Because socialization in terms of language behavior is the pivot for all other socialization, great emphasis is being placed in the linguistic determinants of cognition, and the influence of parents' language on child language and cognition. The same life conditions that foster dialect differences may be presumed to lead to semantic differences. At simple levels of discourse, difficulties in communication may be minimal, but semantic differences, when added to phonological and dialect differences, may have very serious consequences for the reading instruction of young children. Much evidence suggests that from first grade on there are widening gaps between the language of children from poverty environments and those from middle class groups. Word association research suggests specific kinds of deficits, particularly in consolidation of verbs and adverbs. There may be a lack of environmental forces to encourage semantic development which not only causes reading deficits but rules out reading as a source of semantic enrichment. The author describes studies in word association of black and white inner city children, compared with rural Maryland and old order Amish children. She suggests developing semantic structures through schools games which provide drill on particular skills, and more mixing of students in the school and the community. (AMM)