The Transition from Infancy to Language
Acquiring the Power of Expression
Published on 26. November 1993
Book
Hardback
364 pages
978-0-521-44031-8 (ISBN)
Description
In this important volume, Lois Bloom brings together the theoretical and empirical work she has carried out on early lexical development. Its focus is on the expressive power children acquire as they begin to talk and, in particular, on contributions from cognitive development, affect expression, and the social context for making the transition from prelinguistic expression to the expression of contents of mind. The first half of the book reviews the developments in infancy that enable the emergence of language and presents the theoretical perspective required for an understanding of the longitudinal study described in the second half. The book's main thesis is that language is acquired for expressing contents of mind and that its usefulness as a 'tool' is of only secondary importance. The Transition from Infancy to Language makes a major contribution to our knowledge of early lexical development, providing a persuasive theoretical model for researchers and students.
Reviews / Votes
"...its thoroughness and its elegant intertwining of empirical results and theoretical arguments make it essential reading for graduate students and faculty in the field of first language acquisition and in any relevant subfields of psychology, philosophy, and education." L. Bebout, Choice "...proposes an interactive model of language development--interactive in her scheme both because the child's situation in a social context is essential and because language development is essentially related to cognitive and affective capacities....an important step forward in the attempt to account for early word learning from the perspective of real children faced with the task of acquiring and using a language." Marilyn Shatz, Science "...its thoroughness and its elegant intertwining of empirical results and theoretical arguments make it essential reading for graduate students and faculty in the field of first language acquisition and in any relevant subfields of psychology, philosophy, and education." L. Bebout, Choice "...the latest contribution from a distinguished scholar." TESMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 237 mm
Width: 160 mm
Thickness: 29 mm
Weight
787 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-521-44031-8 (9780521440318)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Content
Part I. Theory and Background: 1. The power of expression; 2. Representation and expression; 3. The emergent infant; 4. The expressive infant; 5. The transition to language; Part II. From Nine Months to Two Years: 6. Translation from theory to method; 7. Developments in expression; 8. Developments in affect expression; 9. Developments in word learning; 10. Developments in cognition; 11. Meaning and expression.