Results of a statistical study of language in 30 infants suggest that two acquisition styles (nominal/pronominal and referential/expressive) are developing in parallel. Only for children heavily emphasizing one strategy can a distinctive style be determined. Results at 20 months were only partially predictive of performance at 28 months. (MSE)

The purpose of this study was to determine what effect exposure to linguistic input pertinent to kinship terms and kinship relations has on the acquisition of the meaning of such terms. The subjects were 84 German children living in families, and 84 orphans. (Author/CFM)

This volume brings to light: (1) studies on the effects of different ways of acquiring and teaching a second language; (2) psychological studies on lexical organization in the bilingual brain; (3) neurological research including more than 100 case studies of polyglot aphasics; and (4) original experimental research on language lateralization in…

The inductivist model of language acquisition was tested by comparing the linguistic development of impulsive kindergarten children with that of reflective children, who, in general, make fewer errors on inductive reasoning tasks. The 81 children sampled were tested with the Matching Familiar Figures Test and with measures of syntactic and…

A delay in the acquisition of morphology by a two-year-old Estonian-speaking boy was investigated to determine the role the child's bilingualism (with English) played in the delay. In contrast to his older sister, whose exposure to English was delayed, the boy exhibited a "whole word" approach to morphology, characterized by the following: (1)…

The use of formulaic speech is seen as a learning strategy in children's first language (L1) acquisition to a limited extent, and to an even greater extent in their second language (L2) acquisition. While the first utterances of the child learning L1 are mostly one-word constructions, many of them are routine words or phrases that the child learns…

Describes a computer program under development that is to be used as a tool for theory builders, teachers, and students in language learning. This is an interactive program and not only helps the learning of a language but also provides analysis on how language is learned. Questions if computers learn. (GG)

Analyzes the language acquisition of a bilingual (Estonian/English) child. Discusses his preference for acquiring whole words as opposed to inflections and offers several possible reasons for this particular learning strategy. (EKN)

An investigation was conducted of socioeconomic differences in the cognitive style and content of mother/child interaction, through the use of a task in which mothers attempted to get their children to point to the target item in an array of four pictures. Subjects were 32 mother/child dyads, half black and half white. Within each ethnic group,…

This collection provides a number of perspectives on the central role that language plays in reading comprehension. Following an introduction by the editor, entitled "Attention and Individual Differences in Comprehension," the following papers are presented: (1) "The Line of Sight Approach," by Norman H. Mackworth; (2)…

Perspectives of the field of psycholinguistics and second language research are examined to provide a broader understanding of language learning and language behavior. Psycholinguistics, which uses the approaches of psychology and linguistics is defined as the search for an understanding of how humans comprehend and produce language. Based on the…

Three groups of adult second language learners were administered written tests of their knowledge of the grammar, morphology, and/or phonology of the second language. The tests were designed to distinguish between recognition of correctness based on knowledge of rules and recognition based on intuitive familiarity with the language. In the first…

This compilation contains the following research reports on child language: (1) "Nouns: Love 'Em or Leave 'Em" by Dianne Horgan; (2) "Logic in Early Child Language" by Roy D. Pea; and (3) "Theories of the Child's Acquisition of Syntax: A Look at Rare Events and at Necessary, Catalytic, and Irrelevant Components of…

A discussion of word acquisition rates and strategies is based upon a 6-month case study of an Estonian-speaking child who gradually and systematically relaxed phonotactic constraints to allow greater complexity in word production. In addition to the cognitive tools of assimilation and accomodation as described by Piaget, the child used a further…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 29 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) aspects of the organization of redundancy rules in the lexicon; (2) the adult role in early child language acquisition; (3) semantic categorization,…