Production/comprehension asymmetries in language acquisition

The theme of this Special Issue is asymmetries in language acquisition, and the contributions present evidence for either the presence or absence of a production/comprehension asymmetry in child language. The authors focus on various areas of linguistics, ranging from phonology and syntax to semantics and pragmatics, using a variety of empirical methods. Although the contributions do not agree on the existence of asymmetries or on the explanations for observed asymmetries, they all address the relation between children's production of a particular linguistic form and their comprehension of this form. As this Special Issue shows, the relation between children's performance in language production, their performance in language comprehension, and their knowledge of grammar may not be as straightforward as has often been assumed. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.