First Language Acquisition

A closely analyzed exposition of how children acquire language that explores the receptive and productive abilities of children in all core areas of language--phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics. Readers will acquire the fundamental knowledge and skill not only to interpret primary literature but to approach their own research with sophistication. While the descriptive facts that are currently available on first language acquisition are central to the book, its emphasis on methodology and explanation distinguishes this text from others. The various ways in which research is conducted is discussed in detail, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches, leading to new perspectives on key theoretical issues.

Preface; 1. Introduction; Part I. Foundations: 2. The history of child language studies; 3. Stages of language acquisition; 4. Explanation and language acquisition; Part II. Milestones: 5. The period of prelinguistic development; 6. The period of single-word utterances; 7. The period of the first word combinations; 8. The period of simple sentences: phonological and semantic acquisition; 9. The period of simple sentences: acquisition of grammatical morphemes; 10. Concluding remarks; Bibliography; Author index; General index.