As the linguistic repertoire of the child increases, it is often assumed that the child is, in some sense, being “taught” the language. This idea is not really supported by what the child actually does. For the vast majority of children, no one provides any instruction on how to speak the language. Nor should we picture a little empty head gradually being filled with words and phrases. A more accurate view would have the children actively constructing, from what is said to them, possible ways of using the language. The child’s linguistic production appears to be mostly a matter of trying out constructions and testing whether they work or not.

It is simply not possible that the child is acquiring the language principally through a process of imitating adult speech. Certainly, children can be heard to repeat versions of what adults say on occasion and they are clearly in the process of adopting a lot of vocabulary from the speech they hear. However, adults simply do not produce many of the expressions that turn up in children’s speech. Notice how the child creates a totally new verb (to Woodstock) in the context.

NOAH: (picking up a toy dog) This is Woodstock.  (He bobs the toy in Adam’s face)

ADAM: Hey Woodstock, don’t do that.  (Noah persists)

ADAM: I’m going home so you won’t Woodstock me.

It is also unlikely that adult “corrections” are a very effective determiner of how the child speaks. A lot of very amusing conversational snippets, involving an adult’s attempt to correct a child’s speech, seem to demonstrate the hopelessness of the task. One example (other one spoon) was quoted at the beginning of the chapter. Even when the correction is attempted in a more subtle manner, the child will continue to use a personally constructed form, despite the adult’s repetition of what the correct form should be. Note that in the following dialog (quoted in Cazden, 1972) the child, a four-year-old, is neither imitating the adult’s speech nor accepting the adult’s correction.

CHILD: My teacher holded the baby rabbits and we patted them.

MOTHER: Did you say your teacher held the baby rabbits?

CHILD: Yes.

MOTHER: What did you say she did?

CHILD: She holded the baby rabbits and we patted them.

MOTHER: Did you say she held them tightly?

CHILD: No, she holded them loosely.

One factor that seems to be important in the child’s acquisition process is the actual use of sound and word combinations, either in interaction with others or in wordplay, alone. One two-year-old, described in Weir (1966), was tape-recorded as he lay in bed alone and could be heard playing with words and phrases, I go dis way … way bay … baby do dis bib … all bib … bib … dere. Word play of this type seems to be an important element in the development of the child’s linguistic repertoire. The details of this development beyond the telegraphic stage have been traced through the linguistic features that begin to turn up on a regular basis in the steady stream of speech emerging from the little chatterbox.