Representative work
Valian, V. (2024). Variability in production is the rule, not the exception, at the onset of multi-word speech. Language Learning and Development, 20(1), 76-78. [full text]
Lambelet, A. & Valian, V. V. (2023). Exposure is the proximal influence on second language acquisition. Brain and Language, 246, 1-3. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandl.2023.105339 [full text]
Xu, Q., Chodorow, M., & Valian, V. (2023). How infants' utterances grow: A probabilistic account of early language development. Cognition, 230 105275. [full text]
Ezrina, E. V. & Valian, V. (2023). Do bilinguals get the joke? Humor comprehension in mono- and bilinguals. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition. [full text]
Valian, V. (2021). Five questions about language learning. In G. Martoharjono & S. Flynn (Eds.), Language in development: A cross-linguistic perspective (pp 3-14). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. [full text]
Martohardjono, G., Valian, V., & Klein, E. (2021). The tense puzzle in second language acquisition: What part representation? What part performance? In G. Martoharjono & S. Flynn (Eds.), Language in development: A cross-linguistic perspective (pp 257-292). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. [full text]
Ma, X., Chodorow, M., & Valian, V. (2020, November). Learning pronoun case from distributional cues: Flexible frames for case acquisition. In Proceedings of the Workshop on Cognitive Modeling and Computational Linguistics (pp. 66-74).[full text]
Valian, V. (2020). Variability: Definitions of language and language learning. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 23(1), 48-49. [full text]
Sekerina, I. A., Spradlin, L., & Valian, V. (2019). Bilingualism, executive function, and beyond: Questions and insights. In I. A. Sekerina, L. Spradlin, & V. Valian (Eds.), Bilingualism, executive function, and beyond: Questions and insights (Chapter 1, pp 1-14. Amsterdam, NL: John Benjamins. [full text]
Valian, V. (2018). Overview. In E Fernández & H. Cairns (Eds.), Handbook of psycholinguistics (Ch 20, pp 459-469). New York, NY: Wiley-Blackwell. [full text]
Pozzan, L. & Valian, V. (2017). Asking questions in child English: Evidence for early abstract representations. Language Acquisition, 24(3), 209-233. [full text]
Valian, V. (2016). Putting together bilingualism and executive function. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 6(5), 565-574. [full text]
Valian, V. (2016). When children don't say what they know: Syntax acquisition and executive function. In D. Barner & A.S. Baron (Eds.), Core knowledge and conceptual change (Chapter 15, pp 261--276). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. [full text]
Valian, V. (2016). Null subjects. In J. Lidz, W. Snyder, & J. Pater (Eds.), Oxford handbook of developmental linguistics (Chapter 17). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. [full text]
Valian, V. (2015, revision of 2009). Innateness and learnability. In E. Bavin & L. Naigles (Ed.), The Cambridge handbook of child language (Ch 2, pp 14-36). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [full text]
Valian, V. (2015). Bilingualism and cognition. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 18(1), 3-24. [full text]
Valian, V. (2015). Bilingualism and cognition: A focus on mechanisms. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 18(1), 47-50. [full text]
Valian, V. (2014). Arguing about innateness. Journal of Child Language, 41 (S1), 78-92. [full text]
Valian, V. (2013). Determiners: An empirical argument for innateness. In Sanz, M., Laka, I., & Tanenhaus, M. (Eds.). Language down the garden path: The cognitive and biological basis for linguistic structure (Chapter 14). New York: Oxford University Press. [full text]
Valian, V., Solt, S., & Stewart, J. (2009). Abstract categories or limited-scope formulae: The case of children's determiners. Journal of Child Language. [full text]
Valian, V. (2009). Innateness and learnability. In E. Bavin (Ed.), Handbook of Child Language (pp. 15-34). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [full text]
