The study of child language in South Africa

This paper describes some of the research into child language that has been conducted in South Africa over the past 20 years. It is written from a cli nical perspective and it describes the influence of changing demographic, s ocial, educational and political variables on the study of child language. Specifically, the influence of the multilingual and multicultural nature of the society will be considered. Among issues discussed are the increasing research base on the acquisition of normal language, the adaptation of asse ssment tools and language in education.