Language Behaviour

In tracing the process of children's language acquisition, this book presents the case that first language acquisition by children is a behavioural rather than a grammatical issue.



Language Behaviour explores and integrates several basic issues including: the role played by the language community in the acquisition process; the specific stages in children's acquisition of language behaviour; and the specific cognitive competencies which are prerequisites for language behaviour acquisition. The author then presents a specific cognitive behavioural model - distinct from the currently prevailing linguistically motivated models - as a framework for understanding these issues in a unified manner. The remainder of the book is devoted to charting the evolutionary history of language behaviour and to discussing important unresolved issues in language behaviour modelling.