Hostname: page-component-5b777bbd6c-vfh8q Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-06-21T18:26:51.519Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

What's the use of imitation?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Ruth Clark
Ruth Clark*
Affiliation:
Queen Margaret College, Edinburgh
*
Address for correspondence: 23 Dalrymple Crescent, Edinburgh 9.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Attitudes towards imitation have been coloured by theoretical disputes about the nature of language. But even if language is rule-governed, children may be helped by imitation to discover the rules. This paper reviews evidence for and against imitation as a factor in the acquisition of syntax. The conclusion reached is that the effects of imitation on children's speech are too pervasive for the process to be dismissed as irrelevant. Many idiosyncratic features of children's speech seem to be traceable to imitation interacting with other simple mechanisms. For the author, the important question is no longer whether imitation can help children to acquire syntax, but precisely how a child gradually extracts grammatical information from the repertoire of imitated sequences at his disposal.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 4 , Issue 3 , October 1977 , pp. 341 - 358
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1977

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.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

Bellugi, U. (1971). Simplification in children's language. In Huxley, R. & Ingram, R. (eds). Methods and models in language acquisition. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Gleason, J. Berko (1973). Code switching in children's language. In Moore, T. E. (ed.), Cognitive development and the acquisition of language. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Bloom, L. (1973). One word at a time. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar
Bloom, L., Hood, L. & Lightbown, P. (1974). Imitation in language development: if, when, and why. CogPsych 6. 380–420.Google Scholar
Brown, R. (1968). The development of wh-questions in child speech. JVLVB 7. 279–90.Google Scholar
Brown, R. (1973). A first language: the early stages. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, R. & Bellugi, U. (1964). Three processes in the child's acquisition of syntax. In Lenneberg, E. H. (ed.), New directions in the study of language. Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T.Google Scholar
Brown, R., Cazden, C. & Bellugi, U. (1968). The child's grammar from I-III. In Hill, J. P. (ed.), Minnesota symposia in child psychology, II. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Brown, R. & Fraser, C. (1963). In Cofer, C. N. & Musgrave, B. (eds), Verbal behavior and learning. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google 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
Bruner, J. (1975). The ontogenesis of speech acts. JChLang 2. 1–19.Google Scholar
Cazden, C. (1968). The acquisition of noun and verb inflections. ChDev 39. 433–8.Google Scholar
Chomsky, N. (1964). Formal discussion of W. Miller & S. Ervin, ‘The development of grammar in child language’. In Bellugi, U. & Brown, R. (eds), The acquisition of language. Monogr.Soc.Res.Ch.Devel. 92. 29. 1.Google Scholar
Clark, R. (1972). Imitation, production and comprehension and how they are related in children's performance. Edinburgh Working Papers in Linguistics 1. 68–72.Google Scholar
Clark, R. (1974 a). Performing without competence. JChLang 1. 1–10.Google Scholar
Clark, R. (1974 b). Aspects of psycholinguistics in the context of the symposium. Symposium on interactions between linguistics and mathematical education, Nairobi, ED-74/COMF. 808/8.Google Scholar
Clark, R. (1975). Adult theories, child strategies and their implications for the language teacher. In Allen, J. P. B. & Corder, S. P. (eds), Edinburgh course in applied linguistics, II. London: O.U.P.Google Scholar
Clark, R. (1976). A report on methods of longitudinal data collection. JChLang 3. 457–9.Google Scholar
Clark, R. (forthcoming). Some even simpler ways to learn to talk. In Waterson, N. & Snow, C. (eds), Development of communication: social and pragmatic factors in language acquisition. London: Wiley.Google Scholar
Clark, R., Hutcheson, S. & Van Buren, P. (1974). Comprehension and production in language acquisition. JL 10. 39–54.Google Scholar
Clark, R. & Van Buren, P. (1973). How a two year old orders words about. Edinburgh Working Papers in Linguistics 2. 76–89.Google Scholar
De Villiers, J. G. & De Villiers, P. A. (1974). Competence and performance in child language: are children really competent to judge? JChLang 1. 11–22.Google Scholar
Emonds, J. (1970). Constraints on transformations. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, M.I.T.Google Scholar
Ervin, S. M. (1964). Imitation and structural change in children's language. In Lenneberg, E. H. (ed.), New directions in the study of language. Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T.Google Scholar
