From First Words to Grammar
Author | : Elizabeth Bates |
Publisher | : Cambridge University Press |
Total Pages | : 352 |
Release | : 1991-09-27 |
ISBN-10 | : 052142500X |
ISBN-13 | : 9780521425001 |
Rating | : 4/5 (0X Downloads) |
Book excerpt: This book is a comprehensive study of the passage from first words to grammar in a sample of children large enough to permit systematic analysis of individual differences in style and rate of development. The authors provide a large body of information about first words and early grammatical development in qualitative and quantitative patterns that are useful not only for researchers in the field, but for speech/language pathologists and early childhood educators interested in the assessment of early language. The results support a unified functionalist approach to language development, and have implications for the way we think about the structure and breakdown of language under normal and abnormal conditions.