Finds that stories are used considerably in early education to develop various aspects of both language and conceptual learning. Analyzes how one storytelling experience in a classroom for ages 5-6 provided a whole range of opportunities for developing relevant and meaningful learning, particularly for bilingual learners--the story itself becomes…

Investigated whether and when children establish various semantic relations between old and new words. Fifty 2-year olds were taught labels for objects previously referred to by an overextended term. Findings are discussed in light of theories of lexical development, particularly with regard to conceptualizations of constraints on the acquisition…

Describes the "Message Board" activity in a preschool classroom (a voluntary sharing of important events or messages on large or student-sized chalkboards). Describes its three stages of learning; how to do it; social interaction; language development; and how it guides emergent literacy and is part of a developmental process. (SR)

This study evaluated the ability of 21 children (ages 5 and 6) with specific language impairment (SLI) to use verbs which can alternate between transitive and intransitive contexts to indicate or relinquish cause. SLI children were proficient in lexically alternating verbs, yet provided fewer passive and periphrastic constructions and more…

This study examined falling tone and final syllable lengthening in the spontaneous speech of 10 4-year-old children with specific language impairment (SLI). The falling tone was observed in 9 of the 10 SLI children, despite deficits in segmental phonology, morphosyntax, and mean length of utterance, suggesting a possible dissociation between…

This paper tested a theory of syllable prominence with 11 children (ages 11 to 26 months). The theory proposes that syllable prominence is a product of two orthogonal suprasegmental systems: stress/accent peaks and phrase boundaries. Use of the developed prominence scale found it parsimoniously accounted for observed biases in syllable omissions…

Describes the cornerstone of traditional descriptive grammars as the construction (a recurrent patterns of linguistic elements that serves a communicative function), examining argument structure constructions, verbs and constructions, and implications for studying language development. Discusses Adele Goldberg's recent book, which develops the…

Presents the responses of 12 authors to Michael Tomasello's essay, which comments on Adele Goldberg's recent book, "Constructions: A Construction Grammar Approach to Argument Structure." Goldberg's book develops the theory of construction grammar for a set of problems associated with verb-argument structure. (SM)

Responds to 12 commentators who commented on an essay by the author about Adele Goldberg's recent book, "Constructions: A Construction Grammar Approach to Argument Structure," which develops the theory of construction grammar for a set of problems associated with verb-argument structure. (SM)

Examines the relationship between consciousness, language learning, and social interaction from an ecological perspective. Argues that consciousness and language are integral parts of the human ecology, that is, they can be defined in terms of social activity and relationships among people, as well as in terms of mental operations or cerebral…

Develops a model of language change characterizing the dynamic interaction between internal universal grammar and external linguistic evidence, as mediated by language acquisition. Borrows insights from the study of biological evolution, where internal and external forces interact in similar fashion. Applies the model to explore the loss of the…

Fifty-seven children (ages 5-8) with and without specific language impairment (SLI) participated in judgment and elicitation tasks designed to evaluate their understanding of irregular verb forms. Differences between SLI and control children were observed in their productions and relative levels of sensitivity to infinitive errors in finite…

Reports the results of an interpretive task showing that both native speakers of French and English-speaking classroom learners of French exhibit knowledge of the event sensitivity associated with quantification at a distance. Argues that such knowledge seems reliably acquirable only if both first language and second language acquisition are…

Examines a mixed pattern of subject omission in Hebrew. Longitudinal data is presented from three children whose first and only language is Hebrew. Findings show very early acquisition of the null subject system. (Author/VWL)

Describes the education of Laura Bridgman, the first deaf and blind person to communicate through language, examining the work of Samuel Gridley Howe, Perkins Institute for the Blind director, as he tested his ideas on: human nature and cognition; the philosophical debates of antebellum U.S. culture; early attempts at empirical psychological…