First and Second Language Acquisition
Parallels and Differences
Published on 7. July 2011
Book
Hardback
322 pages
978-0-521-55294-3 (ISBN)
Description
Infants and very young children develop almost miraculously the ability of speech, without apparent effort, without even being taught - as opposed to the teenager or the adult struggling without, it seems, ever being able to reach the same level of proficiency as five year olds in their first language. This useful textbook serves as a guide to different types of language acquisition: monolingual and bilingual first language development and child and adult second language acquisition. Unlike other books, it systematically compares first and second language acquisition, drawing on data from several languages. Research questions and findings from various subfields are helpfully summarized to show students how they are related and how they often complement each other. The essential guide to studying first and second language acquisition, it will be used on courses in linguistics, modern languages and developmental psychology.
Reviews / Votes
'... an excellent textbook on similarities and differences between first and second language acquisition, but also an insightful and provocative synthesis of research on this topic.' Fred Genesee, McGill UniversityMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
9 Tables, black and white; 3 Line drawings, unspecified
Dimensions
Height: 250 mm
Width: 175 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
737 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-521-55294-3 (9780521552943)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
12/2011
1st Edition
Cambridge University Press
€38.49
Available for download
Book
07/2011
Cambridge University Press
€62.60
Shipment within 15-20 days
E-Book
07/2011
Cambridge University Press
€27.99
Available for download
Person
Juergen M. Meisel is Professor Emeritus of Linguistics in the Department of Romance Languages and a member and former Chair (1999-2006) of the Research Center on Bilingualism at the University of Hamburg. He is also an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Linguistics and Distinguished Fellow in the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Calgary. He is one of the founding editors and current co-editor of the journal Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, published by Cambridge University Press.
Content
1. The quest for the LAD; 2. First language development - Universal Grammar as the centerpiece of the human language making capacity; 3. Obvious (observable) similarities and differences between first and second language acquisition - developmental sequences; 4. The initial state and beyond; 5. Developing grammatical knowledge - parameter setting and inductive learning; 6. Neural maturation and age - opening and closing windows of opportunities; 7. A (tentative) theory of language acquisition - L1, 2L1, and L2.