Through observation of young children much has been learned regarding elementary word acquisition and ordering, sentence formulation, and expansion of verbal experience; but little research regarding what precedes "the word" has been done. The present study was concerned with that period in infancy prior to communicative speech production. The purpose of the present study was to answer the question: Can one selectively reinforce a particular babble?

Au cours de la première année de vie, l’enfant passe progressivement d’une alimentation exclusivement lactée à une alimentation familiale grâce à une période de diversification alimentaire. C’est également au cours de cette période qu’apparaissent le babillage et la mastication tous deux associés à l’émergence d’oscillations rythmiques mandibulaires (MacNeilage, 1998). Ce geste moteur commun ainsi que la cooccurrence des troubles alimentaires et des troubles du langage/parole suggèrent l’existence d’un lien entre le développement des activités de parole et d’alimentation. À ce jour, nonseulement peu d’études ont examiné les caractéristiques du développement précoce de ces deux activités, mais il en existe aussi très peu qui ont cherché à vérifier expérimentalement ce lien. Ce projet de thèse vise à répondre à ces deux objectifs. La première partie de notre travail vise ainsi à décrire les conduites alimentaires du jeune enfant français au cours de la diversification alimentaire et à les comparer aux recommandations des organismes de santé publique (OMS, Inpes). Un questionnaire parental intitulé « Inventaire des Conduites Alimentaires » a été créé et a permis d’examiner les modalités d’introduction des aliments complémentaires, et notamment de celles des textures, au sein d’un échantillon de 806 enfants français au développement typique. La deuxième partie de notre recherche a pour objectif d’examiner le lien existant entre le babillage et la mastication au sein de deux études. En nous appuyant sur des données acoustiques et vidéo, nous avons tout d’abord examiné de manière longitudinale les trajectoires développementales des patrons temporels syllabiques etmasticatoires entre 8 et 14 mois chez 4 enfants québécois. Nous avons ensuite analysé les caractéristiques de ces patrons temporels chez 14 enfants français âgés de 10 mois en fonction du développement des gestes communicatifs et du type de textures consommées. Les résultats obtenus mettent en évidence un âge de transition alimentaire compris entre 4 et 5 mois ainsi qu’une introduction séquentielle des textures lors de la diversification alimentaire. Par ailleurs, les trajectoires des patronssyllabiques et masticatoires obtenues suggèrent d’une part une amélioration globale du contrôle oromoteur entre 10 et 12 mois et d’autre part que les patrons temporels syllabiques subissent l’influence du type de textures auquel l’enfant est régulièrement exposé. Nos observations font ainsi émerger des arguments en faveur de l’existence d’une interdépendance unilatérale entre les activités de parole et d’alimentation à un stade précoce du développement. / During the first years of life, the child gradually moves from an exclusively milk diet to a family diet through a period of complementary feeding. It is also during this period that babbling and mastication appear. They are both associated with the emergence of mandibular rhythmic oscillations (MacNeilage, 1998). This common motor gesture and the co-occurrenceof eating disorders and speech / language disorders suggest a link between the development of speech and eating activities. To date, only few studies described the characteristics of the early development of these two activities, and there are also very few that have tried to verify this link experimentally. This PhD project aims to meet these two goals. The first part of our workpursue the objective of describing the feeding behavior of young French children during complementary feeding period and to compare them with the recommendations of public health organizations (WHO, Inpes). A parental questionnaire entitled "Inventaire des Conduites Alimentaires" was created and allowed to examine the modalities of introduction of complementary foods, including those of textures, in a sample of 806 French typically developing children. The second part of our work aims to test the link between babbling and chewing in two studies. Using acoustic and video data we first examined longitudinally thedevelopmental trajectories of syllabic and masticatory temporal patterns between 8 and 14 months in 4 Quebecers children. Afterwards, we analyzed the characteristics of these temporal patterns in 14 French 10 months old children according to the development of communicative gestures and the type of textures consumed. The results show an average age of food transitionbetween 4 and 5 months and a sequential introduction of textures during dietary diversification. Moreover, the trajectories of the syllabic and masticatory patterns obtained suggest on the one hand an overall improvement of the oro-motor control between 10 and 12 months, and on the other hand that the syllabic temporal patterns would be influenced by the type of textures to which the child is regularly exposed. These observations thus give rise to arguments for the existence of a one-sided interdependence between speech and feeding activities at an early stage of development.

The thesis presents an overview of the layers on which speech develo- pment can be studied and a brief account of the main theoretical branches within these layers. It accounts for the periodization of a child's speech development according to Czech and foreign authors. In the thesis, a syllable is introduced as a phonological unit. Attention is also paid to the related layer of phonotactics; important works concerning the phonotactics of child's speech are mentioned. The target of the experimental part is a longitudinal case study of a child acqui- ring Czech as her mother tongue. For the purpose of the study, a corpus of the child's utterances in her natural environment between the ages of 7 to 27 months was built. The utterances have been analyzed with respect to the frequency of occurrence of different syllable types, with closed syllables and syllables with con- sonant clusters in the center of interest. The found consonant clusters and their reductions have been further analyzed with respect to the findings of the phono- tactic studies mentioned in the theoretical part, in order to confirm or dismiss their relevance for Czech. Most importantly, two theories have been checked, the frames theory commenting on the combinatory potential of the front/middle/back vowels and coronal/labial/dorsal...

Cette recherche s'intéresse à la possibilité d'établir des points de comparaison entre le prélinguistique et le linguistique dans la période des premiers mots. Le constat d'un flou régnant autour des notions de mot et de proto-mot nous a fait considérer différentes approches : historique, épistémologique et expérimentale. L'apport de l'approche historique est essentiel pour cerner la problématique et considérer la façon dont parler est envisagé par une société et une époque. Cettepartie nous permet de mettre en avant deux éléments : la question de l'émergence de la parole implique la notion de représentation sociale, et l'émergence de la parole, aujourd'hui, se situe durant la période des premiers mots. L'analyse de cette période nous conduit à une partie épistémologique permettant de définir le type d'unités caractéristiques de cette période : les proto-mots et les mots. Une fois nos unités identifiées, nous effectuons une analyse longitudinale de quatre enfants, de un an à deux ans. Nous avons d'abord identifié un phénomène de substitution des mots aux proto-mots. Ensuite, nous avons observé les deux éléments communs à ces productions : la prosodie et la phonologie. Il découle de notre analyse que la prosodie fournit un cadre commun assurant la transition entre les proto-mots et les mots, et que la phonologie est le domaine où s'observent les différences : les mots sont le lieu du développement des structures phonologiques complexes, contrairement aux proto-mots. Nous avons pu considérer que parler, c'était privilégier les motscomme support de communication verbale, par rapport aux proto-mots, et que cette particularité est l'objet du développement phonologique. / This research focuses on the possibility to compare prelinguistic utterances and linguistic utterances of the first words period. The definition of protoword and word notions is not clear; while we consider different approaches to determine them: historical, epistemological and experimental. The contribution of the historical approach is essential to identify the problem and to bethink how a society in different historical periods considers speech. This section allows us to highlight two elements: the question of the speech emergence implies the notion of social representation, and nowadays, the word emergence is during the first words period. The analysis of this period leads to our epistemological part which defines units of this period: protowords and words. Once units identified, we perform a longitudinal analysis of four children, from one to two years. Firstly, we identify a phenomenon of substitution of protowords in words. Secondly, we observe two common elements in these productions: prosody and phonology. We show that prosody provides a common framework to ensure the transition between protowords and words, and that phonology is the area where differences are observed: the words are the place for the development of complex phonological structures, unlike protowords. We consider that the emergence of speech is when the children prefer using words as verbal communication medium, instead of protowords, and that this feature is the object of phonological development.

