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The transformation of sensorimotor morphemes into words: a case study of the development of ‘more’ and ‘mine’*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Anne L. Carter
Affiliation:
University of California, Berkeley

Abstract

This paper describes, through discussion and illustrative events, an evolving segment of communication during the course of transition of one child's total communication system from the sensorimotor or gestural level at 12 months into the level of use of the adult words more and mine, and their associated multi-morphemic utterances, at 24 months. The descriptive analysis is based on detailed narrative records of the child's vocal and gestural communication, abstracted from videotape recordings of his behaviour in 10 playsessions conducted at regular intervals and under similar conditions, and which included the presence of the mother, peers, other adults, and play materials. The results as presented provide a case study of the evolutionary processes leading up to the acquisition of words and eventually sentences, illustrating as precisely as possible the texture of one of the earliest developmental sequences.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1975

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References

REFERENCES

Bloom, L. (1973). One word at a time: the use of single-word utterances before syntax. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar
Brown, R. (1973). A first language. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carter, L. (1974). The development of communication in the sensorimotor period: a case study. Doctoral thesis, University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar