The development of language : acquisition, change, and evolution / David Lightfoot.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lightfoot, David, 1945-

Series:

Blackwell/Maryland lectures in language and cognition ; 1.

Blackwell/Maryland lectures in language and cognition ; 1

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Linguistic change.

Language acquisition.

Grammar, Comparative and general.

Language and languages--Origin.

Language and languages.

Physical Description:

xii, 287 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Malden, Mass. : Blackwell Publishers, 1999.

Summary:

In this book, David Lightfoot looks at aspects of language change over time through the way it is acquired by children.

It explores two central ideas: that language change is more contingent than generally thought; and that language acquisition does not proceed in the way characterized by current learnability models; rather, it is cue based. Incorporating these ideas, the book then suggests ways of thinking about the evolution of language in the species.

This volume makes work on language development accessible to non-specialists as well as the broad community of students, linguistics specialists, biologists, psychologists, and historians.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [269]-281) and index.

ISBN:

0631210598

0631210601

OCLC:

39269660