Il y a actuellement des efforts pour faire opérer des robots dans des environnements complexes, non bornés, évoluant en permanence, au milieu ou même en coopération avec des humains. Leurs tâches peuvent être de types variés, hiérarchiques, et peuvent subir des changements radicaux ou même être créées après le déploiement du robot. Ainsi, ces robots doivent être capable d'apprendre en continu de nouvelles compétences, dans un espace non-borné, stochastique et à haute dimensionnalité. Ce type d'environnement ne peut pas être exploré en totalité, le robot va devoir organiser son exploration et décider ce qui est le plus important à apprendre ainsi que la méthode d'apprentissage. Ceci devient encore plus difficile lorsque le robot est face à des tâches à complexités variables, demandant soit une action simple ou une séquence d'actions pour être réalisées. Nous avons développé une infrastructure algorithmique d'apprentissage stratégique intrinsèquement motivé, appelée Socially Guided Intrinsic Motivation for Sequences of Actions through Hierarchical Tasks (SGIM-SAHT), apprenant la relation entre ses actions et leurs conséquences sur l'environnement. Elle organise son apprentissage, en décidant activement sur quelle tâche se concentrer, et quelle stratégie employer entre autonomes et interactives. Afin d'apprendre des tâches hiérarchiques, une architecture algorithmique appelée procédures fut développée pour découvrir et exploiter la hiérarchie des tâches, afin de combiner des compétences en fonction des tâches. L'utilisation de séquences d'actions a permis à cette architecture d'apprentissage d'adapter la complexité de ses actions à celle de la tâche étudiée. / Efforts are made to make robots operate more and more in complex unbounded ever-changing environments, alongside or even in cooperation with humans. Their tasks can be of various kinds, can be hierarchically organized, and can also change dramatically or be created, after the robot deployment. Therefore, those robots must be able to continuously learn new skills, in an unbounded, stochastic and high-dimensional space. Such environment is impossible to be completely explored during the robot's lifetime, therefore it must be able to organize its exploration and decide what is more important to learn and how to learn it, using metrics such as intrinsic motivation guiding it towards the most interesting tasks and strategies. This becomes an even bigger challenge, when the robot is faced with tasks of various complexity, some requiring a simple action to be achieved, other needing a sequence of actions to be performed. We developed a strategic intrinsically motivated learning architecture, called Socially Guided Intrinsic Motivation for Sequences of Actions through Hierarchical Tasks (SGIM-SAHT), able to learn the mapping between its actions and their outcomes on the environment. This architecture, is capable to organize its learning process, by deciding which outcome to focus on, and which strategy to use among autonomous and interactive ones. For learning hierarchical set of tasks, the architecture was provided with a framework, called procedure framework, to discover and exploit the task hierarchy and combine skills together in a task-oriented way. The use of sequences of actions enabled such a learner to adapt the complexity of its actions to that of the task at hand.

Esta pesquisa de doutorado investiga a transição do balbucio às primeiras palavras, tendo como intuito verificar se há continuidade entre os dois tipos de produção e identificar os templates. A perspectiva teórica assumida é a dos Sistemas Dinâmicos (THELEN; SMITH, 1994), que prevê mudança, instabilidade, variabilidade e não linearidade, ao longo do desenvolvimento. O termo sistemas dinâmicos, na forma mais genérica, significa sistemas de elementos que mudam ao longo do tempo (THELEN; SMITH, 2006, p. 258). A proposta fonológica da Whole-Word/Templatic Phonology é assumida na análise dos dados infantis. O aspecto inovador desta tese está na discussão a respeito da (des)continuidade ao analisar dados de transição para identificação de templates, isto é, a emergência de padrões sistemáticos que facilitam a expansão do léxico (VIHMAN; VELLEMAN, 2000). Além disso, é também inovador o uso do método quantitativo para a identificação de templates ao longo do desenvolvimento fonológico, pois a literatura tem realizado até o momento estudos qualitativos (VIHMAN; VELLEMAN, 2002; VIHMAN; CROFT, 2007; KEREN-PORTNOY et al., 2008; WAUQUIER; YAMAGUCHI; 2012; KHATTAB; AL-TAMINI, 2012; SZREDER, 2012, entre outros). Assim, o presente trabalho contribui para os estudos a respeito do