Reports part of a continuing project to develop a theory of children's first-language acquisition using computer modeling techniques. Notes the correspondence of structures formed by the computer program with recognized structures in English. Discusses anomalies in the program's performance. (RL)

The pragmatic and semantic categories used by Ss varied across age groups. Results are discussed with regard to age, expressive modality, mean length of utterances, and hearing loss. There was much variation among these parameters in communicative development across Ss. (Author/DLS)

Social and communicative behavior of 28 preschoolers, some developmentally delayed, was classified under various conditions by four observers. Inter-observer agreements from observations of developmentally delayed and normal children were compared. No significant differences were found. Results are discussed in terms of reliability problems in…

Argues that the extent of a child's sense of story influences the child's prediction of syntax and comprehension. Suggests ways for teachers to encourage children to develop their sense of story. (RL)

Surveys recent research in language acquisition, emphasizing the views of M. A. K. Halliday. (RL)

Examines recent attempts to explain children's word use and selection through recourse to information theory. It is concluded that information theory cannot account for the complexities involved in early word selection. (AM)

Reports on a study investigating the relationship between children's linguistic environment and language acquisition. In particular, the study examined the effect of mothers' speech on subsequent child speech. (Author/AM)

This article discusses a study designed to obtain some information regarding the nature of the awareness children have of their own articulatory activity and the level of mental development at which this awareness appears. (Author/CFM)

The magnitudes and patterns of two-point difference limens (DL) of the tongue were studied in children with and without articulation errors. Many children with misarticulation of /r/ had DLs that differed in magnitude and pattern from those of children with normal articulation and those with misarticulations of /s/. (NCR)

Reports on two experiments, one performed on infants, the other on adults, designed to examine the issue of categorical perception of speech contrasts in infants in relation to linguistic processing and the innateness theory of speech perception. (AM)

This article discusses how and when children acquire and master various speech styles, and specifically deals with the development of sex-specific speech as influenced by role expectations. (CLK)

Discusses the introduction of English FL teaching into the primary school, including creating motivation for speaking, for the individual, group and class: use of songs and games, dialogue, combining speaking and acting, and the place of the textbook in primary school English teaching. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

When speaking to young children just acquiring language, parents employ certain appropriate language features. Parental speech in English and Spanish was analyzed for presence and distribution of these features. Differences were noted, yet there was a high degree of similarity across parents and languages for frequently occuring features. (CHK)

Adult expansion of child utterances can serve as a communication check and as a base for child language research. Inappropriate expansion may be corrected by the child if it changes his meaning, or may be ignored, if word order or phonetics appeared correct to the child. (CHK)

The speech of two mothers to their infants between three and eighteen months was analyzed. Simplicity of speech was about the same at all ages, not showing abrupt change as children began to talk. It is suggested that mothers used a conversational model and changes reflect children's growing conversational ability. (CHK)