Description
Book SynopsisA remarkable mother-daughter collaboration balances the respected views of a well-known scholar with the fresh perspective of a younger colleague in a comprehensive overview of the theory and practice of language acquisition.
Trade ReviewA timely, clear, and valuable book, which offers a masterful overview of the many passionately held positions on the origins and development of language. -- Dan Slobin, University of California, Berkeley
Karmiloff-Smith is widely recognized as one of the most important theorists now working in early cognitive development, for her emphasis on the way that many factors move development forward. With its graceful, lucid style,
Pathways To Language takes the reader on a journey, vividly conveying the excitement of all the new discoveries of recent years that have so deeply changed our understanding of what it means to "learn language." -- Roberta Golinkoff, University of Delaware
This beautifully written, clearly structured book succeeds in making the intricacies of all aspects of language development accessible to the general reader. It communicates the authors' enthusiasm for their subject, and never loses sight of the reality of the developing child. -- Morag Stuart * Times Higher Education Supplement *
This is a timely and very useful book: growing awareness of the importance of language difficulties, and the increasing demands on child psychology caseloads arising from such difficulties mean that knowledge in this area is desirable...[It] addresses complex topics with clarity and fluency, using well-chosen examples, so that a coherent picture of normal language development erges...Beautifully written and well designed...
Pathways to Language would make an excellent introduction to the field, but is equally a superb refresher text, capable of re-enthusing busy practitioners. -- Pete Lloyd Bennett * DECP Debate *
[This] is indeed an exciting, masterfully written and well-organized volume, covering a broad range of topics
Pathways to Language offers a comprehensive coverage of what is currently known about the steps involved in language acquisition. One of the most appealing features of the book, especially for students, is its ability to present a vast number of studies in a clear and concise fashion while critically examining their implications. But perhaps the most appreciated characteristic of the current volume is the authors' emphasis on the integration of different perspectives in order to deepen our understanding of language acquisition, which should be of interest to anyone concerned with child development. -- Barbora Skarabela * Linguistics *
Table of ContentsPreface 1. What Is Language Acquisition? 2. Experimental Paradigms for Studying Language Acquisition 3. Speech Perception in and out of the Womb 4. Learning about the Meaning of Words 5. Becoming a Grammatical Being 6. Beyond the Sentence 7. Atypical Language Development 8. Rethinking the Nature-Nurture Debate Further Readings Index
