Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T17:56:32.110Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Language without communication: a case study*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Marion Blank ,
Myron Gessner  and
Anita Esposito
Marion Blank
Affiliation:
College of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Rutgers Medical School
Myron Gessner
Affiliation:
College of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Rutgers Medical School
Anita Esposito
Affiliation:
College of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Rutgers Medical School
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Two branches of language functioning are now actively being studied: one focuses on language as a system for expressing syntactic-semantic relations, the other as a system of interpersonal communication. In this paper, a case is presented of a child who at 3; 3 showed a marked schism between these two areas. In the former domain he displayed behaviour that in most respects was age appropriate and relatively extensive. In the latter domain, he displayed almost totally ineffective functioning. His difficulties in the use of language for communication were mirrored from infancy by a serious failure either to understand or produce non-verbal communication (e.g. gestures). It is suggested that the structural and communicative aspects of language are based upon different sets of skills which particularly in cases of language disorder may function independently of one another.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , June 1979 , pp. 329 - 352
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1979

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Bates, E. (1976). Language and context: the acquisition of pragmatics. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Bates, E., Benigni, L., Bretherton, I., Camaioni, L. & Volterra, V. (1977). From gesture to the first word: on cognitive and social prerequisites. In Michael, Lewis (ed.), Interaction, conversation and the development of language. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Blank, M. (1973). Teaching learning in the preschool: a dialogue approach. Columbus: Merrill.Google Scholar
Blank, M. (1977). Language, the child, and the teacher: a proposed assessment model. In Hom, H. L. & Robinson, P. (eds), Psychological processes in early education. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Blank, M., Rose, S. A. & Berlin, L. (1978). The language of learning: the preschool years. New York: Grune & Stratton.Google Scholar
Bloom, L. (1975). Language in context. In Rogers, S. (ed.), Children and language: readings in early language and socialization. London: O.U.P.Google Scholar
Bloom, L. & Lahey, M. (1978). Language development and language disorders. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Bloom, L., Lightbown, P. & Hood, L. (1975). Structure and variation in child language. Monog.Soc.Res.Ch.Devel. 40.Google Scholar
Bloom, L., Rocissano, L. & Hood, L. (1976). Adult-child discourse: developmental interaction between information processing and linguistic knowledge. CogPsych 8. 521–52.Google Scholar
Bowerman, M. F. (1978). Semantic and syntactic development: a review of what, when and how in language acquisition. In Schiefelbusch, R. L. (ed.), Bases of language intervention. Baltimore: University Park Press.Google Scholar
Bruner, J. S. (1974). The ontogenesis of speech acts. JChLang 2. 1–19.Google Scholar
Chomsky, N. (1957). Syntactic structures. Mouton: The Hague.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cook-Gumperz, J. (1977). Situated instructions: language socialization of school age children. In Ervin-Tripp, S. & Mitchell-Kernan, C. (eds), Child discourse. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Franklin, E. (1978). An analysis of preschool children's conversational skills. Unpublished M.A. dissertation, Rutgers University.Google Scholar
Gallagher, T. M. & Craig, H. K. (1978). Structural characteristics of monologues in the speech of normal children: semantic and conversational aspects. JSHR 21. 96–102.Google Scholar
Garvey, C. & Hogan, R. (1973). Social speech and social interaction revisited. ChDev 44. 562–8.Google Scholar
Goldstein, K. (1939). The organism. New York: American Books.Google Scholar
Halliday, M. A. K. (1975 a). Learning to mean. In Rogers, S. (ed.) Children and language: readings in early language and socialization. London: O.U.P.Google Scholar
Halliday, M. A. K. (1975 a). Learning how to mean. London: Edward Arnold.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hubbell, R. D. (1977). On facilitating spontaneous talking in young children. JSHD 42. 216–31.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kanner, L. (1943). Autistic disturbances of affective contact. NervChild 2. 217–50.Google Scholar
Lee, L. L. (1974). Development sentence analysis. Evanston: Northwestern University Press.Google Scholar
Nelson, K. (1973). Structure and strategy in learning to talk. Monogr.Soc.Res.Ch.Devel. 38.Google Scholar
Piaget, J. (1952). The origins of intelligence. New York: International Universities Press.Google Scholar
Rees, N. S. (1978). Pragmatics of language: applications to normal and disordered language development. In Schiefelbusch, R. L. (ed.), Bases of language intervention. Baltimore: University Park Press.Google Scholar
Ruesch, J. (1958). The tangential response. In Hoch, P. M. & Zubin, J. (eds), Psycho-pathology of communication. New York: Grune & Stratton.Google Scholar
Shapiro, T., Roberts, A. & Fish, B. (1970). Imitation and echoing. JAmAcadChPsychiat 9. 421–39Google ScholarPubMed
Snyder, L. S. (1976). The early presuppositions and performatives of normal and language disabled children. Paper presented at the Eighth Annual Child Language Research Forum, Stanford University.Google Scholar
Stern, D. N. (1974). Mother and infant at play: the dyadic interaction involving facial, focal, and gaze behaviors. In Lewis, M. & Rosenblum, L. (eds), The effect of the infant on its caregiver. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Toler, S. A. & Bankson, N. W. (1976). Utilization of an interrogative model to evaluate mothers' use and children's comprehension of question forms. JSHD 41. 301–14.Google Scholar