The language of children

the long version

This book provides a very readable introduction to how children acquire and use language. It is aimed at advanced students of psychology, language, and education. Focusing on research evidence and everyday examples, it covers a broad range of topics and assumes no prior knowledge of either developmental psychology or linguistics. The emphasis of The Language of Children is on explaining psychological (cognitive, biological, and social) variables in language. The development of human language use is first related to the development of signaling in other species and to the early interaction between the infant and his or her mother (or other caregiver). The author then goes on to relate the child's language development to broader cognitive development, and considers the influence of schooling and social experience.