This paper constitutes a response to Lust and Mazuka's (1989) defense of the Principal Branching parameter and their critique of O'Grady, Suzuki-Wei, and Cho's (1986) experiment, which purported to show that even children learning left-branching languages exhibit a preference for forward patterns of anaphora. (Contains 16 references.) (JL)

A study found 36 children (ages 3-5) with specific language impairment (SLI) produced more errors with third person singular pronouns than did age-level peers, but did not make more errors than peers matched for mean length of utterance. Error patterns were similar in children with SLI and their language-level peers. (Contains references.)…

Analyzed correct wh-question production and subject-auxiliary inversion errors in one child's wh-question data. Argues that two current movement rule accounts cannot explain patterning of early wh-questions. Data can be explained by the child's knowledge of particular lexically-specific wh-word+auxiliary combinations, and inversion and universion…

Background: Down's syndrome is a chromosome disorder characterized by a range of physical and psychological conditions, including language impairment. The severity of impairment is variable, and some components of the language system appear to be more affected than others. This description could also be applied to typically developing children…

Purpose: This study tests the hypothesis that toddlers with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) will show differences from contrast groups in preferences for attending to speech. Method: This study examined auditory preferences in toddlers with ASD and matched groups of (a) typical age-mates, (b) age-mates with nonautistic developmental disabilities,…

The points of similarity between the language and music of a given language are discussed as a theoretical justification for the use of songs in language teaching. (Author/RM)

The acquisition of several word formation devices in American Sign Language (ASL) by deaf children learning ASL as a native language focused on some devices analogous to word formation devices in spoken languages (compounding, affixation, and derivation) and some in ASL that may not have counterparts in spoken languages. They were examined using…

This study reports a replication of an earlier study by Kilbourne and Ginsberg (1980) which indicated the occurrence of a transition from predominantly coacting to predominantly alternating infant-mother vocalization patterns. In addition, the present study examined the modulating influences of nursing activity and mother's focus of attention upon…

AN APPROACH TO THE PROBLEM OF INCREASING THE SUPPLY OF IDEAS FOR TEACHING DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN WAS CONSIDERED. A BASIC PROBLEM IN WORKING WITH DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN IS THAT OF OVERCOMING THEIR RESTRICTED, CONTENT-ORIENTED LANGUAGE STYLE. WORKING CLASS CHILDREN USUALLY INTERPRET THINGS AROUND THEM AS SIMPLE, CONCRETE, DISCONNECTED, ISOLATED…

Studied were some cognitive aspects of the language development of a 2-year-old Puerto Rican boy who had been on the U.S. mainland 1 month. A Neo-Piagetian approach (developed by K. Witz and J. Easley) was used to study: language behavior as being embedded in more complex, unified systems; productivity of different structures and language…

It is argued in this paper that teachers must develop an awareness of the historical implications of the black dialect. A sample in-class composition written in black dialect is quoted in its entirety and analyzed, and a personal writing approach is described. The first part of the approach deals with structure, and a linguistic method is used for…

A study was conducted of the development of consonant clusters in the phonology of a native English-speaking child. His progress was studied over a year and a half period, in three one-month segments. His speech was recorded by tape and transcribed. Techniques used to elicit consonant clusters included real word imitation, imitation of nonsense…

This study was conducted to examine the acquisition of the meaning of the temporal conjunctions "before" and "after." The initial hypothesis was that in the acquisition of a word, the child learns its semantic components one at a time. The subjects were 40 school children attending the Bing Nursery School at Stanford…

Samples of spontaneous speech were collected from 20 English and 20 German preschool children and their mothers. The children's frequency of use of various tenses was compared at different age levels within each language, across languages, and with their mothers' frequency of tense usage in speech to the children. (Author/JMB)