A diary study of the speech of a child acquiring English found eight between-word processes, all of which were optional and occurred in fairly restricted environments. Most of the processes were also of short duration. (Author/CB)

Cites examples of surprise combinations of words that give sudden pleasure to a listener or reader.

Describes a study of adult listeners' perceptions of infant babbling. Adult judges were unable to identify language background significantly above chance level. Findings do not support the babbling drift hypothesis which predicts that babbling begins to approximate characteristics of the mother tongue as infants approach meaningful speech. (SED)

How children acquire language is a riddle for developmental linguists and the subject of debate among them. Some linguists argue that children acquire language through a universal process regardless of their native tongues. Evidence of the innateness of language capacity has also appeared in studies of deaf children. (Author/JN)

Argues that knowing how infants process speech is a prerequisite to any definition of linguistic experience and therefore, the discrimination paradigm does not provide a test for the effect of experience on infants' speech discrimination. Outlines conditions to be met in order to conclude an effect of experience. (EKN)

Examines word families, words grouped together by common meaning, orthography, form, and spelling. Discusses ways to encourage children's language acquisition and understanding of how words work in specific contexts. (HTH)

The conventions inherent to language are explored, and demonstrations, engagement, and sensitivity are discussed as factors present in all learning situations in which a person learns to master these complex conventions. (HTH)

Examines the simultaneous development of two linguistic competences in the bilingual child. Special attention is devoted to the role of functional categories in the development patterns attested, and a position is taken that is intermediate between two hypotheses: the strong hypothesis and the weak hypothesis. Childhood bilingualism is viewed as a…

Examines the process of language acquisition as well as scientists' understanding of the intricate process of learning to talk. Specifically addresses: (1) foundations of language; (2) prenatal period; (3) first month after birth; and (4) conversation. Also discusses adult-child activities that stimulate language-learning. (SD)

Sixteen adults with language/learning disabilities (L/LD) and 16 controls participated in a study testing sensitivity to word order cues that signaled grammatical versus ungrammatical word strings belonging to an artificial grammar. Participants with L/LD performed significantly below the comparison group, suggesting that this skill is problematic…

Examined the spontaneous speech of four children and their parents for use of determiners with NP-type nouns and count nouns. Found that the parents made a clear distinction between the two kinds of nouns, omitting determiners with the NP-type nouns but not with the count nouns. The children all made the same distinction by four years of age. (HTH)

The author outlines recent work in sociolinguistics dealing with problems of language and national development, arguing that in the Nigerian debate over retaining English or substituting a Nigerian language, sociological and linguistic factors must be considered along with the present political and administrative arguments for one language or the…

In an experiment in which preschool children were asked questions such as "Which box is taller than it is fat?" the results were interpreted to mean that the linguistic strategy of attending to the first clause is more resistant to change than the preference for simply choosing the largest object. (Author/RM)

A study of the phonetic changes occurring when a speaker attempts to revise an unclear word for a listener focuses on changes made in the sound segment duration to maximize differences between phonemes. In the study, five-year-olds were asked by adults to revise words differing in voicing of initial and final stop consonants; a control group of…