Examines speech samples of a boy 2;4 to 2;11 to determine the relationship between speech disturbances and language production process development. Disfluencies were randomly distributed during the first half of the observation period, then concentrated in function words and sentence initial words, reflecting an emerging speech component dedicated…

Indicates that 18- to 20-month-old infants can detect the correspondence between auditorially and visually perceived speech; that is, they manifest some of the components related to lip-reading phenomena in adults. This demonstration of the bimodal perception of speech in infancy has important implications for social, cognitive, and linguistic…

Describes the transition from single to multiple word utterances in one child. The development illustrates the initial dissociation and later coordination of the temporal chaining of elements and meaning relatedness between elements and also the importance of repetition for the change from single-word utterances to meaning-related, multiword…

Discourse and conversational analysis methods were used in a qualitative reconstruction of one aspect of the regularities in the way 61 children "do" personal reference. Of particular interest was the development of two reference forms: minimization--preference for simple (one word) forms, or recipient design--reference forms indicating…

French-speaking children and adults heard silent comic-strip stories that differed by frame display mode, explicitness of the links between depicted events, and whether the topic changed on the last frame. Subjects' use of referents for the last frame indicated that manipulation of context was a good means of assessing speakers' acquisition of…

Examines elementary school-aged children's knowledge of directives. Presents findings of cross-sectional research which contrasted first-, third-, and fifth-grade students' comprehension, production of, and reasoning about directives varying in degree of explicitness. Indicates that children's knowledge of directives continues to develop during…

To determine the relationship between oral and written language conventions at the macro and micro levels, a study analyzed various elements of stories generated by children. Subjects, nine above average readers between grades 4 and 9, were asked to tell a story and then to write a story. Sources of stories, overall plot organization, and number…

One of several guides developed by the California Department of Education for caregivers in centers and family child care homes, this guide offers information based on current theory, research, and practice that will support the language development and communication of infants and toddlers and their families. Each of the five sections focuses on…