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Progressing gradually from babbling to meaningful sentences is something most babies do naturally. But why do they? John Lockes answer constitutes a fascinating journey along the path of language development, a tour that takes in all the stops--neurological and perceptual, social and linguistic--that mark the way to intelligible speech. A major synthesis of the latest research on early language acquisition, this volume revises the way we understand ourselves and our approach to speech.
List of contents
A Biolinguistic Approach to Language Development Faces and Voices: The Perceptual Path to Spoken Communication The Social Capacity for Spoken Language Vocal Communication and Vocal Learning The Infant Becomes Articulate The Neural Specialization for Linguistic Communication Development of the Neural Capacity for Linguistic Communication The Urge to Convey and the Capacity for Reference Development of Spoken Language Other Paths: The Neurobiology of Linguistic Variation Reflections on the Path to Language References Credits Index
About the author
John L. Locke is Lecturer on Neurology, Harvard Medical School. He is Director of the Neurolinguistics Laboratory and of the Graduate Program in Communication Sciences and Disorders at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Summary
Progressing gradually from babbling to meaningful sentences is something most babies do naturally. But why do they? John L. Locke’s answer constitutes a fascinating journey along the path of language development, a tour that takes in all the stops—neurological and perceptual, social and linguistic—that mark the way to intelligible speech.
