Product Overview
From Follett
NOT AVAILABLE FOR SALE IN SOME COUNTRIES.;Title proper from title frame.;Includes bibliographical references.;I. Module 1: Language acquisition in theoretical context: 1. Introduction: what is language acquisition? -- 2. Theoretical approaches to studying language acquisition -- II. Module 2: Building a sound system: 3. Early speech perception -- 4. Speech production and phonological development -- III. Module 3: Word meaning and word structure: 5. Word learning -- 6. The acquisition of morphology -- IV. Module 4: The sentence level: 7. Syntactic development -- V. Module 5: Beyond monolingual and typical language acquisition: 8. Language acquisition under non-typical circumstances -- 9. Acquisition of more than one language -- Appendix A. English IPA symbols -- Appendix B. Methods of child language acquisition -- Module 1: Naturalistic data -- Module 2: Production data -- Module 3: Comprehension data. "This textbook provides an introduction to the study of first language acquisition in children from a formal/generative theoretical standpoint. It covers the main areas of linguistic theory: phonetics and phonology (covered in terms of children's speech perception and production), the lexicon and morphology (covered in terms of children's acquisition of word meaning and word structure), and syntax (covering several aspects of children's acquisition of sentence structure). In addition, there is one chapter devoted to different theoretical approaches to the study of language acquisition, non-typical language acquisition (late language acquisition, language acquisition in blind and deaf children and with language or cognitive disorders), and bilingual language development. This textbook is unique in that the scope encompasses all of the core areas of linguistics (including phonology), at a level that is accessible to students with little background in linguistics, but takes a generative theoretical perspective. The intent of the book is to provide students with the tools of analyzing children's grammar so that they can go on to study children's language acquisition in more depth in a more advanced course, on their own, or in other languages"--Provided by publisher.
From the Publisher
An introduction to the study of children's language development that provides a uniquely accessible perspective on generative/universal grammar–based approaches.How children acquire language so quickly, easily, and uniformly is one of the great mysteries of the human experience. The theory of Universal Grammar suggests that one reason for the relative ease of early language acquisition is that children are born with a predisposition to create a grammar. This textbook offers an introduction to the study of children's acquisition and development of language from a generative/universal grammar–based theoretical perspective, providing comprehensive coverage of children's acquisition while presenting core concepts crucial to understanding generative linguistics more broadly. After laying the theoretical groundwork, including consideration of alternative frameworks, the book explores the development of the sound system of language—children's perception and production of speech sound; examines how words are learned (lexical semantics) and how words are formed (morphology); investigates sentence structure (syntax), including argument structure, functional structure, and tense; considers such “nontypical” circumstances as acquiring a first language past infancy and early childhood, without the abilities to hear or see, and with certain cognitive disorders; and studies bilingual language acquisition, both simultaneously and in sequence.Each chapter offers a summary section, suggestions for further reading, and exercises designed to test students' understanding of the material and provide opportunities to practice analyzing children's language. Appendixes provide charts of the International Phonetic Alphabet (with links to websites that allow students to listen to the sounds associated with these symbols) and a summary of selected experimental methodologies.