desenvolvimento fonológico, pois apresenta um estudo quantitativo para identificação de templates, busca a relação entre a emergência deles e a transição do balbucio às primeiras palavras, mapeando a ordem e uso de templates ao longo do desenvolvimento fonológico das crianças. Na análise da transição do balbucio às primeiras palavras, são analisados dados do português brasileiro (PB) de três crianças (M, A e G), no período compreendido entre 9 meses e 2 anos. Na análise, são identificados momentos de instabilidade, o que está de acordo com o que é defendido pelos estudos dinâmicos (THELEN; SMITH, 1994; KELSO, 1995), os quais enfatizam o caráter não linear e instável do desenvolvimento. No que se refere à discussão a 8 respeito da (des)continuidade entre os dois tipos de produção, a comparação da análise fonológica conduzida nos dois períodos traz complicações para a hipótese da continuidade. Embora se observe a sobreposição entre os dois tipos de produção, são identificadas mais diferenças do que semelhanças entre as produções balbuciadas e de palavras. Conclui-se que é equivocado defender uma visão a favor da continuidade assumindo que um módulo fonológico age independentemente do fonético. A continuidade só pode ser atestada se for assumida uma perspectiva que defenda a integração dos dois módulos, como, por exemplo, a Fonologia Articulatória/Gestual (BROWMAN; GOLDSTEIN, 1986; ALBANO, 2001) ou a Fonologia de Uso/Teoria dos Exemplares (CRISTÓFARO-SILVA, 2003). Os resultados mostram que, embora as crianças caminhem para pontos comuns da fonologia da língua-alvo, por exemplo, tamanho de palavra, estrutura silábica, entre outros, diferenças são encontradas no que se refere à transição, às estratégias usadas para expansão do léxico, isto é, uso de diferentes templates, e à ordem de uso e desuso de tais estratégias. Em suma, os momentos de auto-organização do sistema fonológico de cada criança tendem a diferir. / This thesis investigates the transition from babble to first words in order to verify if there is continuity between the periods and identify templates. This work follows the theoretical approach to the study of development Dynamic Systems Theory (THELEN; SMITH, 1994; Kelso, 1995) and its view that the development is characterized by change, instability, variability and non linearity. The term dynamical systems, in its most generic form, means systems of elements that change over time (THELEN; SMITH, 2006, p. 258). The Whole- Word/Templatic Phonology approach is followed in the analysis of child data (VIHMAN; VELLEMAN, 2002; VIHMAN; CROFT, 2007; KEREN-PORTNOY et al., 2008). The innovative aspect of this thesis is that it relates the (des)continuity in the transition from babble to words to templates, i.e., systematic shapes that facilitate expansion of the lexicon (VIHMAN; VELLEMAN, 2000). Furthermore, this research uses quantitative method for the identification of templates. The previous literature used only qualitative methods of data collection (VIHMAN; VELLEMAN, 2002; VIHMAN; CROFT, 2007; KEREN-PORTNOY et al., 2008; WAUQUIER; YAMAGUCHI; 2012; KHATTAB; AL-TAMINI, 2012; SZREDER, 2012, among others). Thus, this research contributes by presenting a quantitative study and by observing templates behaviour through early phonological development. Data from three children aged 9 24 months are analysed. In the analysis, non linearity and instability are observed in the phonological development. In regard to the discussion on (des)continuity, the results do not present many evidences in favour of continuity. Although babble and words are produced in the same session, the two types of production show more phonological differences than similarities. The conclusion is that continuity between babble and words cannot be verified if it is assumed that phonological and phonetic aspects work independently from one another. The continuity can 10 be verified if these two modules are integrated as Articulatory /Gestural Phonology (BROWMAN; GOLDSTEIN, 1986; ALBANO, 2001) and Usage- Based Phonology/Exemplar Theory (CRISTÓFARO-SILVA, 2003) propose. The results show that different children produce similar phonological structures in their phonological development, e.g., word length, syllable structure, among others; which follow the characteristics of the target language. However, differences are found in the transition from babble to words in relation to the strategies used for lexical expansion, i.e., the use of different templates as the order of use and disuse of templates. This study observes that moments of self-organization tend to vary from child to child in the development of phonology.

