The Development Of Language

An invaluable resource for students taking advance courses in language and cognitive development, also for practitioners who have an interest in language development of normal children and in children with developmental difficulties.

"The fifth edition of The Development of Language is written and contributed by leading researchers and covers language acquisition and development from infancy through adulthood." With its organization based on developmental stages of language, this book is especially well suited for courses that take a developmental approach. It covers every aspect of language acquisition and development from a lifespan perspective, beginning with the earliest attempts to communicate and ending with the language and communication concerns of the aged. The book thoroughly explores syntax, morphology, semantics, phonology, and pragmatics. It examines atypical development, presents strong coverage of individual differences, how and why they occur, and provides contemporary references and the most recent research findings. The panel of expert authors provides readers with cutting-edge research knowledge in an interesting and highly readable format." For anyone interested in language development across the age span.

This book presents a general overview of our current knowledge of language development in children. All the principal strands of language development are covered, including phonological, lexical, syntactic and pragmatic development; bilingualism; precursors to language development in infancy; and the language development of children with developmental disabilities, including children with specific language impairment. Written by leading international authorities, each chapter summarises clearly and lucidly our current state of knowledge, and carefully explains and evaluates the theories which have been proposed to account for children's development in that area.

Explorations of language development in different types of learner populations and across various languages. This volume examines language development in different types of learner populations and across various languages. The contributors analyze experimental studies of child and adult language acquisition, heritage language development, bilingualism, and language disorders. They consider theoretical and methodological issues; language development in children, discussing topics that range from gestures to errors in person and number agreement; and development and attrition of (morpho)syntactic constructions in second language learners, bilinguals, and Alzheimer's patients. The approach is "crosslinguistic" in three senses of the word: the contributors offer analyses of acquisition phenomena in different languages; they consider "crosslinguistic influence," or the potential effects of multiple languages on one another in the mind of the same speaker; and (in a novel use of the term, proposed by the editors) the chapters bring together theoretical and methodological approaches pertinent to the linguistics of language development in children, adults, and heritage speakers.

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

A language develops over time, it develops in a child, and the capacity for language has evolved in the human species.