If the question of what it is that is innate is simply left as some kind of human learning potential, this position, representative of the nativist philosophy, does not differ radically from that of behaviorists. The latter position holds that a human being starts out with a mind which is basically empty and receptive to, subject to, and the…

Paralinguistic and kinesic expression begin at birth and are essential to the development of language. Rhythm, for example, a suprasegmental event, appears to be present at birth or prior to birth. The relationship of physiology to communication is evident in the observations of extra-linguistic aspects of communication, such as movement, the use…

Describes specific changes in children's conversational abilities in early childhood, which may in turn serve to alter how their partners judge their abilities to understand. The evidence regarding the level and types of changes in adult speech to children as the child's ability changes is also addressed. (EJS)

Discusses the shortcomings of the morpheme order approach in first and second language acquisition research, and proposes instead the notion of developmental sequence, drawing on examples from data on four German children learning English naturalistically. (Author/AM)

Rebuts an article that claimed to overthrow the authors' 1969 findings. It is demonstrated that the original study concerned syntactic organization and that interpretation of it as bearing on comprehension is largely unjustified. Comments on their prior work in light of new developments in child language are included. (EJS)

A longitudinal study of three children examined the relation between object permanence and language development. (Author/NCR)

Analysis of the babbling of five infants indicated that between 14 and 40 percent of utterances recurred in particular contexts with a greater than expected frequency, suggesting that babbling is not entirely random but contains consistent sound-meaning relationships that are not adult-modeled. (Author/CB)

Describes the reading development of a child of average mental ability but with visual memory, auditory memory, and auditory discrimination problems. Concludes that instruction should be tailored to the child's level of development in order to maintain the child's positive attitudes and to progress in reading and writing achievement. (SRT)

Research on child language acquisition should distinguish between different possible causes of variation and not just attribute variation to individual variation. An alternative analysis using a different methodology can show that children's patterns of acquisition are actually relatively similar. (Author/CB)

Comparison of maternal speech to three-month-olds between American (N=20) and Japanese (N=20) mother-infant dyads revealed that infant gaze affected the intended functions of maternal speech differently for the two groups. Cultural differences were also seen in the nature of function-form and function-referent relationships. (Author/CB)

Examination of the transition to purposive use of intonation with single words for two infants revealed that both clearly used rising tones to ask questions by 1.5 years of age and demonstrated widespread and gradual grammatical use of intonation. (Author/CB)

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…

Examines questions related to whether children with severe learning disabilities go through the same developmental stages as children without such problems, or whether they develop along different lines. Explores the "delay" versus "deviance" issue in relation to linguistic development in children with Down's syndrome. Looks…

Explores the underlying knowledge that children have about the relationship between the structure of requests and the relative status of speakers and listeners. Shows that the three age groups (preschoolers, 5-year-olds, and 10-year-olds) could systematically differentiate the requests by means of syntactic directness or semantics. (HOD)

Records the progress of an educationally disadvantaged immigrant child in a literacy workshop for fifth graders, including the teacher's observations of what the child read and wrote. Claims that writing requires more attention in the classroom to help children develop a coherent mental picture of themselves and their place in the world. (JD)