First Verbs, Grammar Child Language: A Case Study of Early Grammatical Development - Softcover

Tomasello

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521034515 ISBN 13: 9780521034517

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2008

Synopsis

During the second year of his daughter's life, Michael Tomasello kept a detailed diary of her language, creating a rich database. He made a careful study of how she acquired her first verbs and analysed the role that verbs played in her early grammatical development. Using a Cognitive Linguistics framework, the author argues persuasively that the child's earliest grammatical organization is verb-specific (the Verb Island hypothesis). He argues further that early language is acquired by means of very general cognitive and social-cognitive processes, especially event structures and cultural learning. The richness of the database and the analytical tools used make First Verbs a particularly useful and important book for developmental psychologists, linguists, language development researchers and speech pathologists.

About this title

Review

"...many readers will undoubtedly find the volume illuminating..." Lynn Eubank, Studies in Second Language Acquisitions

"...a useful book for those interested in understanding the sometimes controversial claims that Tomasello proposes....[A]n excellent reference material even for those researchers who are unsympathetic to the cognitive linguistic approach." Jacqueline S. Johnson, Contemporary Psychology

"...a valuable contribution to the child-language literature because of the author's thorough analusis and his boldness in choosing solutions to conceptual problems and then marching on." Lorraine McCune, Merrill-Palmer Quarterly

Book Description

During the second year of his daughter's life, Michael Tomasello kept a detailed diary of her language, creating a rich database. He made a careful study of how she acquired her first verbs and analysed the role that verbs played in her early grammatical development.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521034515
• ISBN 13: 9780521034517
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 384