Overview

This text provides a comprehensive introduction to current thinking on language acquisition. Following an introductory chapter that discusses the foundations of linguistic inquiry, the book covers the acquisition of specific aspects of language from birth to about age six. Topics include the language abilities of newborns, the acquisition of phonological properties of language, the lexicon, syntax, pronoun and sentence interpretation, control structures, specific language impairments and the relationship between language and other cognitive functions. At the conclusion of each chapter are a summary of the material covered, a list of keywords, study questions and exercises. The book, which adopts the perspective of Chomskyan Universal Generative Grammar throughout, assumes a familiarity with basic concepts of linguistic theory.

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9780262072229

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"""The study of language acquisition has made remarkable progress in recent years, with major contributions to linguistics and general cognitive science as well. Guasti provides an expert, lucid, and wide-ranging introduction and review that leads the reader from basic concepts to topics at the forefront of current inquiry in this rapidly developing and exciting field."" - Noam Chomsky, Institute Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; ""One of the greatest assets of this book is that it vividly shows the interplay of hypothesis-construction and fact-finding in the research on acquisition. New theoretical insights directly lead to the construction of experiments that unveil novel, often surprising factual generalizations. These, in turn, force us to constantly modify our initial hypotheses and survive well beyond the point where our theories, having born their fruits, cease being productive. This book will convince many readers that theoretically inspired research in language acquisition is today one of the liveliest and most exciting research paradigms within cognitive science."" - Gennaro Chierchia, Department of Psychology, University of Milan-Bicocca"""

The study of language acquisition has made remarkable progress in recent years, with major contributions to linguistics and general cognitive science as well. Guasti provides an expert, lucid, and wide-ranging introduction and review that leads the reader from basic concepts to topics at the forefront of current inquiry in this rapidly developing and exciting field. - Noam Chomsky, Institute Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; One of the greatest assets of this book is that it vividly shows the interplay of hypothesis-construction and fact-finding in the research on acquisition. New theoretical insights directly lead to the construction of experiments that unveil novel, often surprising factual generalizations. These, in turn, force us to constantly modify our initial hypotheses and survive well beyond the point where our theories, having born their fruits, cease being productive. This book will convince many readers that theoretically inspired research in language acquisition is today one of the liveliest and most exciting research paradigms within cognitive science. - Gennaro Chierchia, Department of Psychology, University of Milan-Bicocca

Author Information

Maria Teresa Guasti is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Milan-Bicocca.

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