On linguistic investigation of small children

Abstract

This study can be viewed as an attempt to promote a discussion about the linguistic investigation of small children with little or no language production, showing apparent organic or psychological damage. It is argued that an alternative explanation of the above mentioned cases is possible, when a social (interactionist) point-of-view is assumed. The claim is that pathological condition can be seen as a relative synchronic state of a language developmental process. If a proposal like the one above is taken into account, the natural subsequent step is to propose some adequate procedure for linguistic investigation, comparable with the theoretical framework adopted. The hypothecised method must be capable of tracing the history of a communicative-linguistic development. What is aimed here is to create appropriate conditions which lead to a better understanding of the process involved in the construction and organization of language by small children with little orno language production.