Challenges the claim that adult second language acquisition is characteristically different, cognitively, from that of child first or second language acquisition. (PMP)

Discusses the role of the home and the school in remedying language problems of the culturally disadvantaged. (RB)

A very basic feature of learning is the translation of what is heard or seen into a form that can be sotred in memore. This process of translation will be considered in relation to reception and as a possible cause of differences in learning performance. (Author)

Discusses the relationship between psycholinguistics and the teaching of French and offers suggestions for improving teaching methods. (PM)

Reports on preliminary attempts to find a set of non-linguistic categories in minimally verbal infants. A methodology suitable for the presentation of semantically-defined concepts (agent and recipient) was developed. (Author/ED)

This paper analyzes the play language of Tzeltal children and their extensive use of metaphor. The ability to use figurative language early is significant for a child's ability to extend command of language and expression. (CHK)

The goal of this article is to give a survey of the literature and theoretical trends relevant to language acquisition. Developments in the fields of psychology, psycholinguistics, sociology, sociolinguistics and in various interdisciplinary studies are discussed. (Text is in French.) (CLK)

Reports on a study to determine the origin, development, and use of the comparative in children ages 2-7. The role of adult-child interaction in acquisition is discussed. Tabulated results show that the comparative is used infrequently by young children. (Text is in French.) (CLK)

Questions asked in five play sessions by each of eight children aged 1.6 to 3.0 were analyzed for usage of the wh-interrogatives. About 93% of utterances using "what" and "where" were formulaic constructions (e.g., "Where's NP?" and "What's that thing?"). In order to determine whether children were…

Early bilingualism of many young children is characterized by an apparent mixture of languages. Because of the variety of patterns they follow and the lack of empirical data available it is difficult to make generalizations. However, the speech of individual children can be examined for insights into early bilingualism. To this purpose, a study…

This brief overview of child language acquisition begins with a discussion of the affective and cognitive dimensions of the transition period from babbling to speech. Three theories of language acquisition--reinforcement theory, social learning theory, and "innate mechanism" theory--are reviewed. Several theories of the function of language,…

Six Samoan children ranging in age from 2 to 16 were the subjects of a study to document the spontaneous production of the deictic verbs "sau" ("to come") and "aumai" ("to bring/give"). "Aumai" appears to be used before "sau" and is generally used more frequently than "sau." Imperatives with "aumai" tend to be directed to higher status persons or…

This review of research into the acquisition of grammatical coordination (i.e., the use of conjunctions) pulls together both English language and cross-linguistic data. Although the importance of pragmatic factors in language acquisition is not denied, the data make it clear that grammatical factors seem to play a significant role in the…