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Does comprehension precede production? The development of children's responses to telegraphic sentences of varying grammatical adequacy*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Patricia A. Petretic  and
Ryan D. Tweney
Patricia A. Petretic
Affiliation:
Bowling Green State University
Ryan D. Tweney
Affiliation:
Bowling Green State University
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Abstract

The comprehension ability of 36 children at three stages of telegraphic speech (mean length of utterance 1·45, 2·03, and 2·76 morphemes) was assessed using active behavioural responses to declarative and imperative sentences. Both forms were varied in syntactic and semantic complexity. The responses were scored in terms of objects used by the child, whether or not the child's actions were appropriate, and whether or not appropriate verbalization accompanied the actions. A significant increase in verbal and behavioural appropriateness with age was found for both imperative and declarative forms. Consistent with Shipley, Smith & Gleitman's (1969) results, advanced telegraphic speakers responded most often to adult stimulus forms. However, contrary to Shipley et al.'s findings, all children, even the earliest telegraphic speakers, were more accurate in responding to adult forms than to child forms, suggesting that ability to comprehend adult linguistic forms is present even at the earliest stages of telegraphic speech. The findings imply that re-evaluation of the development of comprehension ability in telegraphic speakers is necessary.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 4 , Issue 2 , June 1977 , pp. 201 - 209
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1977

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Footnotes

[*]

Requests for reprints should be sent to the second author, whose address is Department of Psychology, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio 43403, U.S.A.

References

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