How language comes to children : from birth to two years / Bénédicte de Boysson-Bardies ; translated by M.B. DeBevoise.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Boysson-Bardies, Bénédicte de.

Standardized Title:

Comment la parole vient aux enfants. English

Language:

English

French

Subjects (All):

Language acquisition.

Physical Description:

xiv, 274 pages, IV pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, [1999]

Summary:

That children learn to speak so skillfully at a young age has long fascinated adults. Most children virtually master their native tongue even before learning to tie their shoelaces. The ability to acquire language has historically been regarded as a "gift" -- a view given scientific foundation only in the present century by Noam Chomsky's theory of "universal grammar, " which posits an innate knowledge of the principles that structure all languages.

In this delightful, accessible book, psycholinguist Benedicte de Boysson-Bardies presents a broad picture of language development, from fetal development to the toddler years, and examines a wide range of puzzling questions: How do newborns recognize elements of speech? How do they distinguish them from non-speech sounds? How do they organize and analyze them? How do they ultimately come to understand and reproduce these sounds? Finally, how does the ability to communicate through language emerge in children? Boysson-Bardies also addresses questions of particular interest to parents, such as whether one should speak to children in a special way to facilitate language learning and whether there is cause to worry when a twenty-month-old child does not yet speak. Although the author provides a clear summary of the current state of language acquisition theory, the special appeal of the book lies in her research and "dialogue" with her many young subjects.

Contents:

The Gift of Language 2

A Complex Gift 2

The Gift of Evolution 4

The Gift of Speech and the Child 5

The Question of Modularity 7

An Interactive Learning System 8

Speech and Communication 9

From Infans to Child 10

1 The Infant Does Not Talk, But ... 13

The Newborn Child: A Stranger 13

Speech Is Not the Infant's Language 15

A Competent Newborn 18

The Infant Is Prepared Before Birth 22

The Talents of Infants 26

What's in a Name? 28

Organization of the Brain for Language 29

2 The Emergence of Speech 37

Vocal Expressions of the First Months 37

Quick Studies of Their Native Language 40

Babbling 45

What Do Children Say Between Seven and Ten Months? 46

What Do Children Say Between Ten and Twelve Months? 49

Wherein the Babbling of Babes Is Subjected to the Seriousness of Scientists 51

Do French Babies Babble in French and Yoruba Babies in Yoruba? 56

They Begin Speaking Their Language Without an Accent 64

Babbling in Sign Language 68

3 The Communicative Universe of the Baby 71

Communication and Expression 71

Looking 73

Reciprocal Behaviors 74

Turn-Taking 76

Expression of Emotion 77

Sharing Information About the Outside World 79

Motherese 81

Baby Talk 84

Cultures and Modes of Talking to Babies 85

Critical Periods 91

4 Discovering the Meaning of Words: Nine to Seventeen Months 95

Dividing Up and Assembling 95

The Infant in Action 100

Putting Together the Pieces of the Puzzle 101

The Problem of Small Pieces 106

Recognizing and Understanding 109

Finding the Same Object Again 111

Recognizing Familiar Words 113

The Mental Representation of Words 115

Understanding Words 119

5 The First Lexical Steps: Eleven to Eighteen Months 127

The Words for Saying It 127

The World and the Baby 129

Is the Baby a Physicist? 130

Objects and Words 133

First Words 136

Trials and Errors 141

Two Lexicons? 145

Building the First Vocabulary 146

6 To Each Baby His Own Style 149

All the Same and All Different 149

Emilie, Sean, and Timmy: The Minimalist Strategy 152

Simon, Leo, and Marie: The Charms of Conversation 158

Charles, Noel, and Others: The Middle Way 168

Henri: Stepping Back to Move Forward 171

They Are the Ones Who Choose 174

7 Languages, Cultures, and Children 177

Language and Socialization 177

Cultural Milieus and First Words 179

Subjects of Conversation of French, American, Swedish, and Japanese Children 182

The Hedonism of French Babies 184

The Pragmatism and Sociability of American Children 185

The Taste for Action of Swedish Children 186

The Aesthetic Sense of Japanese Babies 186

But All the Children of the World 188

8 Speech Becomes Language: Eighteen to Twenty-Four Months 189

A New Step 189

The Explosion of the Lexicon 190

The Discovery of Phonology 191

The Modification of Cerebral Responses 194

First Sentences 198

The First Sentences of French Children 202

Appendix A The Principal Stages in the Development of Speech from Before Birth to Two Years 217

Appendix B International Phonetic Alphabet 221.

Notes:

"A Bradford book."

Includes bibliographical references (pages [239]-257) and index.

ISBN:

0262024535

OCLC:

38853989