Child Language: Acquisition and Growth

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ISBN: 9780521444781 | 0521444780
Cover: Hardcover
Copyright: 10/9/2006

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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.

List of figures

List of tables

xvi

Preface

xvii

Acknowledgments

xviii

The Growth of language

(8)

Introduction

(1)

A logical-development perspective

(2)

Current research questions

(1)

Language acquisition, linguistic theory and cognitive science

(2)

Competing models

(1)

Cognitive Science and language development

(1)

The structure of this book

(1)

Toward a more comprehensive theory of language acquisition

(1)

Supplementary readings

(2)

What is acquired?

(19)

What is language?

(3)

Attempting to define language

(2)

Language and thought

(1)

Language and communication

(1)

The discovery of the place of human language: in the mind

(2)

A cognitive system: grammar

(1)

A formal distinction: I-Language versus E-Language

(1)

The computational system

(9)

From the finite to the infinite

(1)

A digital system

(1)

A combinatorial system

(1)

The power of sequencing

(1)

The recursive property

(1)

Constituent structure

(1)

Hierarchical structure: the ``secret skeleton''

(1)

Discovery of syntax: special features of the system

(2)

Knowing the impossible

(1)

Finding the meaning

(1)

Closing in on the mystery: the hidden computational system

(1)

Summarizing the basic properties of the hidden system

(1)

Designing the architecture of the Language Faculty

(3)

The basic design

(1)

The interfaces

(1)

Levels of representation

(1)

Relation of child language acquisition to linguistic theory

(1)

Does the Language Faculty develop?

(1)

Conclusions

(1)

Supplementary readings

(1)

What is the problem of language acquisition?

(21)

Getting started

(5)

What evidence do children need?

(5)

The nature of the evidence: searching the speech stream for the units

(7)

The physical evidence

(3)

The linguistic evidence

(4)

How could the problem be solved?

(7)

Prosodic bootstrapping

(1)

Phonological bootstrapping

(1)

Semantic bootstrapping

(5)

Conclusions

(1)

Supplementary readings

(1)

How we can construct a theory of language acquisition

(24)

Theoretical approaches to the study of language acquisition

(3)

Classical approaches to epistemology

(1)

The challenge of language acquisition to classical empiricist approaches

(3)

Current approaches to the study of language acquisition

(18)

A rationalist approach

(6)

Challenges to the UG paradigm

(5)

Empiricist approaches to the study of language acquisition

(6)

Empirical rationalists and rational empiricists

(1)

Resolving epistemological tensions

(1)

Toward a comprehensive and realistic theory of language acquisition

(1)

Predictions of a rationalist paradigm

(1)

Predictions of an empiricist paradigm

(1)

Conclusions

(1)

Supplementary readings

(1)

Brain and language development

(28)

Introduction

(1)

The human brain

(2)

Cerebral cortex

(1)

Brain development

(1)

Cerebral dominance

(8)

Handedness

(1)

Sign language

(1)

Development

(5)

Dissociation: localization within the left hemisphere

(6)

Language pathologies

(1)

Classic aphasias

(1)

Refining dissociations

(1)

Modeling the brain's organization

(2)

Individual variance

(1)

Brain imaging in language development

(1)

Language development and dissociations

(2)

Developmental disorders

(1)

SLI (Specific Language Impairment)

(1)

Special cases

(1)

Plasticity

(1)

Critical Period

(4)

Genie

(2)

Second language acquisition

(1)

Creating a theory

(1)

Where is the Language Faculty?

(1)

Is there a language gene?

(1)

Conclusions

(2)

Supplementary readings

100

(1)

The nature of nurture

101

(22)

Is experience necessary?

101

(5)

The ``royal'' experiments

101

(1)

Lack of overt practice

101

(1)

Oral babbling in deaf children

102

(1)

Language acquisition without a language model

102

(2)

Language acquisition without communication

104

(1)

Language acquisition without direct perceptual input

105

(1)

The inscrutability of rate of language acquisition

105

(1)

Summary

106

(1)

When does linguistic experience begin?

106

(3)

Before birth?

106

(3)

Summary

109

(1)

What is the nature of the input?

109

(12)

Baby Talk Register (BTR)

110

(2)

How does experience work?

112

(6)

What is the nature of experience?

