Childly Language

Child Language: is a comprehensive introduction to child language, introducing students to the key theories of language acquisition and teaching them skills for analyzing children's language covers the core areas of language acquisition: phonological, semantic, syntactic, morphological and discourse development, the bilingual child and language development in exceptional circumstances draws on a range of real texts and data provides classic readings by the key names in the discipline: J. Becker, Roger Brown, R. Ely, Jean Berko-Gleason, J.N. Jorgenson, D. Messer, S. Pinker, and N. Smith.

Childly Language explores how attitudes and cultural assumptions about children and childhood are revealed in contemporary English. It addresses such questions as: How is concern for children's safety and welfare reflected in the vocabulary and grammar of contemporary English? and When we say that an adult is being 'childish', what are we saying about the characteristics of children?

The remarkable way in which young children acquire language has long fascinated linguists and developmental psychologists alike. Language is a skill that we have essentially mastered by the age of three, and with incredible ease and speed, despite the complexity of the task. This accessible textbook introduces the field of child language acquisition, exploring language development from birth. Setting out the key theoretical debates, it considers questions such as what characteristics of the human mind make it possible to acquire language; how far acquisition is biologically programmed and how far it is influenced by our environment; what makes second language learning (in adulthood) different from first language acquisition; and whether the specific stages in language development are universal across languages. Clear and comprehensive, it is set to become a key text for all courses in child language acquisition, within linguistics, developmental psychology and cognitive science.

Taking an accessible and cross-linguistic approach, Understanding Child Language Acquisition introduces readers to the most important research on child language acquisition over the last fifty years, as well as to some of the most influential theories in the field. Rather than just describing what children can do at different ages Rowland explains why these research findings are important and what they tell us about how children acquire language. Key features include: Cross-linguistic analysis of how language acquisition differs between languages A chapter on how multilingual children acquire several languages at once Exercises to test comprehension Chapters organised around key questions that summarise the critical issues posed by researchers in the field, with summaries at the end Further reading suggestions to broaden understanding of the subject With its particular focus on outlining key similarities and differences across languages and what this cross-linguistic variation means for our ideas about language acquisition, Understanding Child Language Acquisition forms a comprehensive introduction to the subject for students of linguistics, psychology and speech and language therapy. Students and instructors will benefit from the comprehensive companion website that includes a students’ section featuring interactive comprehension exercises, extension activities, chapter recaps and answers to the exercises within the book. Material for instructors includes sample essay questions, answers to the extension activities for students and a Powerpoint including all the figures from the book. www.routledge.com/cw/rowland

Child Language: provides a comprehensive overview of language acquisition in children introduces students to key theories and concerns such as innateness, the role of input and the relation of language to other cognitive functions teaches students the skills needed to analyze children's language includes sections on the bilingual child and atypical language development provides classic readings by key names in the field, such as Brian MacWhinney, Richard Cromer, Jean Aitchison, and Eve Clark. The accompanying website to this book can be found at http://www.routledge.com/textbooks/0415281032

When first published in 1923, this classic work took the psychological world by storm. Piaget's views expressed in this book, have continued to influence the world of developmental psychology to this day.

The subject of this two part work is the acquisition of language structure in which the development of syntax and morphology is examined by investigations on children without language problems and on children with developmental dysphasia. The author uses a comparative acquisition study to provide insights into the structure and development of the language acquisition device, which cannot be obtained by isolated analysis of only one type of learning. The theoretical framework used for the investigations is the learnability theory, in which acquisition models are proposed which are heavily influenced by theoretical linguistics. Part I shows how child grammar acquisition can be explained in the framework of learnability theory and Part II deals with deficiencies in normal grammar acquisition using the learnability theory.

Shows parents how to help their child communicate and learn language during everyday activities.