Die vorliegende Arbeit befasst sich mit der Fragestellung, wie die Wortbetonung in der kanonischen Lallenphase organisiert ist. Diese Entwicklungsphase tritt für gewöhnlich in der zweiten Hälfte des ersten Lebensjahres auf, wenn Kleinkinder erstmalig phonetisch wohlgeformte Silben äußern. Dabei gibt es jedoch noch keine klare Beziehung zwischen Wortbedeutung und bestimmten Sprachlauten. Die Einzelsilben werden allerdings schon zu größeren wortartigen Einheiten zusammengefügt und erscheinen in betonten wie unbetonten Positionen. Es wurden Sprachdaten von sieben deutschlernenden Kindern im Alter zwischen 0;5 und 1;0 gesammelt. Die phonetisch wohlgeformten Lalläußerungen wurden einer Reihe von perzeptiven und akustischen Analysen unterzogen, um der Frage nach einer bereits vorhandenen prosodischen Organisation der Wortbetonung nachzugehen. Die Äußerungen der Probanden werden anschließend mit einem theoretischen Parametermodell verglichen. Hierbei wird untersucht, ob Lalläußerungen eher sprachliche Universalien vorweisen oder doch eher durch ihre sprachliche Umgebung beinflusst sind. Dazu wird eigens eine Reanalyse des Betonungssystems des Deutschen vorgenommen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass eine leichte Tendenz hin zum trochäischen Betonungsmuster in Zweisilbern zu erkennen ist. Diese Tendenz lässt sich allerdings nur mit zwei der fünf Analysemethoden der vorliegenden Arbeit nachweisen. Bei Mehrsilbern scheint die Lage der hauptbetonten Silbe durch keine Analysemethode vorhersagbar zu sein. Es kann dennoch festgestellt werden, dass Silben vom Typus CVV in signifikanter Weise Betonung auf sich ziehen. Diese Ergebnisse lassen den Schluss zu, dass die Parameter der Betonungszuweisung während des kanonischen Lallens noch nicht zur Gänze gesetzt sind. Nur diejenigen für Fußform und Quantitätssensitivität erscheinen so konfiguriert, dass ein Einfluß der Umgebungssprache, des Deutschen, erkennbar wird. / The current work addresses the question, how word stress is organised during the developmental stage of Canonical Babbling, which usually emerges in the second half of the first year of life. In this period infants begin to utter phonetically well-formed syllables, although there is no clear relationship between meaning and single speech sounds. However, syllables are combined to form larger word-like units containing prominent and less prominent syllables. Data was gathered from seven German-learning infants aged between 0;5 and 1;0. The phonetically well-formed babbling vocalizations were subject to perceptual and acoustical analyses, in order to find out whether there is already a prosodic organization of word stress. The subjects'' utterances are then compared to a theoretical parametric framework. It will be examined, whether babbling vocalizations are more universal or rather influenced by the ambient language. Therefore a reanalysis of the German system of word stress will be undertaken. Results indicate that there is a weak tendency towards the trochaic stress pattern in disyllabic babbles. This tendency is, however, only predictable in two of the five analysis parameters used in this study. In polysyllabic vocalizations, the location of main stress appears not to be predictable by any analysis. It can nevertheless be stated that CVV syllables tend to attract stress significantly. These results point to the fact, that the parameters of word stress assignment are not yet completely set during Canonical Babbling. Instead, only those for foot shape and quantity-sensitivity appear to be set in a fashion reflecting an influence of the subjects'' ambient language, German.

