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babbling An infant's production of strings of consonant-vowel combinations. bilingualism The acquisition of two languages. categorical speech perception The tendency to perceive as the same a range of sounds belonging to the same phonemic group. communicative competence The ability to convey thoughts, feelings, and intentions in a meaningful and culturally patterned way. cooing A very young infant's production of vowellike sounds. creole language A language spoken by children of pidgin-language speakers that, in contrast with pidgin, is highly developed and rule governed. critical period A specific period in children's development when they are sensitive to a particular environmental stimulus that does not have the same effect on them when encountered before or after this period. discourse Socially based conversation. expansion A technique adults use in speaking to young children in which they imitate and expand or add to a child's statement. grammar The structure of a language; consists of morphology and syntax. holophrase A single word that appears to represent a complete thought. infant-directed, or child-directed, speech A simplified style of speech parents use with young children, in which sentences are short, simple, and often repetitive and the speaker enunciates especially clearly, slowly, and in a higher pitched voice, often ending with a rising intonation. Also called motherese. language acquisition device (LAD) Chomsky's proposed mental structure in the human nervous system that incorporates an innate concept of language. language acquisition support system (LASS) According to Bruner, a collection of strategies and tactics that environmental influences—initially, a child's parents or primary care givers—provide the language-learning child. metalinguistic awareness The understanding that language is a rule-bound system of communicating. morpheme A language's smallest unit of meaning, such as a prefix, a suffix, or a root word. morphology The study of morphemes, language's smallest units of meaning. naming explosion The rapid increase in vocabulary that the child typically shows at about the age of 1.5 years. language A communication system in which words and their written symbols combine in rule-governed ways and enable speakers to produce an infinite number of messages. overextension The use, by a young child, of a single word to cover many different things. overregularization The application of a principle of regular change to a word that changes irregularly. patterned speech A form of pseudo-speech in which the child utters strings of phonemes that sound very much like real speech but are not. phoneme The basic unit of a language's phonetic system; phonemes are the smallest sound units that affect meaning. phonological awareness The understanding of the sounds of a language and of the properties, such as the number of sounds in a word, related to these sounds. phonology The system of sounds that a language uses. pragmatics A set of rules that specify appropriate language for particular social contexts. productive language The production of speech. protodeclarative A gesture that an infant uses to make some sort of statement about an object. protoimperative A gesture that either an infant or a young child may use to get someone to do something she or he wants. recast A technique adults use in speaking to young children in which they render a child's incomplete sentence in a more complex grammatical form. receptive language Under standing the speech of others. semantics The study of word meanings and word combinations, as in phrases, clauses, and sentences. speech acts One- or two-word utterances that clearly refer to situations or to sequences of events. syntax The part of grammar that prescribes how words may combine into phrases, clauses, and sentences. telegraphic speech Two-word utterances that include only the words essential to convey the speaker's intent. underextension The use, by a young child, of a single word in a restricted and individualistic way.