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…

The continuity in development of syllable duration patterns was examined in seven young children as they progressed from preword to multiword periods of vocalization development. Results revealed no systematic increase or decrease in the duration of bisyllables produced by the children as a group, whereas lengthening of final syllables was…

A review of research leads to the proposal that infants' perception of "fragile" contrasts is lost due to their lack of exposure to particular sounds. Perception of "robust" contrasts is lost around the onset of formal language training due to children's lack of experience with phonologically irrelevant sounds. (Author/CB)

This bibliography contains references to materials relating to language learning and development in the young child, specifically, speaking and understanding language. Receptive, communicative and expressive language as well as particular facets of language imitation and production are topics included. Reference materials are listed in four major…

The development of the Conversational Unit (CU) was investigated in a semilongitudinal study of three mother/son dyads in nonstructured spontaneous communication. The children were 19 to 23 months old at the start of the investigation. Sound films were recorded monthly during bathing and feeding times. After four months, verbal and nonverbal…

The PLS-4 (Preschool Language Scale, 4th edition) is a psychometrically sound instrument constructed to assess language skills in children from birth to 6 years 11 months. It is a useful diagnostic and research tool that can be used to identify current comprehension and expressive language skills and can measure changes in language skills over…

Consonant harmony, a complex phonological assimilation in which segments (usually consonants, but sometimes even vowels) become identical, which occurs in the speech of young children and adult aphasics, is analyzed, particularly as it occurs in Finnish-speakers. Consonant harmony has an articulatory basis: it is a trend toward repetition of the…