This book provides insight into the development of the child's ability to become a competent participant in conversation. It follows efforts to apply the insights of pragmatic philosophers of language to the psychology of language development, and holds that the meaning of a communication is embedded in social life. Language use and social function are thus closely intertwined. The author combines a pragmatic analysis of the functions language can perform with an innovative empirical investigation of the development of young children's language use and sociocognitive skills. She gives a detailed description of the development of children's language between the ages of three and a half and seven, broadens the scope of theorizing about language development by placing it in relation to the development of social understanding speech problems and designing ways to solve them. As a result, a strong link between language, sociocognitive development and social development is discovered. It will be welcomed by child language specialists, developmental and social psychologists, conversation and discourse analysts, and their advanced students.

"...does succeed in pointing toward important dimensions for future research." Catherine Garvey, Contemporary Psychology