Language Acquisition

This text is an introduction to language acquisition, designed to meet the needs of advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students in linguistics and cognitive science. It is the first recent introduction to language acquisition to be written from the perspective of theoretical linguistics, and uses Chomskyan generative grammar as a framework for description. Taking models and analyses from generative phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics, Professor Goodluck describes children's language acquisition using examples from a variety of languages. Further chapters take up central questions concerning the cognitive mechanisms by which children process language development and other aspects of cognitive development. This book is extensively illustrated with models and figures, and each chapter is followed by questions for discussion and suggestions for further reading.