Discussion, Conclusions, and Speculations

Abstract

The data presented in Chapter 4 revealed a number of patterns regarding practice type, model type, and speech type. In the first part of this chapter, I shall summarize these findings. In terms of overall absolute frequency, exact reproductions were the most frequent type of practice, followed by breakdowns, buildups, substitutions, and completions (from most to least frequent). Practice was more frequent in social-context speech than in crib speech in terms of absolute frequency. However, practice comprised a larger proportion of the children’s speech in the crib-speech samples than in the social-context-speech samples. Thus, although there were more instances of practice in social-context speech than in crib speech, a child-produced utterance was more likely to take the form of linguistic practice in crib speech than in social-context speech. Crib speech, then, seemed to be a context in which children were quite likely to engage in linguistic practice.