DOCUMENT RESUME ED 338 446 PS 020 075 AUTHOR Ninio, Anat TITLE The EXpression of Communicative Intents in Single-word Vtterances and the Emergence of Patterned Speech. PUB DATE Apr 91 NOTE 20p.; Paper presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development (Seattle, WA, April 18-20, 1991). This research was supported by the U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation and the Israeli Academy of Sciences. PUB TYPE Reports - Research/Technical (143) -- Speeches/Conference Papers (150) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Child Language; Foreign Countries; *Infants; *Language Acquisition; Language Research; Preschool Education; *Speech Communication; *Syntax; *Toddlers IDENTIFIERS Israel; Mapping; *Multiword Speech ABSTRACT Two hypotheses related to the emergence of multiword speech were explored: (1) that multiword speech follows developments in children's ability to map communicative intents to single-word expressions; and (2) that the acquisition of these mapping principles paves the way for the emergence of syntax. The developments consist of an increase in the use of multiple realization rules for the same intent and an increase in the use of variable-type, selective realization rules. Sixteen 12- to 29-month-o16 children were videotaped six times in a year. The emergence of syntax was found to follow by 0-6 months a steep increase in the use of multiple mapping rules for the realization of the same intents in one-word utterances, as well as an "explosion" in the use of variable-type mapping rules. The results raise the possibility that an understanding of the componential structure of communicative intents, and of thst ways selected components may be mapped to expressions, is a necessary antecedent to understanding the mastery of patterned speech. (Author/SH) ********************************R***********V.********* *************** * Reproductions suppli.A by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * ***********************************************************************