Special issue devoted to research and the teaching of French in the elementary school. (VM)

This article reports on a study to determine the role of intonation in language acquisition. Related studies are mentioned. Research methods for the study are outlined and two case studies are reviewed. Conclusions show that adult-child interaction influences not only the child's use of intonation but also his acquisition of syntax. (Text is in…

A report on a study in progress of the acquisition of a syntax rule: inversion in questions beginning with "Wh..". Its purpose is to show how certain modifications of linguistic theory and practice can contribute to this study and to psychology of language in general. (Text is in French.) (AMH)

The article reports on an experimental study undertaken in a suburban Parisian kindergarten to determine the optimum environment for child language development. Adult-child interaction is underlined as essential in the acquisition process. Observation methods and specific examples of the effect of child-adult interaction are outlined. (Text is in…

Examines the relationship between language acquisition and current linguistic theory, with specific reference to Chomsky's work. Linguistic areas that should be explored in relation to acquisition are suggested, including regional dialect studies, the place of sociolinguistic factors in acquisition, and syntax. Suggestions as to how to analyze…

This article reports on a statistical study on the frequency of occurrence of different connectors between simple sentences as seen in texts written by elementary school children, as a function of parent education and occupation, social class and dwelling area of the child. (Text is in French.) (CDSH/CLK)

Reports on a diachronic study concerning the syntactic phenomena of coordination and subordination and their place in language acquisition. The organization and evolution of the coordination system of 4 children, ages 3-6 was studied. The need for investigation of adult speech for further understanding acquisition is stressed. (Text is in French.)…

A discussion of the child's language acquisition including examples of syntactic development. This analysis is introduced by references to various language theories, particularly the generative and psycholinguistic theories, and to various systems of syntactic description. The examples given raise questions on the theoretic and ideological levels.…

A sketch of the development of functionalism in relation to other linguistic theories and a brief analysis of the present state of the research. Topics covered are: form versus function; the impasse between distributional and transformational grammar; and transformational grammar according to Harris. (Text is in French.) (AMH)