Valian, V. (2009). Abstract linguistic representations and innateness: The development of determiners. In W.D. Lewis, S.Karimi, H. Harley, & S. Farrar. (Eds.), Time and Again: Theoretical Perspectives on Formal Linguistics in Honor of D. Terence Langendoen (pp: 189-206). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. [full text]
Bencini, G. M. L., & Valian, V. (2008). Abstract sentence representation in 3-year-olds: Evidence from comprehension and production. Journal of Memory and Language, 59, 97-113. [full text]
Valian, V., Prasada, S., & Scarpa, J. (2006). Direct object predictability: effects on young children’s imitation of sentences. Journal of Child Language, 33, 247-269. [full text]
Valian, V. (2006). Young children's understanding of present and past tense. Language Learning and Development, 2, 251-276. [full text]
Valian, V., & Aubry, S. (2005). When opportunity knocks twice: two-year-olds' repetition of sentence subjects. Journal of Child Language, 32, 617-641. [full text]
Valian, V. & Casey, L. (2003). Young children's acquisition of wh-questions: The role of structured input. Journal of Child Language, 30, 117-143. [full text]
Grant, J., Valian, V., & Karmiloff-Smith, A. (2002). A study of relative clauses in Williams syndrome.Journal of Child Language, 29, 403-416. [full text]
Valian, V. (1999). Input and language acquisition. In W. C. Ritchie & T. K. Bhatia (Eds.), Handbook of Child Language Acquisition (pp. 497-530). New York: Academic Press. [full text]
Valian, V. (1999). Rethinking learning: comments on Rethinking innateness. Journal of Child Language, 26, 248-253. [full text]
Valian V. & Eisenberg, Z. (1996). The development of syntactic subjects in Portuguese-speaking children. Journal of Child Language, 23, 103-128. [full text]
Valian, V., Hoeffner, J., & Aubry, S. (1996). Young children's imitation of sentence subjects: evidence of processing limitations. Developmental Psychology, 2, 153-164. [full text]
Valian, V. & Levitt, A. (1996). Prosody and adults' learning of syntactic structure. Journal of Memory and Language, 35, 497-516. [full text]
Valian, V. (1994). Children's postulation of null subjects: Parameter setting and language acquisition. In B. Lust, G. Hermon, & J. Kornfilt (Eds.), Syntactic Theory and First Language Acquisition: Cross-Linguistic Perspectives. Vol. 2: Binding, dependencies, and learnability (pp. 273-286). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. [full text]
Valian, V. (1991). Syntactic subjects in the early speech of American and Italian children. Cognition, 40, 21-81. [full text]
Valian, V. (1990). Null subjects: A problem for parameter setting models of language acquisition. Cognition, 35, 105-122. [full text]
Valian, V. & Coulson, S. (1988). Anchor points in language learning: the role of marker frequency. Journal of Memory and Language, 27, 71-86. [full text]
Valian, V. (1986). Syntactic categories in the speech of young children. Developmental Psychology, 22, 562-579. [full text]
Valian, V. (1982). Psycholinguistic experiment and linguistic intuition. In T. Simon & R. Scholes (Eds.), Language, mind, and brain (pp 179-188). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. [full text]
Valian, V. (1981). Linguistic knowledge and language acquisition. Cognition, 10, 323-329. [full text]
Valian, V. (1980). Listening and clarity of syntactic structure. Journal of Phonetics, 8, 327-334. [full text]
Valian, V. (1979). What children say when asked "what?": A study of the use of syntactic knowledge. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 28, 424-444. [full text]
Valian, V. (1979). The wherefores and therefores of the competence-performance distinction. In W.E. Cooper and E.C.T. Walker (Eds.), Sentence processing: Psycholinguistic studies presented to Merrill Garrett (pp.1-26). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erbaum. [full text]
Erreich, A. & Valian, V. & Winzemer, J. (1978). Aspects of a theory of language acquisition. Child Language, 7, 157-179. [full text]
Valian, V., & Wales, R. (1976). What's what: talkers help listeners hear and understand by clarifying sentential relations. Cognition, 4, 155-176. [full text]