Language Acquisition

MEAOLA AMITUANAI-TOLOA is Associate Director of the Woolf Fisher Research Centre, and Lecturer and Associate Dean Pasifika at The University of Auckland, New Zealand RUTH BERMAN is Professor Emeritus in Linguistics at Tel Aviv University, Israel GEORGIE COLUMBUS is a phraseologist working in corpus linguistics and psycholinguistics SUSAN GASS is University Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University, USA MARIA TERESA GUASTI is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Milano Bicocca, Italy MAYA HICKMANNKOENRAAD KUIPER is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand STUART MCNAUGHTONNATASCHA MÜLLER is Professor of Romance linguistics (French, Italian, Spanish) at Bergische Universität Wuppertal, Germany IRA A. NOVECK is a research scientist at the Institut des Sciences Cognitives in Lyon, FranceANN PETERS is Professor Emerita of Linguistics, University of Hawai'i at Manoa. NAUSICAA POUSCOULOUSJUDY REILLYMATTHEW SAXTON is Senior Lecturer in Psychology, the Institute of Education, University of London, UKNORBERT SCHMITT is Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Nottingham, UK MARILYN VIHMAN is Professor of Language and Linguistic Science at the University of York, UK JILL DE VILLIERSPETER DE VILLIERSEMA WOLFGRAMM-FOLIAKI

Language learners come in all sizes. Children learn one language; they learn many. Older children and adults add languages. Some children learn language against the odds, faced as they are by developmental difficulties of many kinds. How do learners meet these different language acquisition challenges?
What role does the ability to read the minds of others play in the development of syntax? Do children know they are learning words when they do it? Are children more or less conservative than adults when they understand words like 'some' and 'and'? Do we really know the impact of the language we speak to children? Can we really talk about one language being more dominant than another in a child's repertoire? How do cultural patterns of language use impact on the development of language?
We may have moved beyond the conception of language development as nature versus nurture, but we remain uncertain of the exact roles played by the nature of the human animal and the nature of the language environment that learners develop in. We are also by no means in agreement about the important questions to ask and the theoretical frameworks within which to ask or answer them!
This volume provides a snapshot of the field of language acquisition at the beginning of the 21st Century. It represents the multiplicity of approaches that characterize this energetic sub field of linguistics and provides readers with a review of current topics and debates, as well as addressing some of the connections between sub-fields and possible future directions for research in first language, second language, bilingualism, and language disorder in languages that are spoken, manual, and written.
An overview of the 'hot topics' in current language acquisition research and an exploration of some of the interdisciplinary insights between areas of study in this vibrant field

This book provides a snapshot of the field of language acquisition at the beginning of the 21st Century. It represents the multiplicity of approaches that characterize the field and provides a review of current topics and debates, as well as addressing some of the connections between sub-fields and possible future directions for research.

An overview of the 'hot topics' in current language acquisition research and an exploration of some of the interdisciplinary insights between areas of study in this vibrant field

Preface Series Preface Acknowledgements Notes on Contributors PART I: EXPLAINING LANGUAGE ACQUISITION Word Learning and the Origins of Phonological System; M.Vihman Processing Strategies in First Language Acquisition; A.M.Peters The Inevitability of Child Directed Speech; M.Saxton Universal Grammar Approaches to Language Acquisition; M.T.Guasti Second Language Acquisition; S.Gass PART II: WINDOWS ON LANGUAGE ACQUISITION Language and the Many Faces of Emotion; J.Reilly Complements Enable Representation of the Contents of False Beliefs: The Evolution of a Theory of Theory of Mind; J. & P.De Villiers Going Beyond Semantics: The Development of Pragmatic Enrichment; N.Pouscoulous & I.Noveck The Acquisition of Phrasal Vocabulary; K.Kuiper , G.Columbus & N.Schmitt PART III: LANGUAGE ACQUISITION, CULTURE AND LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY Language Development in Simultaneous Bilingual Children; N.Müller Universals and Cross-Linguistic Variability in Children's Discourse; M.Hickmann Trends in Research on Narrative Development; R.Berman Family Literacy Activities: What Is, What Ought To Be and The Role of Parents' Ideas; S.McNaughton , M.Amituanai-Toloa & E.Wolfgramm-Foliaki Index