Author: Barbara C. Lust
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139459279
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 411
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Book Description
The remarkable way in which young children acquire language has long fascinated linguists and developmental psychologists alike. Language is a skill that we have essentially mastered by the age of three, and with incredible ease and speed, despite the complexity of the task. This accessible textbook introduces the field of child language acquisition, exploring language development from birth. Setting out the key theoretical debates, it considers questions such as what characteristics of the human mind make it possible to acquire language; how far acquisition is biologically programmed and how far it is influenced by our environment; what makes second language learning (in adulthood) different from first language acquisition; and whether the specific stages in language development are universal across languages. Clear and comprehensive, it is set to become a key text for all courses in child language acquisition, within linguistics, developmental psychology and cognitive science.
Author: Matthew Saxton
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 1446241688
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 345
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Book Description
Electronic Inspection Copy available for instructors here Presented with the latest thinking and research on how children acquire their first language, the reader is taken from a standing start to the point where they can engage with key debates and current research in the field of child language. No background knowledge of linguistic theory is assumed and all specialist terms are introduced in clear, non-technical language. A theme running through the book is the nature-nurture debate, rekindled in the modern era by Noam Chomsky, with his belief that the child is born with a rich knowledge of language. This book is rare in its balanced presentation of evidence from both sides of the nature-nurture divide. The reader is encouraged to adopt a critical stance throughout and weigh up the evidence for themselves. Key features for the student include: boxes and exercises to foster an understanding of key concepts in language and linguistics; a glossary of key terms; suggestions for further reading; a list of useful websites at the end of each chapter; discussion points for use in class; and separate author and subject indexes.
Author: Caroline F. Rowland
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
ISBN: 9027261008
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 342
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Book Description
In recent years the field has seen an increasing realisation that the full complexity of language acquisition demands theories that (a) explain how children integrate information from multiple sources in the environment, (b) build linguistic representations at a number of different levels, and (c) learn how to combine these representations in order to communicate effectively. These new findings have stimulated new theoretical perspectives that are more centered on explaining learning as a complex dynamic interaction between the child and her environment. This book is the first attempt to bring some of these new perspectives together in one place. It is a collection of essays written by a group of researchers who all take an approach centered on child-environment interaction, and all of whom have been influenced by the work of Elena Lieven, to whom this collection is dedicated.
Author: William Snyder
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191537977
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 222
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Book Description
This is a systematic presentation of the parametric approach to child language. Linguistic theory seeks to specify the range of grammars permitted by the human language faculty and thereby to specify the child's "hypothesis space" during language acquisition. Theories of language variation have central implications for the study of child language, and vice versa. Yet the acquisitional predictions of such theories are seldom tested against attested data. This book aims to redress this neglect. It considers the nature of the information the child must acquire according to the various linguistic theories. In doing so it sets out in detail the practical aspects of acquisitional research, addresses the challenges of working with children of different ages, and shows how the resulting data can be used to test theories of grammatical variation. Particular topics examined in depth include the acquisition of syllable structure, empty categories, and wh-movement. The data sets on which the book draws are freely available to students and researchers via a website maintained by the author. The book is written for scholars and students of child language acquisition in linguistics, psychology, and cognitive science. It will be a valuable reference for researchers in child language acquisition in all fields.
Author: Tej K. Bhatia
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004653023
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 762
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Book Description
What allows children to acquire language so effortlessly, with such speed, and with such amazing accuracy? Capitalizing on the most recent developments in linguistics and cognitive psychology, this volume sheds new light on the what, why, and how of the child's ability to acquire one or more languages. The "Handbook" is one of a kind in a number of respects. It includes state-of-the-art treatments of acquisition from a variety of theoretical viewpoints ranging from functionalist approaches and the implications of the creolization of languages for the study of acquisition to the relevance of Chomsky's Minimalist Program. It contains overviews of the acquisition of all components of linguistic structure, treats the acquisition of the sign languages of the deaf, and discusses the specific problems of bilingual acquisition. This handbook addresses the following questions: 'Is the capacity for language acquisition constant throughout the career of the language learner (that is, is it 'continuous') or does that capacity change in significant ways as the learner matures?' ; 'Is the language capacity a separate module of the mind or does it follow from general, 'all-purpose' cognitive capacities?'; 'What is innate in language acquisition and what is acquired on the basis of experience?'; 'What research/methodological issues arise in the study of child language acquisition?'; 'How might input from the language (or languages) of the environment, including visual/gestural input in the case of the sign languages of the deaf, affect the process and result of acquisition?'; and, 'How are the facts of non-normal acquisition to be explained?'
