This report describes the steps by which ethnographic literature was explored for cross-cultural differences in the role of language with particular reference to its acquisition and use by children. The exploration is put in the context of ongoing work in the development of a systematic guide to field studies of this sort. A principal effort of the research was to develop an organized set of ethnographic queries for this purpose. Its use is illustrated with regard to an analysis of data from the Ashanti of Nigeria. Explicit formal analysis of rules employed in speaking and acquired by children is a major problem. One approach is exemplified in analysis of data from the Abipon of Argentina. The concepts of "competence" and "performance," as currently used in linguistic theory, are critically analyzed. Some of the problems in characterizing societies as to the role of language are indicated. This document consists of a 16-page introductory section (preface, summary, introduction, methods, findings and results, conclusion and recommendations, references) and seven appended reports: (A) "Societies for Which Data Were Obtained"; (B) and (C) "An Ethnology of Communication Among the Ashanti"; (D) "The Abipones--Ethnography of Speaking"; (E) "Linguistic Aspects of Comparative Political Research"; (F) "Linguistic Aspects of the Concept of 'Tribe'"; and (G) "On Communicative Competence." (Author/JD)