Intra-word phonological variability in young children.
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Child Language↗
Biomedical subjects
L B Leonard
Publications and source records attributed to L B Leonard.
Do children pick and choose? An examination of phonological selection and avoidance in early lexical acquisition.
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Concept Formation↗
Development in the use and understanding of polite forms in children.
In two experiments, children's use and understanding of polite forms and the relationship these abilities share with an ability to adopt the perspective of another were examined. Development in the understanding of polite forms seemed best characterized as sensitivity to the function of these forms in an increasing number of sentence types. Development in the use of polite forms could be viewed as an increasing tendency to produce more than one polite form in the same utterance and to use a wider variety of interrogative types when expressing politeness. Emergence of the use and understanding of politeness in speech at age 3 seemed related to an emerging ability to adopt the perspective of another. However, development of politeness beyond this age seemed related only to a form of perspective taking in which knowledge of social roles plays a part.
Child↗
Early lexical acquisition in children with specific language impairment.
This study examined the characteristics of early lexical acquisition in children with specific language impairment. Sixteen unfamiliar words and referents were exposed across 10 sessions to language-impaired and normal children matched for level of linguistic development. Posttesting revealed similar comprehension-production gaps in the two groups of children. In addition, both groups showed greater comprehension and production of words referring to objects than words referring to objects than words referring to actions. However, the language-impaired children's object word bias was not as marked as that of the normal children. For both groups, words containing initial consonants within the children's production repertoires were more likely to be acquired in production than words containing consonants absent from the children's phonologies. A similar tendency was not seen for comprehension.
Child, Preschool↗
Speech style modifications of language-impaired children.
Six language-impaired children, each having a mean length of utterance (MLU) greater than 3.0, were observed in dyadic interactions with (1) normal-language children of similar chronological ages and (2) normal-language children who were younger but exhibited similar MLUs. Eight measures analyzing overall sentence complexity, sentence form, and features of discourse were used to compare the subjects' linguistic behaviors in the two conditions. Across conditions, the subjects made changes in their speech that were consistent with the speech style modifications made by normal-language children observed in earlier interaction studies. Lower Mean Pre-Verb Length, a greater degree of conversational assertiveness, and a higher frequency of Internal-State Questions were characteristic of the subjects in the MLU-matched condition as compared to the age-matched condition. Diagnostic and therapy considerations are discussed in view of these findings.
Age Factors↗
Sensorimotor development and the use of prelinguistic performatives.
Thirty-two children participated in a study designed to determine the effects of sensorimotor training on proto-declarative and proto-imperative performative behavior. The children were randomly assigned to training on means-end schemes, training on relating to objects schemes, training on both means-end and relating to objects, or to a control condition involving no training. Results indicated that relating to objects schemes training was successful. Also, a greater degree of performative usage was seen in the relating to objects training group. These results offer relatively strong evidence for a relationship between these sensorimotor and communicative abilities.
Child Language↗
Again and again: reduplication in child phonology.
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Child Language↗
Early phonological behavior in normal-speaking and language disordered children: evidence for a synergistic view of linguistic disorders.
Various aspects of the phonological behavior of three normal-speaking and three language disordered children, matched on the basis of mean utterance length, sex, and cognitive development, were compared. The children's spontaneous speech was analyzed to reveal selection constraints inferred from characteristics of the adult form of the words attempted by the child, production constraints inferred from characteristics of the children's productions, phonological processes, and five dimensions of phonological variability. While some individual variation was noted, no substantial group differences were revealed. The phonologies of the normal-speaking and language disordered children were strikingly similar. The implications of these similarities are discussed in terms of a synergistic view of linguistic disorders and remediation.
Child Language↗
The use of grammatical morphemes by normal and language-impaired children.
An examination was made of the grammatical morpheme usage of normal children and language-impaired children matched at two different levels of mean utterance length. The language-impaired children displayed less grammatical morpheme usage than the normal children with equivalent mean utterance length. However, no use of alternative features of semantic importance by the language-impaired children was noted, suggesting that no unique patterns for acquiring language were in operation. Instead, it appears that the language-impaired children may have attached less communicative significance to grammatical morphemes.
Child↗
Children's judgments of utterance appropriateness.
