Vowels with extreme articulatory-acoustic properties act as natural referents. Infant perceptual asymmetries point to an underlying bias favoring these referent vowels. However, as language experience is gathered, distributional frequency of speech sounds could modify this initial bias. The perception of the /i/-/e/ contrast was explored in 144…

Indirect effects of preschool classroom indexes of teacher talk were tested on fourth-grade outcomes for 57 students from low-income families in a longitudinal study of classroom and home influences on reading. Detailed observations and audiotaped teacher and child language data were coded to measure content and quantity of verbal interactions in…

Normal, first-born children of two-parent, self-supporting families (N=60) were divided into three groups at birth: control, mothers receiving a specific language stimulation program, and both parents receiving the program simultaneously. Infants whose parents received simultaneous training exhibited the greatest gain over 4 1/2 months in Bayley…

Results suggest that the mother-infant-sibling interactive context differs in important ways from the mother-infant dyadic context. The mother-infant-sibling interactive context is a richer language learning environment than previously supposed. (GLR)

Use of rehearsal on a recall task was compared for deaf and hearing children. A lag of several years was noted in the emergence of recall for deaf children. When data were examined by years of language experience, rather than chronological age, this lag was eliminated. (BC)