It is proposed that young children who already have some degree of linguistic ability will use various verbal information-gathering strategies to enhance that ability. Specifically, it is suggested that such children formulate hypotheses about the meanings of words and that they use language in various ways to elicit feedback from others as to the accuracy of these hypotheses. A selective review of the literature on cognitive and language development provided a theoretical framework within which to pose this problem and from which guidelines for data analysis could be drawn. The aim of the study was to identify the use of various verbal information-gathering strategies in individual children. This was done by recording sequences of interactions involving individual children and various others and then examining the transcripts of these recordings for regularities which suggested the use of such strategies. Verbal information-gathering strategies were thus initially identified by noting regularities amongst those interactions where a child appeared to be seeking information about language. Four such strategies were found to be used by all three children who participated in the study. Other strategies were found to be specific to one individual or to two of the children who were siblings. Once these strategies were identified, the data was analyzed for individual instances of each strategy. Discussion of the use of these strategies includes consideration of the role of questions, selective imitation, naming or stating and metaphor in language development. The relationships among concept formation, memory and language development are also briefly explored. Further support for the view of the young child as testing hypotheses about word meanings came from the observation that two of the children showed a definite preoccupation with the meanings of certain words on various occasions throughout the study. While the findings of the study show that these three children did use various verbal information gathering strategies, it remains to be shown how important such strategies are for language development and what roles may be played by different strategies. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1984

During his twelve years of life, T., a gifted boy who was born with severe cerebral palsy, achieved the ability to communicate with "the rest of the world" at an advanced level, though he used facilitated and augmentative communication. The author of this narrative and interpretive study is T.'s father, who maintained a unique dialogue with his son. T. himself volunteered to contribute actively to the study by helping to plan and to edit, and by supplying a number of autobiographical sketches. The pedagogical relationship that existed between T. and his father is prominently featured. The study explores T.'s individual case through thirteen narrative "scenes" (beginning with his birth and ending with his twelfth year), which address various particulars of his lifeworld and his language development. Each narrative scene is followed by two, three, or four interpretive passages, each of which interprets one of seven themes that emerged from T.'s life. The seven themes are: memory, observation, scientific/technological assessment, not foreclosing on the future, integration, communication, and growth. The interpretive passages treat the seven themes at four levels of interpretation: the literal level, the moral level, the allegorical level, and the anagogic level. The attempt is to revive an exegetic practice common in the days before the Enlightenment, Cartesian doubt, and the "mathematical project" (Heidegger, 1993c, p. 293). Following the dictum that "the hermeneutic imagination is not limited in its conceptual resources to the texts of the hermeneutic tradition itself" (Smith, 1991, p. 201), the study borrows from a variety of sources, including Astrology, Waldorf education, and Zen. The reader is offered a direct experience of "the fecundity of the individual case" (Gadamer, cited in Jardine, 1994, p. 143). Emerging, through the thirteen scenes, the seven themes, and the four levels of interpretation, is a unique picture of an exceptional boy's language development.

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This research was designed to provide information concerning the developmental differences in early language production and comprehension between 21 month-old first born and second born children. Furthermore, the study explored the assumption that more opportunities to hear conversations between the parent and the older sibling provide an advantage for second born children in learning personal pronouns. / Spontaneous speech productions of 16 first born children were compared to those of 16 second born children while in dyadic interactions with their mothers. First born children were observed in two 25 minute free-play dyadic interactions with their mothers. Second born children were observed in one 25 minute free-play mother-child dyadic interaction and in one 25 minute free-play mother-child-older sibling triadic interaction. All children were administered controlled tasks involving production and comprehension of first and second person pronouns. / Compared to first borns, second born children are not significantly delayed in general language development. Second borns' speech productions differ depending on whether or not their older sibling was present. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

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Typescript. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1977. / Bibliography: leaves 125-126. / Microfiche. / x, 126 leaves