Language Bases ... Discourse Bases: Some Aspects of Contemporary French-Language Psycholinguistics Research (Pragmatics and Beyond New Series)

'When child language began to be studied in the sixties, what interested researchers most was what could be considered language per se. Holophrases were excluded as seemingly having no syntax and research work was carried out as of the two-word stage. Language development was studied up to around age seven, the age at which natural acquisition processes were considered to be contaminated by formal schooling in language. In opposition to such an attitude, this volume has ignored this heavily studied area of language development preferring to present research being carried out at the two ends of the development process that had been rejected: that of prelinguistic speech skills, at the one end, and the development of discourse at the other. This book thus begins with the physical properties in human development necessary for language to occur. It also offers studies on a child's initial equipment, i.e. intra-uterine skills and skills acquired before first words. At the other end, are studies on the development of discourse, i.e. the child's acquisition of the ability not only to juxtapose ideas, but to link them into cohesive, coherent texts and to use argumentation, skills that are not fully acquired until the child is well into adolescence and nearing adulthood.' Acknowledgements......Page 5 Table of contents......Page 6 Introduction......Page 8 Language Bases......Page 10 Basic Textual Capacities......Page 11 Cohesion Conditions (Syntactic Organization of Discourse)......Page 12 Coherence Conditions (Organization of Knowledge in Discourse)......Page 13 Speech Bases......Page 16 Phylogeny and Ontogeny of Languages......Page 18 Cerebral Morphology......Page 19 Handedness and Language......Page 20 Speech Production and Perception......Page 24 Referential Relationships......Page 30 Predication and Anaphoric Relationships......Page 31 Conclusion......Page 35 Introduction......Page 38 Development of the Auditory System......Page 39 Endogenous Background Noise......Page 40 External Sounds......Page 41 Fetal Reactiveness to Sound......Page 42 Consequences of Fetal Familiarization to Speech Sounds......Page 43 Behavioral Effects......Page 44 Conclusion......Page 48 Initial Equipment for Speech Perception......Page 52 Initial Perceptive Equipment......Page 53 Specialized Basic Equipment?......Page 55 Conclusion......Page 60 NOTES......Page 62 Target-Language Influences on Prespeech......Page 64 Comparative Studies......Page 67 Target-Language Influence on Prespeech: Adult Judgements......Page 68 Experiment 1......Page 69 Experiment 2......Page 70 Long-Term Spectra......Page 71 Acoustic Study of Vowels......Page 76 Conclusion......Page 78 NOTES......Page 79 Prosodic Cues in Very Young Children's Speech......Page 80 Intonational Organization of Young Children's Speech......Page 83 Young Children's Perception of Prosodic Cues......Page 85 Intonation Conditions that Effect Intelligibility......Page 88 Influence of Speech Timing on Intelligibility......Page 89 Influence of Pitch on Intelligibility......Page 91 Conclusions......Page 93 Basic Discourse Capacities......Page 96 Cohesion: Syntactic Organization Leading to Discourse......Page 98 Verbs as Sentence Organizers......Page 100 The Verb as a Word of the Language......Page 103 The Verb as a Sentence Organizer......Page 104 The Development of the Notion of a Verb Between Ages 7 and 13......Page 106 Preeminence of Regular Verbs......Page 107 Conclusion......Page 113 Pronoun Assignment in the Processing of Locally Ambiguous Sentences......Page 116 Hypothesis 1......Page 118 Method......Page 119 Results......Page 121 Discussion......Page 122 Subjects......Page 123 Discussion......Page 124 Experiment 3......Page 125 Method......Page 126 Results......Page 127 Discussion......Page 128 General Discussion......Page 129 Preliminary Considerations......Page 132 Order of AcquisitionIt......Page 135 Task Biases and Interpreting Results......Page 140 The Acquisition of BUT: A Cross-linguistic Analysis......Page 142 Utterances in which X (Interlocutor) Says P and the Child Says "MAIS Q"......Page 146 The "MAIS Q" Situation (Linguistic and Nonlinguistic)......Page 147 Final Remarks......Page 148 Children's Production of Textual Organizers......Page 150 NOTES......Page 163 Introduction......Page 164 Deixis, Coreference, and Anaphora......Page 165 Cohesion in