Esta pesquisa de doutorado investiga a transição do balbucio às primeiras palavras, tendo como intuito verificar se há continuidade entre os dois tipos de produção e identificar os templates. A perspectiva teórica assumida é a dos Sistemas Dinâmicos (THELEN; SMITH, 1994), que prevê mudança, instabilidade, variabilidade e não linearidade, ao longo do desenvolvimento. O termo sistemas dinâmicos, na forma mais genérica, significa sistemas de elementos que mudam ao longo do tempo (THELEN; SMITH, 2006, p. 258). A proposta fonológica da Whole-Word/Templatic Phonology é assumida na análise dos dados infantis. O aspecto inovador desta tese está na discussão a respeito da (des)continuidade ao analisar dados de transição para identificação de templates, isto é, a emergência de padrões sistemáticos que facilitam a expansão do léxico (VIHMAN; VELLEMAN, 2000). Além disso, é também inovador o uso do método quantitativo para a identificação de templates ao longo do desenvolvimento fonológico, pois a literatura tem realizado até o momento estudos qualitativos (VIHMAN; VELLEMAN, 2002; VIHMAN; CROFT, 2007; KEREN-PORTNOY et al., 2008; WAUQUIER; YAMAGUCHI; 2012; KHATTAB; AL-TAMINI, 2012; SZREDER, 2012, entre outros). Assim, o presente trabalho contribui para os estudos a respeito do desenvolvimento fonológico, pois apresenta um estudo quantitativo para identificação de templates, busca a relação entre a emergência deles e a transição do balbucio às primeiras palavras, mapeando a ordem e uso de templates ao longo do desenvolvimento fonológico das crianças. Na análise da transição do balbucio às primeiras palavras, são analisados dados do português brasileiro (PB) de três crianças (M, A e G), no período compreendido entre 9 meses e 2 anos. Na análise, são identificados momentos de instabilidade, o que está de acordo com o que é defendido pelos estudos dinâmicos (THELEN; SMITH, 1994; KELSO, 1995), os quais enfatizam o caráter não linear e instável do desenvolvimento. No que se refere à discussão a 8 respeito da (des)continuidade entre os dois tipos de produção, a comparação da análise fonológica conduzida nos dois períodos traz complicações para a hipótese da continuidade. Embora se observe a sobreposição entre os dois tipos de produção, são identificadas mais diferenças do que semelhanças entre as produções balbuciadas e de palavras. Conclui-se que é equivocado defender uma visão a favor da continuidade assumindo que um módulo fonológico age independentemente do fonético. A continuidade só pode ser atestada se for assumida uma perspectiva que defenda a integração dos dois módulos, como, por exemplo, a Fonologia Articulatória/Gestual (BROWMAN; GOLDSTEIN, 1986; ALBANO, 2001) ou a Fonologia de Uso/Teoria dos Exemplares (CRISTÓFARO-SILVA, 2003). Os resultados mostram que, embora as crianças caminhem para pontos comuns da fonologia da língua-alvo, por exemplo, tamanho de palavra, estrutura silábica, entre outros, diferenças são encontradas no que se refere à transição, às estratégias usadas para expansão do léxico, isto é, uso de diferentes templates, e à ordem de uso e desuso de tais estratégias. Em suma, os momentos de auto-organização do sistema fonológico de cada criança tendem a diferir. / This thesis investigates the transition from babble to first words in order to verify if there is continuity between the periods and identify templates. This work follows the theoretical approach to the study of development Dynamic Systems Theory (THELEN; SMITH, 1994; Kelso, 1995) and its view that the development is characterized by change, instability, variability and non linearity. The term dynamical systems, in its most generic form, means systems of elements that change over time (THELEN; SMITH, 2006, p. 258). The Whole- Word/Templatic Phonology approach is followed in the analysis of child data (VIHMAN; VELLEMAN, 2002; VIHMAN; CROFT, 2007; KEREN-PORTNOY et al., 2008). The innovative aspect of this thesis is that it relates the (des)continuity in the transition from babble to words to templates, i.e., systematic shapes that facilitate expansion of the lexicon (VIHMAN; VELLEMAN, 2000). Furthermore, this research uses quantitative method for the identification of templates. The previous literature used only qualitative methods of data collection (VIHMAN; VELLEMAN, 2002; VIHMAN; CROFT, 2007; KEREN-PORTNOY et al., 2008; WAUQUIER; YAMAGUCHI; 2012; KHATTAB; AL-TAMINI, 2012; SZREDER, 2012, among others). Thus, this research contributes by presenting a quantitative study and by observing templates behaviour through early phonological development. Data from three children aged 9 24 months are analysed. In the analysis, non linearity and instability are observed in the phonological development. In regard to the discussion on (des)continuity, the results do not present many evidences in favour of continuity. Although babble and words are produced in the same session, the two types of production show more phonological differences than similarities. The conclusion is that continuity between babble and words cannot be verified if it is assumed that phonological and phonetic aspects work independently from one another. The continuity can 10 be verified if these two modules are integrated as Articulatory /Gestural Phonology (BROWMAN; GOLDSTEIN, 1986; ALBANO, 2001) and Usage- Based Phonology/Exemplar Theory (CRISTÓFARO-SILVA, 2003) propose. The results show that different children produce similar phonological structures in their phonological development, e.g., word length, syllable structure, among others; which follow the characteristics of the target language. However, differences are found in the transition from babble to words in relation to the strategies used for lexical expansion, i.e., the use of different templates as the order of use and disuse of templates. This study observes that moments of self-organization tend to vary from child to child in the development of phonology.

