ABSTRACT
The book begins with an overview of our basic assumptions about communication, language, and cognition. It highlights the implications of these assumptions for the study of communicative development. The book covers the major communication systems. It discusses nonverbal communication, infants’ earliest form of communication. The book introduces some cross-cultural differences in communication values and parenting styles. It examines youngsters’ increasing mastery of conversations and their growing ability to introduce and sustain topics, enter ongoing activities of their peer group, engage others in play, and manage conflict. The book explores how children have increasingly sophisticated knowledge of self, others, and social relationships allow them to use this knowledge and these skills appropriately in context. It surveys the basic elements of communication and how they develop and deals with the critical contexts in which development emerges.
