This study was designed to identify specific language variables that could prove to be useful as predictors of a child's success in beginning reading. The study is theoretical in nature and provides background information that may be useful in future empirical investigations. A review of the literature on child language acquisition was conducted. Included in this thesis are an overview of generative-transformational grammar, a discussion of three popular theories of language acquisition, an outline of the sequential development of language, and a definition of reading as a psycholinguistic task. The search through the literature culminated in the identification of seven indices of linguistic maturity that appear to be worthy of future research in reading readiness. The selected variables included inflectional morphology, length of a unit composed of an independent clause and structures used to modify that clause (the unit is noted as a T-unit), ratio of dependent clause length to length of T-unit, ratio of sentence-combining transformations to T-units, total length of response (in words), number of different words used, and controlled type/token ratio. (Author/MKM)