ABSTRACT The investigator collected data on the acquisition of the Mayan language K'iche' during fieldwork in Guatemala from 1976 to 1979, and during the summer of 1987. The data are significant for the number of contrasts they provide to data on the acquisition of English and other languages. The primary data set provides a nine-month longitudinal sample of the language development of three K'iche' children between 2 and 4 years of age, which has been entered onto a computer to aid in analysis. During the period of the present grant, the investigator will return to Guatemala to collect additional pertinent data, and on return will proceed with the analysis of the data and the preparation of a monograph summarizing the acquisition of phonology, morphology, and syntax in K'iche' and discussing some of the learnability problems children face in acquiring this language. The monograph will provide other researchers with a readily accessible summary of findings on the acquisition of a typologically interesting language. %%% The study of the acquisition of language by children has now reached the stage where it is crucial to obtain data from other languages which are structurally very different from English and the other languages which have been most commonly studied. Complex theoretical models have been developed which make specific empirical claims which must be tested against a broad range of data, and modified where necessary, in order to bring us closer to a true understanding of the language acquisition process. The present project is a significant contribution to this need, focusing on the acquisition of a language, K'iche', which has fundamental structural differences from English which can be expected to challenge current theory in important respects.
