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What's the use of imitation?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Ruth Clark
Ruth Clark*
Affiliation:
Queen Margaret College, Edinburgh
*
Address for correspondence: 23 Dalrymple Crescent, Edinburgh 9.
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Abstract

Attitudes towards imitation have been coloured by theoretical disputes about the nature of language. But even if language is rule-governed, children may be helped by imitation to discover the rules. This paper reviews evidence for and against imitation as a factor in the acquisition of syntax. The conclusion reached is that the effects of imitation on children's speech are too pervasive for the process to be dismissed as irrelevant. Many idiosyncratic features of children's speech seem to be traceable to imitation interacting with other simple mechanisms. For the author, the important question is no longer whether imitation can help children to acquire syntax, but precisely how a child gradually extracts grammatical information from the repertoire of imitated sequences at his disposal.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 4 , Issue 3 , October 1977 , pp. 341 - 358
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1977

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