ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines a methodology that not only is sensitive to the telos of development but also investigates whether children link form and function in ways that differ from target language they are acquiring. It examines the development of personal pronouns by English-speaking children. Six children and their primary caregivers participated in the study. Each child was videotaped twice a month for a four-month period. The first step in the present analysis assessed the sort of main participants the children referred to in their discourse. A second analysis considered the range and distribution of forms used by each child at study's onset when referring to themselves. Finally, a functional analysis has been carried out in order to examine whether a relationship exists between particular linguistic forms and the semantic and pragmatic functions such forms serve across development. The nonego-anchored children have been noted to contrast with ego-anchored children on several grounds.
