A relatively simple model of the phonological loop (A. D. Baddeley, 1986), a component of working memory, has proved capable of accommodating a great deal of experimental evidence from normal adult participants, children, and neuropsychological patients. Until recently, however, the role of this subsystem in everyday cognitive activities was unclear. In this article the authors review studies of word learning by normal adults and children, neuropsychological patients, and special developmental populations, which provide evidence that the phonological loop plays a crucial role in learning the novel phonological forms of new words. The authors propose that the primary purpose for which the phonological loop evolved is to store unfamiliar sound patterns while more permanent memory records are being constructed. Its use in retaining sequences of familiar words is, it is argued,

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The phonological loop as a language learning device.

Recent work on natural categories suggests a framework for conceptualizing people's knowledge about emotions. Categories of natural objects or events, including emotions, are formed as a result of repeated experiences and become organized around prototypes (Rosch, 1978); the interrelated set of emot

Emotion knowledge: further exploration of a prototype approach.

The authors propose an alternative conceptualization of the developmental dyslexias, the double-deficit hypothesis (i.e., phonological deficits and processes underlying naming-speed deficits represent 2 separable sources of reading dysfunction). Data from cross-sectional, longitudinal, and cross-linguistic studies are reviewed supporting the presence of 2 single-deficit subtypes with more limited reading impairments and 1 double-deficit subtype with more pervasive and severe impairments. Naming-speed and phonological-awareness variables contribute uniquely to different aspects of reading according to this conception, with a model of visual letter naming illustrating both the multicomponential nature of naming speed and why naming speed Should not be subsumed under phonological processes. Two hypotheses concerning relationships between naming-speed processes and reading are considered. The implications of processing speed as a second core deficit in dyslexia are described for diagnosis and intervention.

The double-deficit hypothesis for the developmental dyslexias.

How social contexts support and shape language development

Impact of parental discipline methods on the child's internalization of values: A reconceptualization of current points of view.

Children's language

There is increasing evidence that bilingual children are able to separate their languages from the earliest stages of language production, but very little of this data comes from phonological acquisition studies. This study investigates the lexical forms and speech sound production of a child learning Norwegian and English bilingually from birth. Data for lexical analysis are words attested by the MacArthur Development Inventory for Infants and diary data when the child was 1;2 to 1;8. Phonological analysis was based on audio recordings of the child at 1;9 in separate Norwegian and English-language contexts. The child's translation equivalents and preference for using each language with the speakers of that language show that he did not treat English and Norwegian as a unified language system. He maintained this distinction in aspects of his sound production, including (1) the size and some distributional characteristics of his phonetic inventory in each language environment, (2) differential accuracy by ...

The Development of More than One Phonology: A Case Study of a Norwegian-English Bilingual Child.

Although evidence is now available from several domains of language acquisition research that bilingual (BFLA) children differentiate their languages from the time of their earliest productions, studies in the phonetics-phonology domain have been sparse until recently. In this paper we first highlight some methodological issues that impact phonetic - phonological data collection and interpretation. These issues include language context, bilingual versus monolingual mode, and adult listening bias. After suggesting types of acoustic evidence that can be used to determine whether the phonological modules of a young bilingual child are separate, we focus on voice onset time (VOT). We discuss methodological issues specific to a VOT study, including segmental context, rate of speech, and the position of word stress. We also present preliminary data from two BFLA children, ages four and two, learning Japanese and English. Separate recordings were made of the two children as they were asked to identify various pictures. Each child’s VOTs were calculated and compared across languages. Results showed that the two-year-old had no significant difference between languages. However, the t-test results for the four-year-old indicated that, for /p/ and /t/ ,V OT for English was of significantly longer duration than VOT for Japanese.

Phonetic evidence for early language differentiation: Research issues and some preliminary data:

Many seniors adapt their conversation to compensate for hearing loss. They may talk more to reduce listening demand, or pretend to understand rather than repairing conversation to recover unheard or misheard information. Such adaptations may differentially affect the transactional and interactional functions of discourse. Clinicians and researchers must appreciate the ‘normal’ bounds of these adaptations. The relationship between auditory and conversational function was explored in a case study of one 80‐year old woman with moderate hearing impairment who had little communication handicap in everyday life but often pretended to understand. She conversed with an audiologist in favorable and unfavorable listening conditions. Comprehension was measured using free and recognition recall, and conversational behaviors were analyzed. Recall was influenced more by the cognitive and emotional‐social engagement of the senior than by auditory status. The findings illustrate how the interactional function of...

Carolyn E. Johnson

Papers

Children's language

The Development of More than One Phonology: A Case Study of a Norwegian-English Bilingual Child.

Phonetic evidence for early language differentiation: Research issues and some preliminary data:

The discrepancy between hearing impairment and handicap in the elderly: Balancing transaction and interaction in conversation

Acquisition of Complex Sentences in Spanish and Catalan Speaking Children