No description available.

Abstract The preverbal vocalisation up to the first word, feeding skills as well as motor development until the first steps of ELBW preterm infants without disability were compared in this descriptive study to those of healthy full-term infants. In addition, preverbal and feeding skills were studied in relation to gross motor movement patterns. The preverbal development of preterm infants proceeded according to the same temporal schedule as that of full-term infants, however, preterm infants failed to produce several vocalisation skills that full-term infants presented. The preterm infants increased their vocalisation slower than the full-term infants in the beginning of each of the developmental stages. The difference between the preterm and the full-term infants grew when approaching syllables, syllable combinations, and words. The preterm infants reached the first word approximately two months later than the full-term infants. The suckling of preterm infants was either disorganised or dysfunctional, while normal or disorganised in the case of full-term infants. The preterm infants reached the spoon-feeding skills approximately at the same (corrected) ages as the full-term infants, but the transitions to new stages were difficult. Half of the preterm infants suffered from feeding problems while only two of the full-term infants had feeding problems. Both the preterm and full-term infants reached vocalisation and feeding skills in relation to gross motor movement patterns earlier than assumed according to the predominant clinical knowledge. The vocalisation and feeding skills did not seem to be dependent upon the gross motor development. / Tiivistelmä Tässä kuvailevassa tutkimuksessa tarkasteltiin tiiviissä seurannassa erittäin ennenaikaisina ja pienipainoisina syntyneiden lasten esileksikaalista ääntelyä ensisanaan asti sekä syömistaitojen ja motoriikan kehitystä ensiaskeliin asti. Tuloksia verrattiin terveiden, täysiaikaisina syntyneiden lasten vastaaviin taitoihin. Lisäksi ääntelyn ja syömisen kehitystä tarkasteltiin suhteessa karkeamotoristen taitojen kehitysaikatauluun. Ennenaikaisesti syntyneiden lasten ääntely kehittyi saman aikataulun mukaan kuin täysiaikaisten lasten ääntely. Ennenaikaisesti syntyneet lapset jättivät kuitenkin väliin taitoja, jotka täysiaikaisina syntyneet lapset saavuttivat. Siirryttäessä uusille ääntelyn ja kielen kehitystasoille ennenaikaisina syntyneiden lasten ääntelyn määrä lisääntyi hitaammin kuin täysiaikaisina syntyneiden lasten ääntelyn määrä. Ero ennenaikaisina ja täysiaikaisina syntyneiden lasten kehityksessä kasvoi lähestyttäessä tavuja, tavuyhdistelmiä ja sanoja. Ennenaikaisesti syntyneet lapset saavuttivat ensisanavaiheen kaksi kuukautta täysiaikaisia lapsia myöhemmin. Ennenaikaisina syntyneiden lasten syömisen taidoissa havaittiin, että varhainen imeminen oli joko jäsentymätöntä tai poikkeavaa, kun täysiaikaisina syntyneillä se oli puolestaan normaalia tai jäsentymätöntä. Ennenaikaisina syntyneet lapset oppivat käsittelemään soseita ja kiinteitä ruokia samassa (korjatussa) iässä kuin täysiaikaisina syntyneet lapset, mutta siirtyminen kehitysvaiheesta toiseen tuotti vaikeutta. Puolet ennenaikaisista lapsista kärsi syömisvaikeuksista. Sen sijaan täysiaikaisina syntyneistä lapsista kahdella todettiin syömisen vaikeutta. Sekä ennenaikaisina että täysiaikaisina syntyneet lapset oppivat ääntelyn ja syömisen taitoja ennen tiettyjä karkeamotorisia liikemalleja, joiden on vallitsevan kuntoutuskäsityksen mukaisesti oletettu edeltävän näiden taitojen saavuttamista. Ääntelyn ja syömisen taidot eivät siis näyttäneet olevan riippuvaisia karkeamotoriikan kehityksestä.