Author: Jean Stilwell Peccei
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 0415198364
Category : Children
Languages : en
Pages : 127
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Book Description
Child Language: is a comprehensive introduction to child language, introducing students to the key theories of language acquisition and teaching them skills for analyzing children's language covers the core areas of language acquisition: phonological, semantic, syntactic, morphological and discourse development, the bilingual child and language development in exceptional circumstances draws on a range of real texts and data provides classic readings by the key names in the discipline: J. Becker, Roger Brown, R. Ely, Jean Berko-Gleason, J.N. Jorgenson, D. Messer, S. Pinker, and N. Smith.
Author: Sandra Bochner
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0470698543
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 260
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Book Description
This publication is concerned with the early stages of language acquisition and is designed for use by early childhood teachers, nursery nurses, special education teachers and others working with children experiencing difficulties in learning to talk. Procedures are described that can be used to assess a child' s current skills and plan activities to increase communicative competence. The programme described is based on a developmental sequence that moves the early skills of joint attention, turn-taking and appropriate play to the more complex skills of asking and answering questions. Other issues discussed include sound development and intelligibility, the use of augmentative and alternative communication as stepping stones to speech, working with children and with families. The second edition has an expanded focus on the place of communicative intentions in early language development.
Author: Caroline Rowland
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134645406
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 396
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Book Description
Taking an accessible and cross-linguistic approach, Understanding Child Language Acquisition introduces readers to the most important research on child language acquisition over the last fifty years, as well as to some of the most influential theories in the field. Rather than just describing what children can do at different ages Rowland explains why these research findings are important and what they tell us about how children acquire language. Key features include: Cross-linguistic analysis of how language acquisition differs between languages A chapter on how multilingual children acquire several languages at once Exercises to test comprehension Chapters organised around key questions that summarise the critical issues posed by researchers in the field, with summaries at the end Further reading suggestions to broaden understanding of the subject With its particular focus on outlining key similarities and differences across languages and what this cross-linguistic variation means for our ideas about language acquisition, Understanding Child Language Acquisition forms a comprehensive introduction to the subject for students of linguistics, psychology and speech and language therapy. Students and instructors will benefit from the comprehensive companion website that includes a students’ section featuring interactive comprehension exercises, extension activities, chapter recaps and answers to the exercises within the book. Material for instructors includes sample essay questions, answers to the extension activities for students and a Powerpoint including all the figures from the book. www.routledge.com/cw/rowland
Author: Jean Stilwell Peccei
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 0415281032
Category : Children
Languages : en
Pages : 206
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Book Description
Child Language: provides a comprehensive overview of language acquisition in children introduces students to key theories and concerns such as innateness, the role of input and the relation of language to other cognitive functions teaches students the skills needed to analyze children's language includes sections on the bilingual child and atypical language development provides classic readings by key names in the field, such as Brian MacWhinney, Richard Cromer, Jean Aitchison, and Eve Clark. The accompanying website to this book can be found at http://www.routledge.com/textbooks/0415281032
Author: Susan H.Foster- Cohen
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317896246
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 249
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Book Description
This volume introduces the field of child language development studies, and presents hypotheses in an accessible, largely non-technical language, aiming to demonstrate the relationship between these hypotheses and interpretations of data. It makes the assumption that having a theory of language development is as important as having reliable data about what children say and understand, and it advocates a combination of both `rationalist' and more 'empiricist' traditions. In fact, the author overtly argues that different traditions provide different pieces of the picture, and that taking any single approach is unlikely to lead to productive understanding. Susan Foster-Cohen explores a range of issues, including the nature of prelinguistic communication and its possible relationship to linguistic development; early stages of language development and how they can be viewed in the light of later developments; the nature and role of children's experience with the language(s) around them; variations in language development due to both pathological and non-pathological differences between children, and (in the latter case) between the languages they learn; later oral language development; and literacy. The approach is distinctly psycholinguistic and linguistic rather than sociolinguistic, although there is significant treatment of issues which intersect with more sociolinguistic concerns (e.g. literacy, language play, and bilingualism). There are exercises and discussion questions throughout, designed to reinforce the ideas being presented, as well as to offer the student the opportunity to think beyond the text to ideas at the cutting edge of research. The accessible presentation of key issues will appeal to the intended undergraduate readership, and will be of interest to those taking courses in language development, linguistics, developmental psychology, educational linguistics, and speech pathology. The book will also serve as a useful introduction to students wishing to pursue post-graduate courses which deal with child language development.
