This panel discussion seeks to determine the role of babbling and of nonlinguistic behavior in language acquisition. A central question is whether there is a continuity between babbling and speech. The paper presents the views that: the infant's ability to assimilate and adapt to his environment antedates the maturation of his visual and auditory systems; generalization in infant cognitive behavior takes place before symbolization; babbling is systematic and reflects phonetic preferences found in later speech; from the physiological point of view babbling is an integral part of speech acquisition. The panel concludes that: a definition of terms is necessary; the variance between child and adult speech presents a special problem; neurological studies are relevant to language acquisition; there is a continuity between babbling and speech; and further research is needed. (AM)