First Language Acquisition

By Eve V. Clark

Book Overview

Now in its fourth edition, this textbook provides a chronological account of first language acquisition, showing how young children acquire language in their conversational interactions with adult speakers. It draws on diary records and experimental studies from leaders in the field to document different stages and different aspects of what children master. Successive chapters detail infants' and young children's progression from attending to adult faces, gaze, and hand motions, to their first attempts at communicating with gaze and gesture, then adding words and constructions. It comprehensively covers the acquisition of the core areas of language - phonetics and phonology, lexicon, grammar and sentence structure, and meaning - as well as how children acquire discourse and conversational skills. This edition includes new sections on how children build 'common ground' with adults and other children, individual differences in children's language development, how they collaborate with adults in constructing utterances, and how they qualify beliefs.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1009294520
• ISBN13: 9781009294522
• Release Date: September 2024
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 690 Pages
• Weight: 2.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 6.7" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Readable and precise

Clark is one of those few scholars who can present a complicated topic in a very accessible way. She touches on the most important and interesting areas of child language acquisition, citing others' studies as well as her own research. You don't need any previous knowledge of this field to enjoy this book. I highly recommend it!