A Course in First Language Acquisition

Abstract This book introduces fundamental concepts and results in the theory of first language acquisition, bridging linguistic phenomena with learning and cognitive development. Grammar and development are woven together through particular case studies, providing students with the tools to think about (a) what is already understood about language acquisition, (b) what methods acquisitionists use to identify children’s grammatical knowledge, and (c) how to approach problems in any area of grammatical acquisition. The case studies are chosen to reveal fundamental properties of the kinds of learning systems that are required to understand children’s language acquisition. As such, the book uses a carefully selected set of phenomena through which to understand the nature of language acquisition, providing students with the tools they need to approach any question in the domain of developmental psycholinguistics. The book consists of five parts, each illustrating foundational concepts in the theory of language and its acquisition. Part I discusses the nature of learning in the biological world and sets up the problem of language acquisition through this lens. Part II discusses categories in phonetics, phonology, morphology, and syntax. Part III discusses hierarchical structure. Part IV explores grammatical dependencies. Part V discusses the role of information-processing systems in the theory of language acquisition.