Recommends criteria for determining adequate sample size for the use of Mean Length of Utterance (MLU) as an indicator of early language development. (BD)

Data from four recent language studies are examined to explore issues in concept-word relationships. Issues considered include: lexical development, bases of application, single-word functions, semantic domains, categorizing through naming, and concept matching as a model of word learning. (JMB)

Proposed is a conceptual framework for analyzing aberrant or retarded language development in terms of specific process deficits in normal language acquisition. (Author/CL)

Identifies the cognitive sciences as fields of inquiry devoted to the understanding of knowledge in a broad sense. Provides an overview of psycholinguistics and the pattern of its relationship with other cognitive sciences. Questions what the cognitive sciences should be, and what approaches are to be adopted to understand cognition. (GEA)

Stressing pragmatics (the way a person uses language in psychosocial situations) in child language can help the teacher both in identifying what the child is ready to learn and providing appropriate instructional intervention. (DB)

A metalinguistic task involving the identification and revision of syntactic, semantic, and phonologic errors was administered to 10 normal and 10 language-disordered children (4-7 years old). Findings suggested that not only do language-disordered children take longer to understand and produce certain language forms, but they also take longer to…

Uses data from Toddler Sign Program, a nine-month program of bimodal input and assessment involving 25 handicapped and nonhandicapped toddlers (11 to 33 months old at program onset). Explores boundary conditions (most extreme conditions under which a phenomenon holds) of sign advantage phenomenon (where signs are learned earlier and more easily…

The linguistic environment of five prelinguistic children with Down's syndrome who were cognitively ready to talk was investigated. As predicted, the language of the mothers of the children with Down's syndrome differed significantly from that of the mothers of each of three groups of nonhandicapped children with regard to the functional language…

The study organized a large data archive gathered over eight years on 718 children with language disorders. Generally, primary research factors (53 variables representing IQ, language, history, socioeconomic status, physical/neurological, and social/emotional background) failed to account very well for language performance at program entry or…

Both "positive self" (in which students placed themselves in a specific relation to an object) and "positive object" (in which they placed an object in a specific relation to another object) were effective in four children's acquisition and generalization of prepositional concepts. The "positive object" required slightly fewer sessions. (CL)

The article examines clinical issues that must be considered in planning preschool language intervention aimed at integrating pragmatic theory into the treatment plan. The clinician's role in the process is examined, and solutions to problems in meeting individual needs within a group and being accountable are offered. (CL)

The study involving 35 normal preschoolers suggested that normal preschoolers appear to create faster mappings (rapid creating of lexical representations for unfamiliar words) containing a great deal of linguistic and nonlinguistic information on the basis of even brief, casual encounters with new words. (Author/CL)

The frequency of reduplication was examined in relation to syllable maintenance, final consonant production, and whole word repetitions in two preschool children with specific language impairments. Data suggested that reduplication may be a prognostic indicator of developmental rate, future difficulty with final consonants, and early childhood…