The Transition from Infancy to Language: Acquiring the Power of Expression

365 Pages·1995·7.81 MB·English

by  Lois Bloom

The Transition from
Infancy to Language
In this important volume, Lois Bloom provides a coherent and
illuminating account of her theoretical and empirical work on early
lexical development. The first half of the book reviews the developments
in infancy that enable the emergence of language and presents the
theoretical perspective for the research described in the second half. The
focus is on how affect expression, cognitive development, and social
context contribute to the transition from prelinguistic expression in
infancy to learning words for expressing the contents of mind.
The central thesis is that children learn language in acts of expression
and inter-pretation for sharing beliefs, desires, and feelings with other
persons. These intentional states underlying acts of expression are the
personal, private, mental meanings for which knowledge of the
conventional, public meanings of language is acquired. The details of a
longitudinal study of 14 infants from age 9 months to 2\ years are pre-
sented to show how affect expression object play, and the child's
interpersonal context are integrated in the process of language
development.
The Transition from Infancy to Language makes a major contribution to our
knowledge of early lexical development, providing a persuasive theoretical
model for researchers and students in the areas of infancy, cognition,
emotion, and language.

The Transition from
Infancy to Language
Acquiring the Power of Expression
LOIS BLOOM
Teachers College, Columbia University
CAMBRIDGE
UNIVERSITY PRESS
Published by the Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge
The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 IRP
40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211, USA
10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166, Australia
© Cambridge University Press 1993
First published 1993
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bloom, Lois.
The transition from infancy to language : acquiring the power of
expression / Lois Bloom.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-521-44031-9
1. Children - Language. 2. Language acquisition. 3. Verbal
behavior. 4. Cognition in children. I. Title.
LBI139.L3B596 1993
372.6'2-dc2O 92-47407
CIP
A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 0-521-44031-9 hardback
ISBN 0-521-48379-4 paperback
Transferred to digital printing 2003
For my mother,
whose last years gave me the strength to write this book
And for my daughter,
whose early years gave me the inspiration

Contents
Preface page IX
Acknowledgments xiii
PART I. THEORY AND BACKGROUND
1. The Power of Expression 3
2. Representation and Expression 21
3- The Emergent Infant 35
4- The Expressive Infant 53
5- The Transition to Language 79
PART II. FROM 9 MONTHS TO 2 YEARS
6. Translation from Theory to Method
113
7- Developments in Expression 140
8. Developments in Affect Expression 157
9- Developments in Word Learning 188
10. Developments in Cognition 214
n. Meaning and Expression 243
Appendix: Dictionary of Words in the Playroom 265
Notes 268
References 294
Name Index 335
Subject Index 344

Preface
This book was actually begun with the publication of the monograph One
Word at a Time in 1973. The description of the single-word period in that
monograph contained several observations of my daughter Allison's develop-
ment that departed from traditional accounts in the literature at the time.
Since then, the theoretical issues raised by these observations have continued
to endure. The case study in One Word at a Time was motivated by two issues
in particular. The first was that words in the single-word period have a
conceptual basis, not a syntactic basis. Nothing I have read or observed since
then has changed my strong conviction that the major developments in this
period are conceptual rather than linguistic. The second theoretical issue was
the nature of the developments in cognition that contribute to conceptual
development, word learning, and the eventual emergence of syntax, at the end
of the period. Many studies have since attempted to test the hypotheses I
suggested, and the results of these studies have been mixed and at times
controversial. One thing, however, is now clear: The second year of life is a
time of major cognitive developments that contribute to learning words and
the emergence of language.
The emphasis on cognitive development for early word learning in One
Word at a Time was one of two factors that led to the chain of events that has
culminated in this book. The second factor was a major omission in One Word
at a Time and, indeed, in most accounts of the single-word period before and
since: the role of affect in language development. Language emerges tenta-
tively in the beginning of the second year at a time when infants are already
very good at expressing a wide array of feeling states in their interactions with
other persons. However, the relationship between affect expression and
language has barely been touched on. This book, then, has to do with two