Mandarin-speaking family. Recordings were made over the course of 3 months, from the ages of 2 years 10 months to 3 years 1 month. It is argued that restrictive criteria regarding identity of form and temporal proximity of utterances have severely…

Reports on a study to determine the origin, development, and use of the comparative in children ages 2-7. The role of adult-child interaction in acquisition is discussed. Tabulated results show that the comparative is used infrequently by young children. (Text is in French.) (CLK)

When sound takes on meaning for the first time in the life of a child, a giant and prototypic step in the development of his symbolic capacities has taken place. This step is worthy of careful scientific scrutiny. This paper seeks first to describe the steps by which the author's child discovered the existence of meaning in sound, and second, to…

Analysis of 24 spontaneous speech samples from children at 24 and 30 months revealed a correlated progression in the form, function, and meaning of adjective modifiers used with increased language development. (Author/DEP)

This study constitutes the beginning of a longitudinal investigation of phonological development of four children from birth to 2 years. Little variation was found in mean fundamental frequency. Duration, within-utterance range and variability did show developmental change. (RM)

This study attempted to test the notion that the reinforcing stimuli which maintain high rates of speech may not consist solely of events extrinsic to the person but may involve (sensory) stimulation generated by the behavior itself. (Author)