Investigated toddlers' acquisition and use of nonsense verbs in passive and active voice. Children used various strategies to answer questions designed to elicit voice changes but did not usually change verb construction. When passive and active constructions were primed, older children were able to use an active-introduced verb in passive…

In this article we examine language processing and development in Catalan or Spanish-speaking children with SLI, focusing on the study of the verb. We analyse the key initial phase of its process of acquisition and aim to define common features of the SLI group that distinguish them from children with normal language development. We intend to…

This study investigated the acquisition of word initial s clusters of 3-5 year old Dutch children with phonological disorders. Within these clusters, sl was produced correctly most often, whereas sn and sx were the more difficult clusters. In cluster reductions, s+obstruent and sl clusters reduction patterns followed the Sonority Sequencing…

It is proposed here that second language learners can acquire a system of reflexive binding, both local and long-distance, that is different from that found in their native language, and individual subject data are offered to support this claim. First, some general properties of the syntactic behavior of reflexives and reflexive constructions are…

Discusses and defends the innateness hypothesis - that a component of the human mind is a species-specific language learning mechanism--and discusses some implications of that hypothesis. (RM)

In a study about the comprehension of anaphoric relationships in text, three anaphoric ties in forward (antecedent-anaphor) and backward (anaphor-antecedent) position were examined with attention to developmental trends. A four-school sample was used, three in the United States and one in New Zealand. A test of comprehension of anaphoric…

Reading success will be encouraged if children are given ample opportunity to verbally respond to first-hand experiences. (JH)

Suggests activities for teaching elementary students about types of word-meaning changes. (JH)

Attention is given to spoken language as an important base for reading success, followed by a description of the oral language characteristics of school age children and a consideration of the match between these characteristics and the materials used to teach reading. (Author/JC)

Piaget's research on the processes and products of cognitive and representational development in early childhood is employed to outline the bases of early language development. The processes of assimilation and accommodation, leading to horizontal decalage; empirical and reflective abstraction, resulting in schemas and schemes; as well as…

To secure information relative to the developmental aspects of their meaning system as measured by the semantic differential technique, 154 residential students from the New York State School for the Deaf at Rome, New York were divided into five groups according to age and academic grade level and were administered a semantic differential. It was…

Describes a tool for determining a student's level of language development through oral responses; indicates a positive correlation between achievement test scores and oral language production. (MAI)