Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Preface



1 The Development of Language: An Overview and a Preview

Jean Berko Gleason, Boston University



An Overview of the Course of Language Development ; The Biological Bases of Language ; The Structure of Language: Learning the System ; The Study of Language Development ;

Summary ; Suggested Projects ; Suggested Readings ; Key Words ; References



2 Communication Development in Infancy

Jacqueline Sachs, University of Connecticut



The Expression of Communicative Intent Before Speech ; The Social Context of the Preverbal Infant ; Summary ; Suggested Projects ; Suggested Readings ; Key Words ; References





3 Phonological Development: Learning Sounds and Sound Patterns

Lise Menn, University of Colorado

Carol StoelGammon, University of Washington



English Speech Sounds and Sound Patterns ; Infant Speech Perception ; Production: The Prelinguistic Period ; The Beginning of Phonological Development: Protowords ; Cognitive Approaches to the Acquisition of Phonology ; Learning to Pronounce ; Development after Three Years ; The Acquisition of English Morphophonology ; Parental Role in Phonological Development ; Summary ; Suggested Projects ; Suggested Readings ; Key Words ; References



4 Semantic Development

Barbara Alexander Pan and Paola Uccelli, Harvard Graduate School of Education



The Relations between Words and Their Referents ; Theoretical Perspectives on Semantic Development ; Early Words ; How Adult Speech Influences Children's Semantic Development ; Later Semantic Development ; Factors influencing children's vocabulary development; Metalinguistic Development; Summary ; Suggested Projects ; Suggested Readings ; Key Words ; References





5 Putting Words Together: Morphology and Syntax in the Preschool Years

Helen Tager Flusberg, Boston University School of Medicine

Andrea Zukowski, University of Maryland



The Nature of Syntactic Rules; Studying Syntactic Development ; Entering the Complex Linguistic System; Measuring Syntactic Growth ; Two-Word Utterances; Developing Grammatical Morphemes ; Different Sentence Modalities ; Later Developments in Preschoolers; Beyond the Preschool Years ; Knowledge vs. Processing; Summary; Suggested Projects ; Suggested Readings ; Key Words; References




6 Language in Social Contexts: Communicative Competence in the Preschool Years

Judith Becker Bryant, University of South Florida



Theoretical Approaches to the Study of Communicative Competence ; Language in Social Contexts ; The Difficulty of Acquiring Communicative Competence ; Influences on the Acquisition of Communicative Competence ; The Significance of Communicative Competence ; Summary ; Suggested Projects ; Suggested Readings ; Key Words ; References



7 Theoretical Approaches to Language Development

John N. Bohannon III, Butler University

John D. Bonvillian, University of Virginia



Behavioral Approaches ; Evaluation of the Behavioral Approaches ; Linguistic Approaches ; Evaluation of the Linguistic Approach ; Interactionist Approaches ; Summary and New Directions ; Suggested Projects ; Suggested Readings ; Key Words ; References



8 Individual Differences in Language Development

Beverly A. Goldfield, Rhode Island College

Catherine E. Snow, Harvard Graduate School of Education



The History of Individual Differences in Child Language Research ; Individual Differences in Early Words ; Segmenting the Speech Stream ; Individual Differences in Early Sentences ; Stability of Individual Differences ; Sources of Variation ; Context: The Interaction of Child, Caregiver, and Language ; Implications of Individual Differences for a Theory of Language Acquisition ; Summary ; Suggested Projects ; Suggested Readings ; Key Words ; References





9 Atypical Language Development

Nan Bernstein Ratner, University of Maryland at College Park



Communicative Development and Severe Hearing Impairment ; Intellectual Disability and Communicative Development ; Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)/Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) ; Specific Language Impairment ; Atypical Speech Development ; Evaluation of Suspected Speech and Language Disorders in Children ; Summary ; Suggested Projects ; Suggested Readings ; Key Words ; References







10 Language Development in the School Years

Gigliana Melzi, New York University

Richard Ely, Boston University



Interactions with Peers; Metalinguistic Development in the School Years ; Literacy Experiences at Home ; Reading ; Writing ; Bilingualism ; Summary ; Suggested Projects ; Suggested Readings ; Key Words ; References







11 Language in Adulthood


Loraine K. Obler, City University of New York



Language in Adulthood; The Language of Peer and Social Groups ; Language at Work ; Second Language Acquisition in Adulthood ; Acquisition of Adult Registers ; Language Development in Advanced Age ; Adult Language and Brain Damage ; Summary ; Suggested Projects ; Suggested Readings ; Key Words ; References







Glossary



Index