Hostname: page-component-6bf8c574d5-r8w4l Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-03-07T12:49:57.608Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Brown & Hanlon revisited: mothers' sensitivity to ungrammatical forms*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Kathy Hirsh-Pasek ,
Rebecca Treiman  and
Maita Schneiderman
Kathy Hirsh-Pasek
Affiliation:
Swarthtnore College and C.M.D.N.J.–Rutgers Medical School
Rebecca Treiman
Affiliation:
Indiana University
Maita Schneiderman
Affiliation:
University of Connecticut
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Brown & Hanlon (1970) reported that parents' explicit approval or disapproval of their child's utterances was not contingent on the well-formedness of that utterance. Rather, parents seemed attuned to the semantic value of their child's speech. Using 40 mother–child dyads, 10 from each of four age groups, 2–5 years, we replicated these results. We expanded upon this earlier work, however, to suggest that parents are not totally indifferent to the grammatical form of their child's utterances. Focusing on repetitions, we found that mothers are more inclined to repeat ungrammatical than grammatical sentences generated by 2- year-old subjects. This indicates that the language learning environment does present subtle cues that distinguish between well-formed and ill-formed sentences. Whether the child is capable of capitalizing on these cues remains unanswered.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , February 1984 , pp. 81 - 88
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

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

Brown, R. (1973). A first language. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, R. & Hanlon, C. (1970). Derivational complexity and order of acquisition in child speech. In Hayes, J. R. (ed.), Cognition and the development of language. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Cazden, C. B. (1965). Environmental assistance to the child's acquisition of grammar. Unpublished dissertation, Harvard University.Google Scholar
Chomsky, N. (1959). Review of Skinner's Verbal behavior. Lg 35. 26–58.Google Scholar
Cross, T. G. (1977). Mothers' speech adjustments: the contribution of selected child listener variables. In Snow, C. E. & Ferguson, C. A. (eds), Talking to children. Cambridge: C.U.P.Google Scholar
Fodor, J. A., Bever, T. G. & Garrett, M. F. (1974). The psychology of language. New York; McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Nelson, K. G., Carskaddon, G. & Bonvillian, J. D. (1973). Syntax acquisition: impact of environmental variation in adult verbal interaction with the child. ChDev 44. 497–504.Google Scholar
Newport, E. L. & Gleitman, H. (1977). Maternal self-repetition and the child's acquisition of language. PRCLD 13. 46–55.Google Scholar
Ninio, A. & Bruner, J. (1978). The achievement and antecedents of labelling. JChLang 5. 1–16.Google Scholar
Pinker, S. (1979). Formal models of language learning. Cognition 7. 217–83.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shatz, M. & Gelman, R. (1973). The development of communication skills: modification in the speech of young children as a function of listener. Monogr. Soc. Res. Ch. Devel. 38, No. 152.Google ScholarPubMed
Wells, C. G. (1980). Adjustments in adult–child conversation: some effects of interaction. In Giles, H., Smith, P. & Robinson, W. P. (eds), Language: social psychological perspectives. Oxford: Pergamon.Google Scholar
Wexler, K. & Culicover, P. (1980). Formal principles of language acquisition. Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T.Google Scholar