Minimum of Language Acquisition: Lectures in General Linguistics, Syntax, and Child Language Acquisition

Minimum of Language Acquisition: Lectures in General Linguistics, Syntax, and Child Language Acquisition provides readers with a compelling exploration of how children learn languages, the barriers to acquisition, and the complex nature of language as a largely internal mental process. The text features five lectures, which include discussions of language and linguistics; movement distinctions based on inflectional versus derivational morphology; the Four Sentences; the myth of "function defines form;" and the development of grammar. Throughout these lectures, the book presents insights into traditional questions dealing with learnability problems associated with language acquisition. Additional topics include child syntactic development, second language acquisition, and phonology. The text also includes five helpful appendices on the (American) English sound system; lexical versus functional grammar as it relates to child language syntax; the differences between vertical and horizontal processing, as well as learning and acquisition; the vocal tract; and anatomy of the brain. Developed to inspire greater understanding of how children learn and process languages, Minimum of Language Acquisition is an ideal resource for courses and program in linguistics.