Abstract
Children begin to reflect on certain properties of language at an early age. They comment on their own growing linguistic abilities--for example, When I was a little girl I could go ‘geek-geek’ like that. But now I can go ‘This is a chair’,“ from a child aged 2;10 (Limber, 1973). They reject wrong pronunciations--for example, when a child teased his younger brother by mimicking his pronunciation of merry-go-round, “mewwy-go-wound,” the younger brother firmly corrected him, “No, you don’t say it wight” (Maccoby & Bee, 1965). And they comment on how others, usually younger children, speak--for example, a five-year old, hearing his brother pronounce spoon, asked their mother, “Why does he say coom?” (Weir, 1966, p. 164).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Aimard, P. Les jeux de mots de l’enfant. Villeurbanne: Simep-Editions, 1975.
Al-Issa, I. The development of word definitions in children. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 1969, 114, 25–28.
Andersen, E.S. Cups and glasses: Learning that boundaries are vague. Journal of Child Language, 1975, 2, 79–103.
Andersen, E.S. Learning to speak with style: A study of the sociolinguistic skills of children. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Stanford University, 1977.
Asch, S.E. and Nerlove, H. The development of double function terms in children. In: B. Kaplan and S. Wapner (eds.), Perspectives in psychological theory. New York: International Universities Press, 1960.
Bates, E. Language and context: The acquisition of pragmatics. New York: Academic Press, 1976.
Berko, J. The child’s learning of English morphology. Word, 1958, 14, 150–177.
Berko Gleason, J. Code switching in children’s language. In: T.E. Moore (ed.), Cognitive development and the acquisition of language. New York: Academic Press, 1973.
Berthoud-Papandropoulou, I. La réflexion métalinguistique chez l’enfant. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Geneva, 1976.
Billow, R. A cognitive developmental study of metaphor comprehension. Developmental Psychology, 1975, 11, 415–423.
Bogoyavlenskiy, D. N. The acquisition of Russian inflections (1957). Trans-lated in C.A. Ferguson and D.I. Slobin (eds.), Studies of child language development. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1973
Bohn, W.E. First steps in verbal expression. Pedagogical Seminary, 1914, 21, 578–595.
Bolinger, D.L. Meaning and memory. Forum Linguisticum, 1976, 1, 1–14.
Brandenburg, G.C. The language of a three-year old child. Pedagogical Seminary, 1915, 22, 89–120.
Brandenburg, G.C. The language of a three-year old child. Pedagogical Seminary, 1915, 22, 89–120.
Brandenburg, G.C. The language of a three-year old child. Pedagogical Seminary, 1915, 22, 89–120.
Brown, R. A first language: The early stages. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1973.
Bruce, D.J. The analysis of word sounds by young children. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 1964, 34, 158–170.
Cazden, C.B. The acquisition of noun and verb inflections. Child Development, 1968, 39, 433–448.
Cazden, C.B. Play and metalinguistic awareness: One dimension of language experience. The Urban Review, 1974, 7, 28–39.
Cazden, C.B. Play and metalinguistic awareness: One dimension of language experience. The Urban Review, 1974, 7, 28–39.
Chukovsky, K. From two to five. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1968.
Clark,H.H., and Clark, E.V. Psychology and language. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1977.
Edelsky, C. Acquisition of an aspect of communicative competence: Learning what it means to talk like a lady. In: S. Ervin-Tripp and C. MitchellKernan (eds.), Child discourse. New York: Academic Press, 1977.
Flavell, J.H. Metacognitive aspects of problem solving. In: L.B. Resnick (ed.), The nature of intelligence. Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1976.
Flavell, J.H. Metacognitive development. Paper presented at the NATO Advanced Study Institute on Structural/Process Theories of Complex Human Behavior, Banff, Alberta, Canada, June 1977.
Flavell, J.H., and Wellman, H.M. Metamemory. In: R.V. Kail, Jr., and J.W. Hagen (eds.), Perspectives on the development of memory and cognition. Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1977.
Fox, B., and Routh, D.K. Analyzing spoken language into words, syllables, and phonemes: A developmental study. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 1975, 4, 331–342.
Francis, H. Children’s experience of reading and notions of units in language. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 1973, 43, 17–23.
Gardner, H. Metaphors and modalities: How children project polar adjectives onto diverse domains. Child Development, 1974, 45, 84–91.
Gardner, H., Kircher, M., Winner, E., and Perkins, P. Children’s metaphoric production and preferences. Journal of Child Language, 1975, 2, 125–141
Garvey, C. Play with language and speech. In: S. Ervin-Tripp and C. MitchellKernan (eds.), Child discourse. New York: Academic Press, 1977.
