title: Intrinsic characteristics of activity: a comment on Kent's psychobiology.
abstract: Kent has made seven statements that should inspire responses from linguists, kinesiologists, and developmentalists, among others. His goal of reforming our current theoretical perspective on the development of speech will be accomplished, in part, by their corrections, elaborations, and further speculations. Not all of his statements have the same status or consequence for an evolving theory of development. Those on the anatomic and neurological differences between infants and adults are much less controversial than those on the initial separateness of the perception and production systems or those on the relation of rhythmic behavior to phonology. Across all the statements, two major topics merit discussion: 1) the relevant descriptive terms of the vocal behavior of infants and 2) the relation of vocal activity to other behavior.
mesh_terms: D002657:Child Development; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009043:Motor Activity; D009068:Movement; D013060:Speech; D013239:Stereotyped Behavior