t proceed from or are dependent on language.
Reference has been made to the theoretical competition in the field of language acquisition and development. In the background of research in this area is a fairly simple question: Why do children talk? The popular culture is replete with anecdotal evidence that they are not likely to make the effort to talk if they can obtain what they want with less effort, particularly if a parent anticipates a child's every demand before it is made. Children start to communicate formally with gestures and vocalizations. Before such activity begins, communication may be random, unstructured, unconscious, physiologically reactive rather than goal-oriented, structured, conscious, and affectively and cognitively proactive.
A number of features of language arise where the notion of communication is concerned. For one thing, and perhaps in its earliest manifestations, speech communication appears instrumental for a child, a way of satisfying actual or perceived needs or wants. It seems regulat
...