Garvey, C. Contingent queries and their relations in discourse. In: E.O. Keenan (ed.), Studies in linguistic pragmatics. New York: Academic Press, in press.
Gelman, R., and Shatz, M. Appropriate speech adjustments: The operation of conversational constraints on talk to two-year olds. In: M. Lewis and L. Rosenblum (eds.), Interaction, conversation, and the development of Language. New York: Wiley, 1977.
Gentner, D. Children’s performance on simple spatial metaphors. Paper presented at the Ninth Annual Child Language Research Forum, Stanford University, March 1977.
Gleitman, L.R., and Gleitman, H. Phrase and paraphrase: Some innovative uses of language. New York: Norton, 1970.
Gleitman, L.R., Gleitman, H., and Shipley, E.F. The emergence of the child as grammarian. Cognition, 1972, 1, 137–164.
Gleitman, L.R., and Rozin, P. Teaching reading by use of a syllabary. Reading Research Quarterly, 1973, 8, 447–483.
Goodnow, J. Rules and repertoires, rituals and tricks of the trade: Social and informational aspects to cognitive and representational development. In: S. Farnham-Diggory.(ed.), Information processing in children. New York: Academic Press, 1972.
Grégoire, A. L’apprentissage du langage (2 vols.). Paris: Droz, 1947.
Grimm, H. Analysis of short-term dialogues in 5–7 year olds: Encoding of intentions and modifications of speech acts as a function of negative feedback. Paper presented at the Third International Child Language Symposium, London, September 1975.
Hakes, D.T., Evens, J.S., and Tunmer, W. The emergence of linguistic intuitions in children. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, in press.
Haviland, S.E., and Clark, E.V. ‘This man’s father is my father’s son:’ A study of the acquisition of English kin terms. Journal of Child Language, 1974, 1, 23–47.
Herron, R.E., and Sutton-Smith, S. (eds.), Child’s play. New York: Wiley, 1971
Holden, M.H., and MacGinitie, W.H. Children’s conceptions of word boundaries in speech and print. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1972, 63, 551–557.
James, S.L., and Miller, J.F. Children’s awareness of semantic constraints in sentences. Child Development, 1973, 44, 69–76.
Jefferson, G. Side sequences. In: D.N. Sudnow (ed.), Studies in social interaction. New York: Free Press, 1972.
Jespersen, 0. Language: Its nature, development, and origin. London: Allen and Unwin, 1922.
Johnson, C.N. Children’s reflections on the nature of names. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Minnesota, 1976.
Johnson-Laird, P.N., and Quinn, J.G. To define true meaning. Nature, 1976, 264 (16 December), 635–636.
Kaper, W. Kindersprachforschung mit Hilfe des Kindes: Einige Erscheinungen der kindlichen Sprachwerbung erläutert im Lichte des vom Kinde gezeigte Interesses für Sprachliches. Groningen: Wolters, 1959.
Kingston, A.J., Weaver, W.W., and Figa, L.E. Experiments in children’s perceptions of words and word boundaries. In: F.P. Green (ed.), Investigations relating to mature reading. Milwaukee, Wis.: National Reading Conference, Inc., 1972.
Kreutzer, M.A., Leonard, C., and Flavell, J.H. An interview study of children’s knowledge about memory. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development,1975, 40 (Serial No. 159).
Leopold, W.F. Speech development of a bilingual child (4 vols.). Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, 1949.
Liberman, I.Y. Segmentation of the spoken word and reading acquisition. Paper presented at the Symposium on Language and Perceptual Development in the Acquisition of Reading, held at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Philadelphia, March 1973.
Limber, J. The genesis of complex sentences. In: T.E. Moore (ed.), Cognitive development and the acquisition of language. New York: Academic Press, 1973.
Litowitz, B. Learning how to make definitions. Journal of Child Language, 1977, 4, 289–304.
Maccoby, E.E., and Bee, H.L. Some speculations concerning the lag between perceiving and performing. Child Development, 1965, 36, 367–377.
Markman, E.M. Children’s difficulty with word referent differentiation. Child Development, 1976, 47, 742–749.
Markman, E.M. Realizing that you don’t understand: A preliminary investigation. Child Development, 1977, 48, 986–992.
Migeon, D.A., and Baslaar-Hoevenaars, L. Ou, pourquoi, comment des devinettes? Etude linguistique de Mattrise inédite, Université de Provence (Aix-Marseille 1 ), 1976.
Moore, T.E. Linguistic intuitions of twelve-year olds. Language and Speech, 1975, 18, 213–216.
Opie, I., and Opie, P. The lore and language of schoolchildren. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1959.
Papandropoulou, I., and Sinclair, H. What is a word? Experimental study of children’s ideas on grammar. Human Development, 1974, 17, 241–258.
