The stressing patterns of five preschool language-impaired children were investigated. Analysis of two-word utterances in language samples found that three subjects tended to stress words based on their position in the utterance; one child stressed words based on informativeness; and one of the subjects' preferences was unclear. (JDD)

Sixteen children, aged 7:8 to 9:10, learned 2 miniature languages differing in word order. Children found the Subject-Object-Verb language easier than the Verb-Subject-Object language; they also made more suffix errors and fewer word order errors in the Subject-Object-Verb language. (Author/DB)

Shares the literacy development of the author's son. Shows how the child used language for the following functions: instrumental, regulatory, interactional, personal, heuristic, imaginative, and representational. (MG)

The phonological systems of 40 functional misarticulators, ages 40-80 months, were examined in terms of the nature and variation of phonetic inventories and phonotactic constraints. Evidence suggests that these properties of disordered systems represent delays in the normal acquisition process and are not otherwise deviant. (Author/JDD)

Relates language acquisition theories regarding comprehension, early speech, and speech emergence within the Natural Approach, which returns language learning to the living context and maintains the isolated fragments of language as a whole, to those theories expressed in a comparison between the experience of an apprentice singer of tales to that…

Investigated the ability of six children at ages 24, 26, 28, 30, 33, and 36 months to understand the topic of talk not addressed to them. Analyzed children's intrusions into conversations between their mothers and older siblings. Results indicated that intrusions formed a considerable proportion of children's talk. (RJC)

Study of how the verbal component of "babytalk" affected three-month-olds' (N=40) vocal qualities suggested that conversational turn-taking facilitated a speak-listen pattern of infant vocalizations and indicated that what adults "say" to infants influences what infants "say" in response. (Author/CB)

Investigation into the relative effectiveness of four input strategies for two-year-olds' (N=56) category evolution found that the most effective strategy involved labelling an object and providing both a physical demonstration and a verbal description of important attributes. (Author/CB)

Four experiments which involved 160 children aged 2 to 19 investigate the mutual exclusivity bias in children's word learning. Results indicate that the bias develops after the second birthday but does not gain full strength or become accessible to consciousness until after the third birthday. (RJC)

Argues that a loss in general literacy occurs as the potential for imagery decreases through lack of understanding of the root meanings of words. Argues that the rich stores of imagery that contribute to English vocabulary are denied to those ignorant of the linguistic contributions to the English language. (RS)

This paper introduces the Government-Binding Theory of grammar and offers examples of the theory's use in areas of language development, child language disorders, and adult aphasia. Discussed are the levels of representation of Universal Grammar, subtheories that constrain the representations at each level, parameter setting, core grammar, and…

Argues for the relevance of the schema theoretic approach to the acquisition of first- and second-language phonology. (42 references) (JL)

Specifies language acquisition processes in terms of brain mechanisms to explain the variable success achieved by early and late learners and proposes a brain-based model for language acquisition on the basis of the literature. Two conditions for full acquisition of a language are motivation and grammatical ability. The neural underpinnings for…

This paper discusses the biological and social views of grammar with reference to recent research on grammar and language acquisition, arguing that grammars are individual constructs existing in the minds of individual speakers. Contains 24 references. (MDM)

Four word-learning studies exposed 2-year olds to novel verbs and nouns. Found that knowledge of what action or object was impending was not necessary for learning the words; children learned a novel verb for an intentional but not an accidental action; and children learned a novel noun for an object being sought, but not ones rejected while…