118

(3)

Conclusions

121

(1)

Supplementary readings

122

(1)

How can we tell what children know? Methods for the study of language acquisition

123

(20)

Introduction

123

(6)

Knowing vs. doing

123

(6)

Typology of methods

129

(7)

Grammatically judgments

129

(3)

Assessing language production

132

(3)

Assessing comprehension

135

(1)

Summary

136

(1)

Methods before the first words

136

(2)

High Amplitude Sucking (HAS)

136

(1)

Head turn techniques

137

(1)

Comparing methods

138

(2)

Naturalistic vs. experimental

138

(1)

Comprehension vs. production

139

(1)

Conclusions

140

(1)

Supplementary readings

141

(2)

The acquisition of phonology

143

(39)

Introduction

143

(5)

What must children acquire?

143

(2)

What are the challenges?

145

(1)

Leading questions

146

(2)

How do children meet the challenge? Laying the foundations: the first twelve months

148

(7)

Development of speech perception

148

(4)

Development of speech production

152

(3)

Linking perception and production

155

(1)

First words and beyond

155

(20)

Early phonological deformations

155

(4)

Is acquisition of phonology pre-ordained?

159

(3)

``Mushy Mouth--Mushy Ear'' Hypothesis

162

(2)

Grammatical mapping: continuity of the Language Faculty

164

(8)

Suprasegmental dimensions

172

(3)

Summary

175

(1)

Conclusions

175

(5)

Toward an explanation

177

(1)

Linguistic theories

178

(1)

Open questions

179

(1)

Supplementary readings

180

(2)

The acquisition of syntax

182

(37)

Introduction

182

(5)

What must children acquire?

182

(5)

What are the challenges?

187

(1)

Leading questions

187

(1)

How do children meet the challenge? Laying the foundations: the first twelve months

187

(7)

Perception

188

(6)

Production

194

(1)

Perception and production

194

(1)

First words and beyond

194

(23)

The development of production

194

(14)

Principles and parameters

208

(4)

Operations

212

(1)

Computation: anaphora

213

(3)

Summary

216

(1)

Conclusions

217

(1)

Toward an explanation

217

(1)

Open questions

218

(1)

Supplementary readings

218

(1)

The acquisition of semantics

219

(23)

Introduction

219

(8)

What must children acquire?

219

(3)

What are the challenges?

222

(1)

Leading questions

223

(1)

Language and thought

223

(2)

Relating language and cognition

225

(2)

How do children meet the challenge? Laying the foundations: the first twelve months

227

(2)

Perception

227

(1)

Production

228

(1)

Perception and production

229

(1)

Summary

229

(1)

First words and beyond

229

(10)

Creativity

229

(1)

Semantic displacement

230

(1)

Fast mapping

230

(1)

Overextensions

231

(1)

Categorical throughout

232

(1)

Theories of the acquisition of word meaning

233

(5)

Higher order semantics

238

(1)

Summary

239

(1)

Conclusions

239

(2)

Toward an explanation

240

(1)

Open questions

240

(1)

Supplementary readings

241

(1)

On the nature of language growth

242

(21)

Formal analyses from the start: ``Frogs all the way down'' (Levy 1983b)

242

(11)

Grammatical categories

242

(3)

Grammatical case

245

(5)

Grammatical gender

250

(1)

Classifiers

251

(2)

Summary

253

(1)

Mechanisms of growth

253

(5)

Do the mechanisms of language acquisition change?

253

(1)

Eliminating false hypotheses

254

(4)

Summary

258

(1)

Syntactic bootstrapping

258

(4)

Conclusions

262

(1)

Supplementary readings

262

(1)

Conclusions: toward an integrated theory of language acquisition

263

(7)

Introduction

263

(1)

Conclusions

263

(1)

Toward a theory of language acquisition

264

(2)

Linguistic bootstrapping

264

(1)

Strong continuity of the Language Faculty

265

(1)

Reviewing Universal Grammar

265

(1)

The growth of language

266

(1)

The open questions

266

(1)

The mystery remains

266

(1)

A suggested framework

267

(1)

Toward the future

267

(3)

Cross-linguistic data

267

(1)

Pragmatics

268

(1)

Multilingualism

269

(1)

Brain imaging

269

(1)

Appendices

270

(15)

Developmental milestones in motor and language development (adapted from Lenneberg 1967)

270

(2)

Developmental milestones in infant speech perception

272

(2)

Examples of sound distinctions perceived by infants

274

(2)

Developmental milestones in infant speech production

276

(2)

Developmental milestones in infant syntax: perception

278

(2)

Developmental milestones in infant syntax: production

280

(1)

Developmental milestones in infant semantics

281

(2)

Abbreviations and notations

283

(2)

Glossary

285

(8)

References

293

(80)

Author index

373

(10)

Subject index

383

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Child Language: Acquisition and Growth

Summary

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials