Two studies of the innovative semantic distinctions and innovative uses before the acquisition of conventional number classifiers by young Japanese children (aged 5-7 years) are discussed. The findings suggest that lexical acquisition is an intricate process which often requires more than simple mappings of forms onto categories, and that…

A rating instrument for describing nine structural characteristics of written compositions is presented and explained. (JH)

The purpose of this study was to gather information on the acquisition of non-Indo-European languages. The field work was conducted in the village of Faleasao on the island of Ta'u in the Manu'a group of American Samoa from June, 1968 to June, 1969. The data collected consists primarily of tape recordings of naturally occurring and elicited speech…

A longitudinal study investigated early syntactic forms in child language; this paper reports on findings dealing with differences in approach to syntactic acquisition. Seven children aged 16-20 months were the subjects, and audio or video tapes were made once every three weeks beginning prior to the development of syntax. Data collection…

The use of "have,""got,""have got," and alternate forms was investigated in the speech of Anglo and black grade-school children from lower and middle income neighborhoods in Los Angeles. Techniques were devised to elicit multiple occurrences of the construction, including questions and negatives. One technique used was a convergent communication…

A framework which considers speech and language as separate entities in a symbiotic relationship is presented, and basic questions are raised concerning how speech and language function together and what their reciprocal effects are. Based on the notion that speech and language are independent, various examples of speech without language and of…

The major purpose of this paper is to initiate discussion on the validity of systematic phonemics in the area of language acquisition. This is not an attempt to write a phonology, but rather an outline of some theoretical and formal devices that may be used for gaining insight into the phonological system of the child. An evaluation procedure…

The monograph under review is a study of the acquisition of certain complex linguistic structures by children over the age of five. After a short introduction, Chomsky describes in chapter 2 the linguistic properties of four types of constructions: (1) John is eager to see; John is easy to see; (2) John promised Bill to shovel the driveway; John…

Verbs (4800) from 1200 compositions written by Nebraska students (grades 3-6) were examined using the most sophisticated grammatical analysis available to determine children's use of the English verb system and to compare their use to recent studies of the verb in adult writing. Information obtained included the following items: Children used…

This study describes the segmental phonemes of five 4-year-old speakers of Black English, and analyzes both their language development and ethnic characteristics. The study group of Negro children, born and living in Washington, D.C., came from homes that met two of three specified criteria based on the mother's education and family income. The…

Thirteen Mexican-American children in Corpus Christi, Texas, most approximately six years old, were interviewed in Spanish for the purpose of establishing the phonology of their dialect. The linguistic competence of the children, not their performance, was of primary interest. A phonological chart was devised based on the data derived from the…

Recent research indicates that interaction patterns between parent and child change according to the increasing language skill of the child. These patterns are linguistically summarized here. All are correlated with the child's age, but many relationships are still unexplored. (Author/KM)

A phenomenon called "pragmatic variation" is discussed as a child's individual system of behavior in response to a question the child doesn't understand but realizes that he must verbalize an answer to. (NCR)

The system of deriving baby speech from adult speech is discussed. The theory is based on the system of consonantal replacements. (NCR)

Examination of the productive narrative competence of three five-year-olds revealed that the children routinely and regularly produced a striking variety of 14 narrative forms. Seventy percent of the narratives took anecdotal form, and original fantasy narratives occurred only rarely. (Author/CB)