This study analyzes and compares the Spanish utterances of children between 2.0 and 4.6 years of age. The focus is on two aspects of children's speech: the production of verb tenses and the use of temporal expressions, such as adverbs of time. Four Spanish-speaking children, two male and two female, were interviewed for a total of two hours…

Jean Piaget's ideas regarding symbolic function are expanded in this paper to provide a model to use in distinguishing between general symbolic versus specific linguistic deficits in language disordered children (whose disorders are not due primarily to intellectual, sensory, motor, or social-emotional deficits). In applying this model to the…

There are two kinds of hereditary influence, genetic inheritance and biological inheritance, that may respond to environmental determinants. The ability to speak is one genetically produced aspect of being human, and research studies based on the assumption that speech is innate to humans have found that infants appear to pay particular attention…

Piaget's research on the processes and products of cognitive and representational development in early childhood is employed to outline the bases of early language development. The processes of assimilation and accommodation, leading to horizontal decalage; empirical and reflective abstraction, resulting in schemas and schemes; as well as…

This paper suggests that language study focus its attention more on the pedagogical needs of educators by offering them a more comprehensive dialectical and unifying theory of language development that could then present the process as a holistic endeavor instead of as a set of separate linguistic acquisitions. Specifically, it suggests the use…

In the framework of Transactional Analysis, there are three ego states, the Parent, Child, and Adult. Students' enthusiasm for learning is directly related to the health of their Child ego state. Since the Adult ego state exemplifies the rational part, schools can be seen as organized to further the functioning of this state. An examination of…

Various approaches to language assessment of the preschool child are reviewed, and the use of language sample analysis as part of a language assessment package is considered. The pros and cons of such approaches as checklists, screening tests, and language sample analysis are considered. Procedures for administering the language sample analysis…

The paper--half of which consists of appended charts, data, and the like--reports on two studies investigating the listening preferences of normal and Down's syndrome infants for recordings of adult speech to a normal 18 month old in contrast to adult speech to another adult. In the first study, Ss in both groups were 12, 15, and 18 months of age.…

THE OBJECTIVE OF THE REPORT WAS TO INVESTIGATE AND EVALUATE CHILDREN, K-6, IN LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT--ITS USE, CONTROL, AND EFFECTIVENESS IN ORAL, WRITTEN, AND READING COMMUNICATION. THE STUDY WAS ALSO CONCERNED WITH DEVELOPING FUNDAMENTAL METHODS OF ANALYSIS TO AID THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF CHILDREN'S LANGUAGE FOR THE FUTURE. THE SAMPLES OF LANGUAGE…

THIS IS THE FIRST MAJOR SECTION OF A CHAPTER PREPARED FOR "THE MANUAL OF CHILD PSYCHOLOGY," P.H. MUSSEN, EDITOR, IN PREPARATION. IT IS AN INTRODUCTION TO TRANSFORMATIONAL GRAMMAR WRITTEN FOR PSYCHOLOGISTS AND PRESENTS SOME OF THE MAJOR IDEAS THAT HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED IN MODERN LINGUISTIC THEORY, ALONG WITH CERTAIN OF THEIR PSYCHOLOGICAL…

THIS BULLETIN CONSISTS OF EXCERPTS OF FORMAL TALKS PRESENTED AT A CONFERENCE ON IMPROVING THE BASIC ENGLISH SKILLS OF CULTURALLY DIFFERENT YOUTH IN LARGE CITIES. ITS PURPOSE IS TO HELP TEACHERS, SUPERVISERS, ADMINISTRATOR, AND OTHER EDUCATORS IN RECOGNIZING AND IMPROVING THE UNIQUE PROBLEMS WHICH ARISE IN TEACHING THESE DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN. A…

The speech of three Quiche Mayan children aged 2;1, 2;9, and 3;0 was monitored for the acquisition of the distinction between ergative and absolutive person markers. The children were found not to confuse markers, but to use either the appropriate one or none at all. The one exception to this rule, when analyzed, indicates that children grasp the…

The adjacent utterances of three mothers and their children, aged 22.5 to 26.5 months, were recorded and analyzed. Each mother was found most frequently to express the same semantic-syntactic relation as did her child in the preceding utterance. This correspondence appeared to be independent of the parent utterance which preceded the matching…

Children aged three to six were shown drawings of three objects that were identical except for differences in size in one or both dimensions. Each child was asked to determine if one object was the tallest. A missing feature model was not supported, since a child was often correct for some items and incorrect for others. Errors were partially…

The spontaneous speech of seven children was monitored for "wh" questions. The children were observed longitudinally from about age 24 to 36 months. The pattern of development with regard to the deletion of non-obligatory verbs revealed that "what,""where," and "who" questions presented increasing verb…