Reviews research on contributions of the child's environment to the development of syntax and semantics. Current theoretical proposals for internal and external constraints are discussed, and the implications of the research for the theoretical descriptions of the child's contribution to development are considered. (RH)

Experimental research on the environmental conditions that promote generative language learning is reviewed. Recombinative generalization is introduced as a process that enables individuals to express and to comprehend novel utterances. This review focuses on the use of a miniature linguistic system paradigm to explore how recombinative…

Examined the strength of the association between language exposure estimates and vocabulary learning for simultaneous bilingual infants with differing patterns of exposure to the languages being learned. Findings revealed that the correlation was strong, even for children whose language environments changed by more than 20% between observations.…