Judgments of utterance appropriateness were examined in 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-year olds to examine the bases for these judgments in a variety of social contexts. The results indicated that the 4- and 5-year olds based their judgments in part on factors such as the available nonlinguistic evidence supporting the utterance and the types of evaluative terms used in the utterance. The judgments of the 6-year olds more closely resembled those of a group of adults, but their judgments were not yet free of some of the factors operative for the younger children. The findings are discussed in terms of the illocutionary and conversational characteristics of the stimulus utterances.
Adult↗
Communicative and sensorimotor development of Down's syndrome children.
Imperative and declarative performative behavior was examined in nonretarded and Down's syndrome children operating at two stages of sensorimotor intelligence. In both groups, more advanced types of performative behavior generally associated with a higher sensorimotor stage. Relative to the nonretarded children of the same sensorimotor stages, the Down's syndrome children relied more heavily on gestures in their imperative and declarative usage. Evidence was also obtained suggesting that the correspondence between sensorimotor stage and performative behavior is closer at younger ages than at older ages.
Adolescent↗
Children's imitations of lexical items.
3 experiments are reported in which the role of imitation in the acquisition of certain lexical items and factors influencing children's tendency to imitate these lexical items were examined. Imitation did not appear to facilitate the subsequent spontaneous use of lexical items. However, children's tendency to imitate lexical items appeared to be influenced by the novelty of the lexical item and its referent, the informativeness of the referent in the situation, and the lexical orientation of the children. The results are consistent with the interpretation that children's imitations involve the use of a supplied and previously unavailable lexical item under circumstances where lexical usage is highly probable.
Humans↗
Lexical usage of retarded children: an examination of informativeness.
Retarded children's lexical usage was examined as a function of informativeness. The children were most likely to both label and imitate when the referent objects were informative in the presentation sequence. The frequency of labeling and imitation was particularly high when the informative element was an object exemplar that had not been seen before. The results were discussed in terms of the presuppositional abilities seemingly demonstrated by the children and the implications these abilities have for intervention programs.
Child, Preschool↗
Aphasics' comprehension of contextually conveyed meaning.
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Adult↗
Experimental acquisition of wh-questions in language-disordered children.
Twenty-four language-disordered children were trained, through modeling with a problem-solving set, to produce a question form involving a wh- word-who, what, or where-in a structure requiring either auxiliary is or auxiliary does. Results indicated the subsequent use of the trained auxiliary across wh- words and, to a lesser extent, the subsequent use of untrained as well as trained wh- words. These results suggest that the training of one multioperation structure may result in the acquisition of two partially independent linguistic operations. Such patterns of acquisition could result in an increase in the efficiency of language training.
Child↗
Language and sensorimotor development during the early period of referential speech.
The relation between sensorimotor attainments and linguistic development in children using referential speech at the single- and two-word utterance levels was examined. When age was controlled, the sensorimotor task performance of normal children who produced two-word utterances was highly similar to that of normal children limited to single-work utterances. Identical findings were observed for language-disordered children functioning at the single- and two-word utterance levels. In addition, several children's performances on the sensorimotor tasks were below the level previously thought necessary for the emergence of referential speech. The position is taken that the relationship between sensorimotor development and linguistic development is not as close as has been presumed.
Child Development↗
Understanding indirect requests: an investigation of children's comprehension of pragmatic meanings.
Two experiments examined four-, five-, and six-year-old children's understanding of indirect requests. The experimental tasks required the children to judge the appropriateness of a listener's response to indirect requests involving an affirmative syntactic construction (Can you shut the door?), requests containing a negative element (Can't you answer the phone?), and requests for the state of affairs mentioned in the predicate to be changed (Must you play the piano?). Even the youngest age group exhibited an understanding of the first two types of indirect requests. However, only the six year olds showed any understanding of requests for a change in the state of affairs mentioned in the predicate. Possible factors responsible for children's difficulty with these requests are discussed.
Age Factors↗
An examination of the semantic relations reflected in the language usage of normal and language-disordered children.
Language samples were obtained from 40 children in order to examine semantic relations reflected in language usage as a function of chronological age (three and five years) and linguistic status (normal and language disordered). Normal-disordered comparisons were made under both matched utterance length and matched age conditions. Results are interpreted as supporting the notion that the disordered-language usage reflected semantic relations consistent with an earlier level of development.
Age Factors↗