Child language : acquisition and development / Matthew Saxton

Includes bibliographical references (pages [278]-308) and index

-- Prelude : landmarks in the landscape of child language -- Can animals acquire human language? : Shakespeare's typewriter -- The critical period hypothesis : now or never? -- Input and interaction : tutorials for toddlers -- Language in the first year : breaking the sound barrier -- The developing lexicon : what's in a name? -- The acquisition of morphology : linguistic lego -- Linguistic nativism : to the grammar born -- The usage-based approach : making it up as you go along -- You say nature, I say nurture : better call the calling off off

"The acquisition of language is a staggering feat, yet one that all typically developing children have largely tackled by the time they reach school age. This book presents the latest thinking and research on how children acquire and develop their first language, written in a manner that will be stimulating and interesting for a range of undergraduate students." "The reader is taken from a standing start to the point where they can engage with key debates and current research in the field of child language. No background knowledge of linguistic theory is assumed and all specialist terms are introduced in clear, non-technical language. A theme running through the book is the nature-nurture debate, rekindled in the modern era by Noam Chomsky, with his belief that the form language takes in the child is largely determined by genetic factors. This book is rare in its balanced presentation of evidence from both sides of the nature-nurture divide; in effect, it uniquely presents a case for language acquisition and development."--BOOK JACKET