This textbooks introduces the main arguments for an innate, domain
specific capacity to learn human language. It guides you through the
growth of language in a typically developing child and also discusses a
range of viewpoints, introducing the central controversies in the field
of language acquisition.
Taking models and analyses from generative phonology, morphology, syntax
and semantics, the author describes children's language acquisition
using examples from a wide variety of languages. She explores the
connections between language and other aspects of human cognition, the
role of environment in learning, and the role in language development of
mechanisms for speech production and speech comprehension.
Extensively illustrated with models and figures, each chapter is also
followed by a summary box, exercises and questions for discussion. An
appendix of research techniques and suggestions for further reading is
also included, to provide a Chomskyan introduction to language
acquisition for advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students
in linguistics and cognitive science.