How Children Learn Language Author: William O'Grady | Language: English | ISBN:
0521531926 | Format: EPUB
How Children Learn Language Description
Demonstrating how children learn to produce and distinguish between sounds, and their acquisition of words and meanings, this book explains their incredible mastery of language. William O'Grady provides readers with an overview not only of the language acquisition process itself, but also of the ingenious experiments and techniques that researchers use to investigate this mysterious phenomenon.
- Series: Cambridge Approaches to Linguistics
- Paperback: 246 pages
- Publisher: Cambridge University Press (February 14, 2005)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0521531926
- ISBN-13: 978-0521531924
- Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
- Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
This book, written by a linguist at the University of Hawaii, is a good introduction to current academic thinking on children's first-language acquisition. It is not intended as a guide for parents, per se, but is usable for parents interested in this aspect of their children's development (there are occasional interjections to the effect "not to worry"). It's written in a very clear style with a very logical arrangement, without jargon drawn from linguistics. The discussion is limited almost entirely to an English monolingual environment, and does not go beyond early childhood and the acquisition of the local basic grammar and vocabulary.
The author starts by examining how children learn the meaning of words in isolation and how sentence structure and other elements of grammar appear to be acquired. Only in the second part does he explore phonology; with good grounds for the general reader, as this involves considerably greater abstraction. Thereupon some sociolinguistics appear, in the context of differing parental behaviors. Finally, the author discusses abstract models of human language as they bear on language learning; is the language learning facility a separate brain function, unto itself, or is it just an extension of other parts of human mental equipment? All of this is discussed in the clearest and most concrete terms.
Brief appendices include the International Phonetic Alphabet as it is used in the book and some tips for keeping diary-style records of a child's languistic behavior and progression.
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