145 WHAT MAKES COMMUNICATION RUN?: CHARACTERISTICS OF SUCCESSFUL COMMUNICATIVE EPISODES Roberta Michnick Go1inkoff and laura Gordon What do we know about preverbal communication development in the period immediately before the onset of speech? Other than some case studies, there exists little methodologically rigorous empirical data. The present paper describes the circumstances under which communication succeeds and compares these episodes to episodes in which communication has initially failed (Go1inkoff, in press, called these "negotiation episodes "). Three infants were videotaped with their mothers on 3 separate occasions during lunch between when the infants were 12 and 18 months. Coders considered "immediate successes" to be those episodes where 1) the infant signalled to the mother using gesture, vocalization, eye gaze, primitive lexical items, or some combination of these; 2) mothers responded in an affirmative (as opposed to interrogative) mode; and 3) the infant indicated (tacit) acceptance of the mother's interpretation. What distinguished these episodes from episodes of initial failure was to a great extent the infant's topic or goal. Far more offers and attempts to share information occurred in immediate successes and fewer requests for specific objects., The way in which infants indicated their acceptance of their mothers' interpretations of their signals was also studied.

What makes communication run?: Characteristics of successful communicative episodes

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WHAT MAKES COMMUNICATION RUN?: CHARACTERISTICS OFSUCCESSFUL COMMUNICATIVE EPISODES

Roberta Michnick Go1inkoff and laura GordonWhat do we know about preverbal communicationdevelopment in the period immediately before theonset of speech? Other than some case studies,there exists little methodologically rigorousempirical data. The present paper describes thecircumstances under which communication succeedsand compares these episodes to episodes in whichcommunication has initially failed (Go1inkoff, inpress, called these "negotiation episodes"). Threeinfants were videotaped with their mothers on 3separate occasions during lunch between when theinfants were 12 and 18 months. Coders considered"immediate successes" to be those episodes where1) the infant signalled to the mother using gesture,vocalization, eye gaze, primitive lexical items, orsome combination of these; 2) mothers responded inan affirmative (as opposed to interrogative) mode;and 3) the infant indicated (tacit) acceptance ofthe mother's interpretation. What distinguishedthese episodes from episodes of initial failure wasto a great extent the infant's topic or goal. Farmore offers and attempts to share informationoccurred in immediate successes and fewer requestsfor specific objects., The way in which infantsindicated their acceptance of their mothers' interpretations of their signals was also studied.