Ervin-Tripp, S. (1971). An overview of theories of grammatical development. In Slobin, D. I. (ed.), The ontogenesis of grammar. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Ervin-Tripp, S. (1973). Some strategies for the first two years. In Moore, T. E. (ed.), Cognitive development and the acquisition of language. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Fernald, C. (1972). Control of grammar in imitation, comprehension and production: problems of replication. JVLVB 11. 606–13.Google Scholar
Ferrier, L. (forthcoming). Some observations of error in context. In Waterson, N. & Snow, C. (eds), Development of communication: social and pragmatic factors in language acquisition. London: Wiley.Google Scholar
Folger, J. P. & Chapman, R. S. (1978). A pragmatic analysis of spontaneous imitations. JChLang 5. 1.Google Scholar
Fraser, C., Bellugi, U. & Brown, R. (1963). Control of grammar in imitation, comprehension and production. JVLVB 2. 121–35.Google Scholar
Halliday, M. A. K. (1975). On conversation and the construction of reality by a child. School of Epistemics lecture, University of Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Keenan, E. O. (1974). Conversational competence. JChLang 1. 163–83.Google Scholar
Klima, E. S. & Bellugi, U. (1966). Syntactic regularities in the speech of children. In Lyons, J. & Wales, R. J. (eds), Psycholinguistics papers. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Malouf, R. E. & Dodd, D. H. (1972). Role of exposure, imitation and expansion in the acquisition of an artificial grammatical rule. DevPsych 7. 195–203.Google Scholar
McTear, M. F. (1976). Repetition in child language: imitation or creation? Paper presented at Nato Conference on the Psychology of Language,University of Stirling.Google Scholar
Menyuk, P. (1963). A preliminary evaluation of grammatical capacity in children. JVLVB 2. 429–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olson, D. R. (1972). Language use for communicating, instructing and thinking. In Carroll, J. B. & Freedle, R. O. (eds), Language comprehension and the acquisition of knowledge. Washington, D.C.: Winston.Google Scholar
Olson, G. M. (1973). Developmental changes in memory and the acquisition of language. In Moore, T. E. (ed.), Cognitive development and the acquisition of language. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Park, T. Z. (1970). The acquisition of German syntax. Unpublished paper, Psychologisches Institut, University of Münster.Google Scholar
Ravem, R. (1968). Language acquisition in a second language environment. IRAL 6. 175–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rodd, L. J. & Braine, M. D. S. (1970). Children's imitations of syntactic constructions as a measure of linguistic competence. JVLVB 10. 430–43.Google Scholar
Roeper, T. (1973). Theoretical implications of word order, topicalization and inflections in German language acquisition. In Ferguson, C. S. & Slobin, D. I. (eds), Studies of child language development. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.Google Scholar
Ryan, J. (1973). Interpretation and imitation in early language development. In Hinde, R. A. & Stevenson-Hinde, J. (eds), Constraints on learning. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Shipley, E. F. & Catlin, J. C. (1972). Short term memory for sentences in children: an exploratory study of temporal aspects of imposing structure. In The acquisition of linguistic structure. Psychological Institute, E. Pennsylvania.Google Scholar
Shipley, E. F., Smith, C. S. & Gleitman, L. R. (1969). A study of the acquisition of language: free responses to commands. Lg 45. 322–42.Google Scholar
Shugar, G. W. (forthcoming). Text analysis as an approach to the study of early linguistic operations. In Waterson, N. & Snow, C. (eds), Development of communication: social and pragmatic factors in language acquisition. London: Wiley.Google Scholar
Slobin, D. I. (1968). Imitation and grammatical development in children. In Endler, N. S., Boulter, L. R. & Osser, H. (eds), Contemporary issues in developmental psychology. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.Google Scholar
Slobin, D. I. (1973 a). Introduction to ‘Studies of imitation and comprehension’. In Ferguson, C. A. & Slobin, D. I. (eds), Studies of child language development. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.Google Scholar
Slobin, D. I. (1973 b). Cognitive prerequisites for the development of grammar. In Ferguson, C. A. & Slobin, D. I. (eds), Studies of child language development. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.Google Scholar
Slobin, D. I. (1973 c). Introduction to ‘Grammar’. In Ferguson, C. A. & Slobin, D. I. (eds), Studies of child language development. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.Google Scholar
Slobin, D. I. & Welsh, C. A. (1971). Elicited imitation as a research tool in developmental psycholinguistics. In Lavatelli, C. S. (ed.), Language training in early childhood education. Illinois: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Smith, C. S. (1970). An experimental approach to children's linguistic competence. In Hayes, J. R. (ed.), Cognition and the development of language. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Whitehurst, G. & Vasta, R. (1975). Is language acquired through imitation? JPsycholing Res. 4. 37–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar