Effects of negative input for 13 categories of grammatical error were assessed in a longitudinal study of naturalistic adult–child discourse. Two-hour samples of conversational interaction were obtained at two points in time, separated by a lag of 12 weeks, for 12 children (mean age 2;0 at the start). The data were interpreted within the framework offered by Saxton's (1997, 2000) contrast theory of negative input. Corrective input was associated with subsequent improvements in the grammaticality of child speech for three of the target structures. No effects were found for two forms of positive input: non-contingent models, where the adult produces target structures in non-error-contingent contexts; and contingent models, where grammatical forms follow grammatical child usages. The findings lend support to the view that, in some cases at least, the structure of adult–child discourse yields information on the bounds of grammaticality for the language-learning child.
Language addressed to children, or 'Baby Talk', became the subject of research interest thirty years ago. Since then, the linguistic environment of infants and toddlers has been widely studied. Input and Interaction in Language Acquisition is an up-to-date statement of the facts and controversies surrounding 'Baby Talk', its nature and likely effects. With contributions from leading linguists and psychologists, it explores language acquisition in different cultures and family contexts, in typical and atypical learners, and in second and foreign language learners. It is designed as a sequel to the now famous Talking to Children, edited by Catherine Snow and Charles Ferguson, and Professor Snow here provides an introduction, comparing issues of importance in the field today with the previous concerns of researchers.
In this paper, some developmental characteristics of a population of hearing-impaired children are described. The 79 children described are all those born in Greater Manchester in the years 1977-1980 with a mean bilateral sensorineural hearing loss of 25 dB HL or more in the better ear and without additional handicaps or bilingualism in the home. The subjects attended clinics in which comprehensive monitoring of their development was carried out by means of audiological, psychological and linguistic testing and video-recordings of mother-child interaction. In this cross-sectional study of their first clinic attendance at the ages of between 3 and 7, the measures used to define their levels of language ability and intelligence are described. As a means of dealing with the wide range of values, the children were blocked into groups according to their spontaneous language level and the results are reported groupwise.
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