How do young infants discover word meanings? We have theorized that caregivers educate infants' attention (cf. Gibson, J.J., 1966) by synchronizing the saying of a word with a dynamic gesture displaying the object/referent (Zukow-Goldring, 1997). Detecting an amodal invariant across gesture and speech brackets the word and object within the…

This paper investigates the nature of the substitutions used for the dental fricatives (/theta/ and /eth/) by Dutch learners of English as a second language. By means of an OT analysis, the underlying reasons for the difficulties encountered with these sounds are brought to light. The present data reveal that phonetics (or acoustics) rather than…

Paper presented before the Indiana University Linguistics Club on May 13, 1971, in Bloomington, Indiana. (VM)

Discusses the strategies that a child might employ during the one-word stage in constructing an early lexicon. An attempt is made to shed light on some strategies by analyzing the lexical and phonological development of two children who seem to take opposite approaches. (Author/JL)

Reports on a study of the color terms used in Setswana. The study compared terms used by children with those of adults and those used by people from rural areas with those used by people from urban areas. Results show a move away from traditional Setswana color terms toward the use of borrowed English terms, particularly among the young and…

Reports on a study of the early lexical acquisition of two children who acquired Spanish and English simultaneously. Data provide strong counter evidence to Faingold's (1996) proposal that children acquiring languages not closely related tend to favor a reduction strategy, whereas those acquiring closely related languages favor a maintenance…