1 How Children Learn the Reference of Concrete Nouns: A Critique of Current Hypotheses. - The Original Hypotheses of Clark and Nelson. - Subsequent Developments. - Revisions and Extensions. - Conclusions and Some Suggestions for Future Research. - 2 Early Semantic Representations and Early Word-Usage. - The Principal Phenomena Characterizing Early Word-Usage. - The Development of Semantic Representations: A Summary of the Proposed Model. - Conclusions. - 3 Constraints on the Representation of Word Meaning: Evidence From Autistic and Mentally Retarded Children. - The Study. - Results. - Discussion. - 4 Semantic and Conceptual Knowledge Underlying the Child's Words. - Extensional Studies. - Interview Studies. - Conclusion. - 5 Thoughts on the Intensional Basis of Early Object Word Extension: Evidence From Comprehension and Production. - Object Word Meaning. - Children's Extension Errors. - The Comprehension/Production Issue. - The Notion of Prototypes and Its Implications for the Comprehension/Production Issue. - Conclusions and Speculations. - An Unembarrassed Return to the Notion of Prototype-Based Word Meaning. - 6 Lexical Acquisition Strategies in the Preschool Child. - What's in a Word?. - Data Bases and Strategies. - The Input. - Experimental Evidence. - Conclusion. - 7 Apprenticeship in Word Use: Social Convergence Processes in Learning Categorically Related Nouns. - The Vygotsky-Wittgenstein Legacy. - Some Clarifications and Implications. - The Framework Applied to Maternal Labeling Research. - Factors Affecting Parent-Child Reference Patterns. - An Illustrative Study. - Conclusion. - 8 Words Plans Things and Locations: Interactions Between Semantic and Cognitive Development in the One-Word Stage. - Meaning in the One-Word Stage. - Words About Things. - Words About Plans. - Words AboutLocations. - Other Early Words and Meanings. - Changes in the Meanings of Early Words. - Summary. - Conceptual Development and Early Meaning. - Theories of Semantic Development in the One-Word Stage. - An Alternative Hypothesis. - 9 Actions and Things: What Adults Talk About to 1-Year-Olds. - Speech Input Characteristics. - What Is the Topic of Conversation: Action or Object?. - Mother Speech Styles. - Conversational Demands and Child-Directed Speech. - Descriptive Comments About Objects and Actions. - Directing Visual Attention. - Directing Actions. - Promoting Verbal Responses. - Conclusion. - 10 Action Words and Pragmatic Function in Early Language. - Action Words: Classes and Contexts. - Data: Actions and State Changes. - The Pragmatics of Early Action Words. - Mental Process Verbs. - Conclusions. - 11 Verbs and Time. - Cutting Up Verbs. - Time Talk. - The Category Verb. - Conclusion. - 12 Acquiring and Using Words to Express Logical Relationships. - Selective Review of the Literature Concerning Children's Understanding of the Terms Before After Because So If But and Or. - Production and Comprehension Measures. - Content as a Context for Comprehending Relational Terms. - Conclusions. - Summary. - Author Index. Language: English