CHILDRENS ACQUISITION OF LANGUAGE - GENERAL LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE OR DIMENSIONS OF STYLE

Previous studies have described children's acquisition of language as reflecting either a referential or an expressive style. A multivariate approach, characterizing ''referentiality'' and ''expressivity'' as p artially dissociable dimensions, is advantageous because it allows chi ldren to vary along one dimension as they vary along another, allowing children to have high or low degrees of both characteristics simultan eously. The present study applies multivariate techniques to an ''expl oratory'' sample of 87 children, all of whom were 20 months old, and b y subsequently validating the exploratory phase with 56 of the origina l children seen one month later. Using parental reports to assess chil dren's multiword productions, exploratory factor analyses revealed two correlated dimensions of language style which indeed reflected refere ntial and expressive characteristics. Confirmatory factor analyses ''c onfirmed'' these factors in the test sample. This two-dimensional mode l of language acquisition was superior to a unidimensional, general li nguistic competence model. There is also strong short-term stability f or both dimensions across the one-month period.