This research disputes the traditional position on babbling by showing that the phonetic content of babbled utterances exhibits many of the same preferences for certain kinds of phonetic elements and sequences that have been found in the production of meaningful speech by children in later stages of language development. (Author/RM)

In this longitudinal investigation of the emerging grammar of seven children, differences in linguistic acquisition were observed. Analyses revealed two distinct styles of syntactic acquisition that appeared to be sex- and speed-related with specific ties to particular utterance types and grammatical-relational specification. (Author/RM)

Traditional research methods of recording infant verbal behavior, namely, descriptions by a single observer transcribing the utterances of a single infant in a naturalistic setting, have been inadequate to provide data necessary for modern linguistic analyses. The Center for Research on Language and Language Behavior has undertaken to correct this…

Literature on the sighted child suggests that blind children might be delayed in language acquisition and/or restricted in the semantic content of their utterances and in the communicative intentions they express. This study questions the use of guidelines appropriate for monitoring sighted children in the study of language development in blind…

This collection of six articles on oral language is a product of the cooperative efforts of the National Conference on Research in English, the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, the International Reading Association, the Association for Childhood Education International, and the National Council of Teachers of English. It is…

This collection of six articles on oral language is a product of the cooperative efforts of the National Conference on Research in English, the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, the International Reading Association, the Association for Childhood Education International, and the National Council of Teachers of English. It is…

Since speech pathologists are interested in the role nonfluent behavior may play in the onset or development of stuttering, this study compared the linguistic behavior of 17 fluent four-year-old children to that of 17 nonfluent children similar in age, intelligence, sex, sibling status, race, socioeconomic status, and education. The aspects of…

Every speech community has a baby talk register (BT) of phonological, grammatical, and lexical features regarded as primarily appropriate for addressing young children and also for other displaced or extended uses. Much BT is analyzable as derived from normal adult speech (AS) by such simplifying processes as reduction, substitution, assimilation,…

Modifications of current assumptions both about the nature of the spoken language and about its functions in relation to personality development are suggested in this book. The discussion covers an explanation of "oracy" (the oral skills of speaking and listening); the contributions of linguistics to the teaching of English in Britain; the…

This analysis of Brazilian baby talk (BT) includes data from two sources: elicitations of the use of BT from three mothers, all of whom have university degrees, and observations of adult-child interactions in the home. The data shows Ferguson's modified list of thirty lexical items that frequently have BT forms in various languages and the…