Comments on some of the persistent problems that are encountered in the study of the transition from prespeech communication to early language. Topics are: 1) inference of communicative intent, 2) nature of early reference, 3) use of language in the regulation of joint action, and 4) the precursors of predication. (RC)

Results of two experiments support these hypotheses: 1) children tend to treat contradictions and tautologies as empirical statements, due to their nonempirical character, not merely to the logical words occurring in them; and 2) the ability to examine language objectively is necessary for the ability to correctly evaluate nonempirical statements.…

Presents evidence that young children's comprehension of the locatives "in", "on", and "under" is, at least in part, contextually determined. Children were given tasks with verbal instructions which were either contextually congruent or incongruent. Results are interpreted in terms of the non-linguistic as well as linguistic strategies apparently…