Children's Narratives......Page 170 Introduction of Referents......Page 171 Reference Maintenance......Page 175 Referent-Introductions and Reference-Maintenance in Chinese......Page 180 Referent-Introductions and Reference-Maintenance in French......Page 184 Conclusion......Page 187 NOTES......Page 190 Coherence: Language as it Underlies and Organizes Knowledge......Page 194 An Opaque Text as a Mobilizer of Knowledge......Page 196 The Children's Reaction to the Text......Page 199 General Meaning and Paraphrase......Page 205 Discussion......Page 208 Macrocontextual level: macrostrategy......Page 209 Microcontextual level: microstrategy......Page 210 Morphemic level: phonetic strategy......Page 211 Discussion......Page 212 Conclusion......Page 213 NOTES......Page 214 The Development and Role of Narrative Schema Storytelling......Page 216 Language Behavior – Storytelling......Page 217 The Notion of Language Behavior......Page 218 Narrative Behavior......Page 219 Study of Narrative Schema Construction......Page 223 The Evolution of Produced Narratives......Page 227 Problems and Directions of Research......Page 231 Narrative Schema, Metacognition and Cognitive Monitoring......Page 232 Narrative Schema and Surface Marks......Page 233 Stories A Psycholinguistic and Ontogenetic Approach to the Acquisition of Narrative Abilities......Page 236 A Psycholinguistic Approach to Stories......Page 237 The Acquisition of the Ability to Write a Story from One's Own Experience......Page 239 Conclusion......Page 247 NOTES......Page 249 The Development of Argumentative Discourse......Page 252 Argumentation and Propositional Logic......Page 253 Argumentation and Reasoning......Page 254 Argumentation and Narration......Page 255 The Development of Argumentative Discourse in Adolescents: Experimental Studies......Page 257 Method......Page 258 Results......Page 260 Modalities......Page 265 Argumentation and Narration......Page 267 Conclusion......Page 273 NOTES......Page 274 References......Page 276 Index......Page 342 When Child Language Began To Be Studied In The Sixties, What Interested Researchers Most Was What Could Be Considered Language Per Se. Holophrases Were Excluded As Seemingly Having No Syntax And Research Work Was Carried Out As Of The Two-word Stage. Language Development Was Studied Up To Around Age Seven, The Age At Which Natural Acquisition Processes Were Considered To Be Contaminated By Formal Schooling In Language.in Opposition To Such An Attitude, This Volume Has Ignored This Heavily Studied Area Of Language Development Preferring To Present Research Being Carried Out At The Two Ends Of The Development Process That Had Been Rejected: That Of Prelinguistic Speech Skills, At The One End, And The Development Of Discourse At The Other. This Book Thus Begins With The Physical Properties In Human Development Necessary For Language To Occur. It Also Offers Studies On A Child's Initial Equipment, I.e. Intra-uterine Skills And Skills Acquired Before First Words. At The Other End Are Studies On The Development Of Discourse, I.e. The Child's Acquisition Of The Ability Not Only To Juxtapose Ideas, But To Link Them Into Cohesive, Coherent Texts And To Use Argumentation, Skills That Are Not Fully Acquired Until The Child Is Well Into Adolescence And Nearing Adulthood. Phylogeny And Ontogeny Of Languages / F. Bresson -- Prenatal Familiarization / J.p. Lecanuet, C. Granier-deferre And M.-c. Busnel -- Initial Equipment For Speech Perception / J. Bertoncini -- Target-language Influences On Prespeech / B. De Boysson-bardies -- Prosodic Cues In Very Young Children's Speech / N. Bacri -- Verbs As Sentence Organizers / G. Piéraut-le Bonniec And J.p. Pille -- Pronoun Assignment In The Processing Of Locally Ambiguous Sentences / J. Seguy And M. Kail -- Conjunctions : Developmental Issues / M. Kail And J Weissenborn -- Children's Production Of Textual Organizers / J.-p. Bronckart And B. Schneuwly -- The Development Of Discourse Cohesion : Some Functional And Cross-linguistic Issues / M. Hickman -- An Opaque Text As A Mobilizer Of Knowledge / M. Dolitsky And G. Piéraut-le Bonniec -- The Development And Role Of Narrative Schema Storytelling / E. Esperet. Stories : A Psycholinguistic And Ontogenetic Approach To The Acquisition Of Narrative Abilities / M. Fayol -- The Development Of Argumentative Discourse / G. Piéraut-le Bonniec And M. Valette. Edited By Gilberte Pièraut-le-bonniec And Marlène Dolitsky. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.