Overview

Anat Ninio's important new book places the syntactic learning process under close scrutiny. The focus is on the characteristics of the linguistic input and resultant output, which, she shows, are surprisingly similar in their global features. Unique to this book is its reliance on very large English corpora of parental speech and child utterances, hand-analyzed for core grammatical relations, revealing surprising new facts about the input and output of syntactic development. Drawing on mainstream linguistic theory (the Minimalist Program, Dependency Grammar), Complexity Theory (self-organization), and quantitative linguistics (corpus-based linguistics, Zipf curves), it analyzes the input and output languages both theoretically and empirically, building on the contribution of the different source theories in a detailed and explicit manner. This book presents a highly novel perspective on the acquisition of syntax, one which will be required reading for those in the field of developmental psycholinguistics.

Full Product Details

9780199565962

Table of Contents

Reviews

In Syntactic Development, its input and output Anat Ninio offers a fresh look at language acquisition in young children through the lenses of network science. A wonderful and lucid addition to the literature on syntax development that challenges and expands the tools of complexity theory. Albert-Laszlo Barabasi, Professor of Physics, Director, Center for Complex Network Research, Northeastern University Ninio's remarkable synthesis of developmental pragmatics, syntactic minimalism, and complex systems theory provides a new paradigm for the study of child language development. A groundbreaking achievement by one of the most innovative thinkers in the field! Patricia J. Brooks, Professor of Psychology, College of Staten Island and the Graduate Center, City University of New York The result of its author's valuable effort to build bridges across theories by testing them against a large data-base of spontaneous adult-child interactions is impressive, provocative, stimulating and sets an example for all researchers in the field. Aliyah Morgenstein, Professor of Linguistics, Institut du Monde Anglophone, Universite Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris 3 This volume is a must-read for anyone grappling with the intriguing questions of how very young children, with immature brains, manage the communicative breakthrough into simple multiword sentences. Keith Nelson, Professor of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University Ninio provides an intriguing and convincing alternative to nativist explanations of how children arrive at grammar. [...] The book is a tour-de-force of both the contemporary and classic literature on how children develop language, and on techniques ranging from corpus linguistics and developmental psychology to statistical physics. Twila Tardif, Professor of Psychology, Director, Center for Human Growth and Development, University of Michigan

In Syntactic Development, its input and output Anat Ninio offers a fresh look at language acquisition in young children through the lenses of network science. A wonderful and lucid addition to the literature on syntax development that challenges and expands the tools of complexity theory. Albert-Laszlo Barabasi, Professor of Physics, Director, Center for Complex Network Research, Northeastern University Ninio's remarkable synthesis of developmental pragmatics, syntactic minimalism, and complex systems theory provides a new paradigm for the study of child language development. A groundbreaking achievement by one of the most innovative thinkers in the field! Patricia J. Brooks, Professor of Psychology, College of Staten Island and the Graduate Center, City University of New York The result of its author's valuable effort to build bridges across theories by testing them against a large data-base of spontaneous adult-child interactions is impressive, provocative, stimulating and sets an example for all researchers in the field. Aliyah Morgenstein, Professor of Linguistics, Institut du Monde Anglophone, Universite Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris 3 This volume is a must-read for anyone grappling with the intriguing questions of how very young children, with immature brains, manage the communicative breakthrough into simple multiword sentences. Keith Nelson, Professor of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University Ninio provides an intriguing and convincing alternative to nativist explanations of how children arrive at grammar. [...] The book is a tour-de-force of both the contemporary and classic literature on how children develop language, and on techniques ranging from corpus linguistics and developmental psychology to statistical physics. Twila Tardif, Professor of Psychology, Director, Center for Human Growth and Development, University of Michigan Compared with other monographs of this type, it is well written and relatively easy to understand. Those with an adequate background, particularly those working in the area of construction grammar, will find Syntactic Development to be a worthwhile purchase. Shelia M. Kennison, PhD PsychCRITIQUES

In Syntactic Development, its input and output Anat Ninio offers a fresh look at language acquisition in young children through the lenses of network science. A wonderful and lucid addition to the literature on syntax development that challenges and expands the tools of complexity theory. Albert-Laszlo Barabasi, Professor of Physics, Director, Center for Complex Network Research, Northeastern University Ninio's remarkable synthesis of developmental pragmatics, syntactic minimalism, and complex systems theory provides a new paradigm for the study of child language development. A groundbreaking achievement by one of the most innovative thinkers in the field! Patricia J. Brooks, Professor of Psychology, College of Staten Island and the Graduate Center, City University of New York The result of its author's valuable effort to build bridges across theories by testing them against a large data-base of spontaneous adult-child interactions is impressive, provocative, stimulating and sets an example for all researchers in the field. Aliyah Morgenstein, Professor of Linguistics, Institut du Monde Anglophone, Universite Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris 3 This volume is a must-read for anyone grappling with the intriguing questions of how very young children, with immature brains, manage the communicative breakthrough into simple multiword sentences. Keith Nelson, Professor of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University Ninio provides an intriguing and convincing alternative to nativist explanations of how children arrive at grammar. [...] The book is a tour-de-force of both the contemporary and classic literature on how children develop language, and on techniques ranging from corpus linguistics and developmental psychology to statistical physics. Twila Tardif, Professor of Psychology, Director, Center for Human Growth and Development, University of Michigan

Author Information

Anat Ninio graduated from Hebrew University of Jerusalem with a Ph.D. in Psychology for which she studied under the supervision of Professor Daniel Kahneman. She spent a year of post-doctoral studies with Professor Jerome Bruner at Oxford, studying early language development. Anat Ninio has been on the faculty of the Hebrew University since 1970 where she now holds a professorship. She has spent sabbatical years as a Visiting Scholar or Visiting Professor Duke University, the New School for Social Research in New York, New York University, the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, the University of Quebec, Montreal, Harvard University, and Macquarie University. She has served as the Chair of the Graduate Developmental Program, and as the Chair of the Department of Psychology at Hebrew University. Anat Ninio is an Associate of Behavioural and Brain Sciences and a member of the Unesco Institute for Education Exchange Network on Functional Literacy in Industrialized Countries.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available