BASIC LINGUISTIC CAPACITY IS PRESENT EXTREMELY EARLY IN CHILDREN. TWO-YEAR-OLDS UNDERSTAND TRANSITIVE ACTIVE SENTENCES AND THREE-YEAR-OLDS UNDERSTAND MANY PASSIVE SENTENCES. OLDER CHILDREN (THREE-YEAR-OLDS) UNDERSTAND SOME SENTENCES LESS WELL THAN YOUNGER CHILDREN (TWO-YEAR-OLDS). THIS BRIEF DECREASE IN COMPREHENSION ABILITY IS DUE TO THE…

This study attempted to determine: (1) whether lower-order units (agent or agent-action) within the agent-action-recipient relationship exist in any functional way in the 1-word infant's comprehension of speech; and (2) whether the use of repetition and/or reduced length (common modifications in adult-to-infant speech) used to focus on these…

Reviews research on the relationship between creative dramatics and language development, cognitive development, and attitude change. (DD)

The comprehension of big, little, and same number and the production of relational terminology was assessed in 168 preschool children. (Author/BD)

Two experiments test hypothesis that development of children's comprehension monitoring skills in the referential communication paradigm is based in part on ability to differentiate the literal sentence meaning of speaker's direction from the meaning or intention that speaker wished to convey. (Author/RWB)

Changes in children's categorization behavior between 15 and 21 months of age and the relation of these changes to developments in language, object permanence, and means-end understanding are reported. (PCB)

Investigates performance of the highly constrained Hallowe'en "trick or treat" routine in 115 children from 2 to 16 years of age. Changes in competence and role of parental input are examined in relation to cognitive and social factors. (Author/RM)

Reviews and compares the theories of Piaget and Vygotsky on the relationships between child language and thought, as presented in their respective works, "The Language and Thought of the Child" and "Thought and Language." (SJL)

Reviews research studies, available through the ERIC system, on the interaction of cognitive, social, and language development, drawing implications for language arts instruction. (DD)

This study examined language ability in children of the same mental age who differed in their level of cognitive development. Subjects were 68 first-graders, 33 male, 35 female, from a predominantly middle-class elementary school. (Author/SB)

Investigates the ability of adults and children to understand aspects of semantic ambiguity. (DD)

The study of 813 learning disabled children (ages 6-11) with test-retest data (after three years) on 224 children found the children to suffer a progressive deterioration in verbal ability whereas their nonverbal ability showed an increase in the earlier years, leveling off thereafter. (Author/DB)

This brief statement supports more research on the linguistic and cognitive abilities of animals, particularly primates, and sees direct applicability of such research to language learning by humans with mental retardation who have not learned to speak. (DB)

Growing up bilingual can have many positive effects. Research and anecdotal evidence suggests that experience with two language systems builds mental flexibility, superior concept formation, and a more diversified set of mental abilities. To encourage bilingualism, schools must teach foreign languages earlier and more efficiently, nurture…

Two studies demonstrated that infants use referential cues to guide new word-object mapping as early as 19 to 20 months of age and that they understood that actions accompanying such labeling were not necessarily referential. These findings indicate that language learning is grounded in a relatively rich understanding of cues to reference, at…