THIS FIELD MANUAL WAS DEVELOPED AS PART OF A PROGRAM TO TRAIN INVESTIGATORS IN THE COLLECTION OF COMPARABLE CROSS-LINGUISTIC AND CROSS-CULTURAL DATA ON CHILDREN'S ACQUISITION OF LINGUISTIC CODES AND SOCIAL RULES FOR THE USE OF SUCH CODES. ALTHOUGH COMPARATIVE RESEARCH REQUIRES PROCEDURAL STANDARDIZATION, THE PHYSICAL AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS IN THE VARIOUS FIELD SETTINGS INTERFERE WITH STANDARDS SET PRIOR TO ARRIVAL IN THE FIELD. THIS MANUAL CONSTITUTES A COMMON FRAME OF REFERENCE FOR INVESTIGATORS COLLECTING DATA THAT IS TO BE USED IN COMPARATIVE REPORTS. PART I OF THIS MANUAL DEFINES THE MAJOR TOPICS TO BE INVESTIGATED AND SETS UP A RESEARCH SCHEDULE. PART II DISCUSSES SUCH METHODOLOGICAL FACTORS AS CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF LANGUAGES AND CULTURES, RECORDING APPARATUS AND TECHNIQUES, AND NATIVE INFORMANTS, ASSISTANTS AND INTERPRETERS. THE THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS INCLUDED IN PART III ARE PHONOLOGY, GRAMMAR, SEMANTICS, THE SOCIAL SETTING OF LINGUISTIC BEHAVIOR, AND LANGUAGE USAGES AND STYLES. APPENDED ARE EXTENSIVE REFERENCES AND ADDITIONAL SUGGESTED FIELD TECHNIQUES. THE READER OF THE MANUAL SHOULD HAVE SOME KNOWLEDGE OF LINGUISTICS BUT NEED NOT HAVE CONDUCTED PREVIOUS FIELD WORK. REQUESTS FOR COPIES OF THE MANUAL AND FOR TAPES TO BE USED IN PHONOLOGICAL IMITATION PROCEDURES, AND INFORMATION ABOUT RELEATED STUDIES SHOULD BE ADDRESSED TO DR. DAN I. SLOBIN, DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA 94720. (JD)