title: What Paves the Way to Conventional Language? The Predictive Value of Babble, Pointing, and Socioeconomic Status.
abstract: A child's first words mark the emergence of a uniquely human ability. Theories of the developmental steps that pave the way for word production have proposed that either vocal or gestural precursors are key. These accounts were tested by assessing the developmental synchrony in the onset of babbling, pointing, and word production for 46 infants observed monthly between the ages of 9 and 18 months. Babbling and pointing did not develop in tight synchrony and babble onset alone predicted first words. Pointing and maternal education emerged as predictors of lexical knowledge only in relation to a measure taken at 18 months. This suggests a far more important role for early phonological development in the creation of the lexicon than previously thought.
authors.affiliation: University of Sheffield.
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: McGillion
authors.affiliation: University of Wollongong.
authors.forename: Jane S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Herbert
authors.affiliation: University of Liverpool.|ESRC International Centre for Language and Communicative Development (LuCiD).
authors.forename: Julian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pine
authors.affiliation: University of York.
authors.forename: Marilyn
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vihman
authors.affiliation: James Madison University.
authors.forename: Rory
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: dePaolis
authors.affiliation: University of York.
authors.forename: Tamar
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Keren-Portnoy
authors.affiliation: University of Sheffield.
authors.forename: Danielle
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Matthews
mesh_terms: D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D002663:Child Language; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D005868:Gestures; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D018730:Infant Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D012923:Social Class