Comprehension and production in language acquisition

Abstract

Susan Ervin-Tripp has remarked that she ‘would like to see more done on the comprehension side of development,’ and that ‘this is something that we are still in very serions ignorance about’ (1971). Despite this ignorance it seems to be a widely held view that comprehension develops in advance of production, but the authors feel that this whole question is in need of close analysis.