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Theoretical Issues in Language Acquisition

Continuity and Change in Development

• Edited by Juergen Weissenborn, Helen Goodluck, Thomas Roeper

• Price: $69.95
• Binding: Hardback
• Pages: 328
• Published by: Psychology Press
• Publication Date: 1st December 1991
• ISBN: 978-0-8058-0379-2

About the Book

In recent linguistic theory, there has been an explosion of detailed studies of language variation. This volume applies such recent analyses to the study of child language, developing new approaches to change and variation in child grammars and revealing both early knowledge in several areas of grammar and a period of extended development in others. Topics dealt with include question formation, "subjectless" sentences, object gaps, rules for missing subject interpretation, passive sentences, rules for pronoun interpretation and argument structure. Leading developmental linguists and psycholinguists show how linguistic theory can help define and inform a theory of the dynamics of language development and its biological basis, meeting the growing need for such studies in programs in linguistics, psychology, and cognitive science.

Table of Contents

Contents: J. Weissenborn, H. Goodluck, T. Roeper, Introduction: Old and New Problems in the Study of Language Acquisition. S.W. Felix, Language Acquisition as a Maturational Process. H. Clahsen, Learnability Theory and the Problem of Development in Language Acquisition. R.J. Stevenson, Maturation and Learning: Linguistic Knowledge and Performance: A Commentary on Clahsen and Felix. J.H. Randall, The Catapult Hypothesis: An Approach to Unlearning. J. Pustejovsky, Principles versus Criteria: On Randall's Catapult Hypothesis. H. Goodluck, D. Behne, Development in Control and Extraction. C. Jones, Comments on Goodluck and Behne. T. Roeper, J. de Villiers, Ordered Decisions in the Acquisition of Wh-Questions. A. Radford, Comments on Roeper and de Villiers. N. Hyams, A Reanalysis of Null Subjects in Child Language. J. Weissenborn, Null Subjects in Early Grammars: Implications for Parameter-setting Theories. D. Lillo-Martin, Comments on Hyams and Weissenborn: On Licensing and Identification.