Piaget, J. The language and thought of the child. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1926.
Piaget, J. Judgment and reasoning in the child. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1928.
Piaget, J. The child’s conception of the world. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1929.
Piaget, J. La prise de conscience. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1974.
Reid, J. Learning to think about reading. Educational Research, 1966, 9, 56–62.
Rozin, P., Poritsky, S., and Sotsky, R. American children with reading problems can easily learn to read English represented by Chinese characters. Science, 1971, 171, 1264–1267.
Sachs, J., and Devin, J. Young children’s use of age-appropriate speech styles in social interaction and role-playing. Journal of Child Language, 1976, 3, 81–98.
Sanches, M., and Kirschenblatt-Gimblett, B. Children’s traditional speech play and child language. In: B. Kirschenblatt-Gimblett (ed.), Speech play. Philadelphia, Pa.: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1976
Scollon, R. Conversation with a one year old: A case study of the developmental foundation of syntax. Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii, 1976.
Scholl, D.M., and Ryan, E.B. Child judgments of sentences varying in grammatical complexity. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 1975, 20, 274–285.
Shatz, M., and Gelman, R. The development of communication skills: Modifications in the speech of young children as a function of listeners. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development,1973, 38 (Serial No. 152).
Shipley, E.F., Smith, C.S., and Gleitman, L.R. A study in the acquisition of language: Free responses to commands. Language, 1969, 45, 322–342.
Shultz, T.R. Development of the appreciation of riddles. Child Development, 1974, 45, 100–105.
Shultz, T.R., and Horibe, F. Development of the appreciation of verbal jokes. Developmental Psychology, 1974, 10, 13–20.
Slobin, D.I., and Welsh, C.A. Elicited imitation as a research tool in developmental psycholinguistics. In: C.A. Ferguson and D.I. Slobin (eds.), Studies of child language development. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1973.
Smith, C.S. Paraphrase: An exploratory experiment with children 5–7 years old. Le Langage et l’Homme, 1974, 26, 11–19.
Smith, J.W. Children’s comprehension of metaphor: A Piagetian interpretation. Language and Speech, 1976, 19, 236–243.
Smith, N.V. The acquisition of phonology: A case study. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1973.
Snow, C.E., and Ferguson, C.A. (eds.), Talking to children: Language input and acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977.
Snyder, A.D. Notes on the talk of a two-and-a-half year old boy. Pedagogical Seminary, 1914, 21, 412–424.
Stern, C., and Stern, W. Die Kindersprache: Eine psychologische and sprach- theoretische Untersuchung (4th. edition). Leipzig: Barth, 1928.
Stokes, W. Children’s replies to requests for clarification: An opportunity for hypothesis testing. Paper presented at the First Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development, October, 1976.
Stokes, W. Motivation and language development: The struggle towards communication. Paper presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, New Orleans, March 1977.
Sutton-Smith, S. A developmental structural account of riddles. In: B. Kirschenblatt-Gimblett (ed.), Speech play. Philadelphia, Pa.: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1976.
Teece, C. Language and play: A study of the relationship between functions and structures in the language of five-year old children. Language and Speech, 1976, 19, 179–192.
de Villiers, J.G., and de Villiers, P.A. Competence and performance in child language: Are children really competent to judge ? Journal of Child Language, 1974, 1, 11–22.
Vygotsky, L.S. Thought and language. Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T. Press, 1962.
Weir, R.H. Language in the crib. The Hague: Mouton, 1962.
Weir, R.H. Some questions on the child’s learning of phonology. In: F. Smith and G.A. Miller (eds.), The genesis of language. Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T. Press, 1966.
Winner, E., and Gardner, H. What does it take to understand a metaphor? Paper presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, New Orleans, March 1977.
Winner, E., Rosenstiel, A.K., and Gardner, H. The development of metaphoric understanding. Developmental Psychology, 1976, 12, 289–297.
Wolman, N., and Barker, E.N. A developmental study of word definitions. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 1965, 107, 159–166.
Zakharova, A.V. Acquisition of forms of grammatical case by preschool children (1958). Translated in C.A. Ferguson and D.I. Slobin (eds.), Studies of child language development. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1973.
Zhurova, L.Ye. The developmental analysis of words into their sounds by pre-school children. Soviet Psychology and Psychiatry, 1964, 2, 11–17.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1978 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Clark, E.V. (1978). Awareness of Language: Some Evidence from what Children Say and Do. In: Sinclair, A., Jarvella, R.J., Levelt, W.J.M. (eds) The Child’s Conception of Language. Springer Series in Language and Communication, vol 2. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-67155-5_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-67155-5_2
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-67157-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-67155-5
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive