Conventional implicatures are omnipresent in daily life communication but experimental research on this topic is sparse, especially research with children. The aim of this study was to investigate if eight- to twelve-year-old children spontaneously make the conventional implicature induced by "but," "so," and…

This article looks into why infants learn to talk, using a series of illustrative proposals as to the short- and long-term consequences to the infant behaviors that lead to linguistic competence. The goal of the article is to encourage investigation of behavioral dispositions that nudge the child toward proficiency in the use of the spoken…

The ability to understand references to the absent enables conversation to move beyond the here-and-now to matters distant in both space and time. Such understanding requires appreciating the relation between language and communicative intent: one must recognize speakers' intentions to use language to converge on a shared conversational focus that…

Describes a study done to determine whether the degree of children's familiarity with component words was related to (1) their ability to produce productive patterns as opposed to associative and grouping patterns, and (2) their ability to use broader scope rather than lexically based patterns. (SED)

In this longitudinal study, changes in parental labelling and infants' categorization skills were examined as potential predictors of vocabulary acquisition, the age of the naming explosion, and the acquisition of subordinate labels. Findings suggest that the influence of each factor varies as a function of the stage and aspect of lexical…

Describes a lexical training program developed to teach object, visible movement, and invisible movement words to children at stage 5 (N=7) and stage 6 (N=16) object permanence development. Stage 6 children learned all three types of words equally well, while stage 5 children learned object and visible movement but not invisible movement words.…

Provides longitudinal observations of young children's behaviors while viewing television in their own homes when the children were actively involved in the process of language acquisition. The observations show an overwhelming and consistent occurrence of language-related behaviors among children and parents in the viewing situation. (Author/SED)

Investigates the potential interaction of conceptual representations and linguistic systems during language acquisition. The study examined language-thought interactions in American, Finnish and Polish children, focusing on the conceptual and linguistic development of space and time. Findings reveal that spatial and temporal linguistic systems and…