Barbara C(2006). Child Language: Acquisition and Growth. Lust Edinburgh Cornell University
This book grew out of many years of teaching and interdisciplinary survey "Language Development," at Cornell. Many generations of students and teachers persistent questions, challenges and insights have built the material on which the book is based.
Like the course it is based on the book is essentially interdiciplinary, on assumption that only an interdiciplinary approach can begin to advance understanding of the fundamental mystery we are concerned with, i.e., the name of the competence of the human species for language. It addresses this mystery attempting to convert it to issues which allow and support scientific inquiry. Though it does not simply adopt one point of view; nor does it deny debates in the field does not simply adopt a "logical" or "empirical" approach to the study of language acquisition. Rather, in the interest of grounding scientific inquiry in this are attempts to represent opposing points of view and to articulate their predictions. It combines both theoretical and empirical inquiries in order to ground scientific inquiry. Hopefully, on the basis of the articulation of theoretical premises and the summary of empirical evidence which is provided in this book the field now will have strengthened foundation for future research, allow the continual course of inquiry which will be necessary to resolve fundamental debates which characterize the field.
Contents
List of figures
List of tables
Preface
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1 The Growth of language
Chapter 2 What is acquired?
Chapter 3 What is the problem of language acquisition?
Chapter 4 How we can construct a theory of language acquisition
Chapter 5 Brain and language development
Chapter 6 The nature of nurture
Chapter 7 How can we tell what children know? Methods for the study of language acquisition
Chapter 8 The acquisition of phonology
Chapter 9 The acquisition of syntax
Chapter 10 The acquisition of semantics
Chapter 11 On the nature of language growth
Chapter 12 Conclusions: toward and integrated theory of language acquisition
