Applied Linguistics Research Journal Original Research

ALR Journal 2019;3(1):61-63 doi: 10.14744/alrj.2019.00719

Child Language Acquisition and Development.

Second edition. Saxton, M. 2017. SAGE Publications
India Pvt Ltd.
Aliasghar Introduction
Ahmadishokouh There are different approaches to the study of child language, and
researchers investigate different aspects of the language acquisition
process. For example, some will focus on testing particular theoretical
Department of Applied claims; others on developmental, cognitive or social factors in the
acquisition process; others on the development of a particular
Linguistics, Payame Noor feature of language; and others on what we might learn about
University, Tehran, Iran language development from studying what goes wrong in particular
situations (Bavin, 2009). This volume, Child Language: Acquisition and
Development , is an indispensable textbook for undergraduate students
in Psychology, Linguistics, Education and Childhood studies. The book is
carefully and logically organized; it presents a clear, erudite, state-of-the
art account of the complexities of child language. The focus of this book
is slightly different to that of other well-known publications in the field of
child language, in that, as the author claims in the introductory part, no
background knowledge of linguistic theory is assumed and all specialist
terms are introduced in clear, non-technical language (p. 17).This book
is rare in its balanced presentation of evidence from both sides of the
nature-nurture divide. Presented with the latest thinking and research
on how children acquire their first language, this new Second Edition
helps readers develop the skills to engage with key debates and current
research in the field of child language.
The overall content of this book is thematically divided into ten chapters,
which are outlined below. To set the scene, the book’s opening chapter
sheds lights on some appreciation of the challenges facing the newborn
infant in the acquisition of language. Major landmarks in language
development are presented at each of the following four levels of
linguistic analysis: Phonology, vocabulary morphology, and grammar.
This chapters also includes some of the philosophical problems facing
Corresponding Author: Aliasghtar
the child language acquisition .As the author progresses, through the
Ahmadishokouh rest of the book, depending on the particular topic under discussion the
Phone: +989030742276 nature–nurture issue will come in and out of focus.
e-mail: ahmadishokouhtmu@gmail. Chapter 2 deals with the question of whether language is a uniquely
com human trait. It is started with a definition of language, and goes on
Article citation: Ahmadishokouh, A. to distinguish between three separate concepts – language, talk and
(2019). Book Review. Child language communication and, considers some of the key differences between
acquisition and development. animal communication systems and language. Chapter 3 opens with
EdiSaxton, M. 2017. 2nd. Ed. Applied Eric Lenneberg’s hypothesis that there is a critical period for language
Linguistics Research Journal, 3(1),63- development. It considers if the human ability to acquire language is
65
confined to a specific period of time early on in development, a so-called
Received Date: 9-2-2019
critical period. Then, the relative importance of five key features that have
Accepted Date: 17-2-2019
Online Date: 18-3-2019 been used to define a critical period, namely; period of peak plasticity ,
Publisher: Kare Publishing cut-off point , occur early in development , brief ,and deprivation has
© 2018 Applied Linguistics Research Journal
permanent and irreversible effects, are discussed in details throughout
E-ISSN: 2651-2629
this chapter.
2 Ahmadishokouh

Another aspect of the child language is tackled in Chapter 4, with an extended discussion of the Child
Directed Speech (CDS). This is the special register adopted by adults and older children when talking to
young children. This chapter also discusses some appreciation of specific modifications which are made
at the levels of phonology, vocabulary, morphology and syntax. The chapter argues for CDS functions to
facilitate language development, and discusses how socioeconomic status affects the amount and quality of
language children hear, and also, how these differences impact on language development. It also examines
the linguistic input that the child encounters and consider its role in facilitating language learning.
Chapter 5 considers how the child gets started on the task of language acquisition. The focus here is on infant
speech perception in the first year of life and show how the child breaks the sound barrier to discriminate
individual speech sounds and words. It goes on to say that even though the child does not produce much
recognizable language, the child’s knowledge of language expands enormously in the first year of life.
Chapter 6 looks at the kinds of words that children first learn. It also touches upon a common kind of error
– overextension – in which words are used with too wide a scope. Moreover, the chapter talks about the
three possible causes of overextensions; a category error (misclassification of an object), a pragmatic error
(expediency determines the word chosen), and a memory failure (the wrong word is retrieved) .it also
investigate the so-called vocabulary spurt and consider explanations for the speed with which children learn
new words.
Chapter 7 moves on to morphology and considers how research has informed our understanding of the
representation of language in the mind. It describes three different ways of constructing complex words
from morphemes: inflection, derivation, and compounding, and examines how the child acquires these three
processes.
Chapter 8 describes the concept of Universal Grammar (UG) and the main arguments in favor of the idea that it
is innate. It also discusses the problem of linguistic diversity, and talks about two approaches to this problem:
core UG versus peripheral, language-specific aspects of grammar, and parameters: according to which
UG does allow for some variation among languages. The chapter develops an awareness that arguments
in favor of UG rest largely on the assumption that the child’s linguistic environment is impoverished: the
information it supplies is too meagre to explain the rich knowledge of grammar that every typical child
attains. Furthermore, this chapter describes one of Chomsky’s best-known examples of a property of grammar
(structure dependence) that we all seem to acquire despite limited experience.
Chapter 9 illustrates what is currently the most prominent non-nativist alternative: Usage-based theory.
Human beings are intelligent creatures, capable of acquiring all manner of skills and knowledge. It
asserts some of the critical factors in infant social communication that are said to underpin later language
development. These include the child’s use of pointing and the emergence of collaborative engagement
in pursuit of a shared goal. The chapter also evaluates usage-based research on the child’s earliest speech
output, with its focus on entire utterances, rather than individual words. The syntactic categories witnessed
in adult language are said to emerge only gradually, as the result of the child’s experience with language. It
also touches on the progression towards syntax from early, lexically specific, structures through to broad
syntactic generalizations which permit the child to be linguistically productive, and gives a clear picture on
the problems raised in explaining child productivity.
Chapter 10 provides the readers with a review of facts and ideas presented in the preceding nine chapters.
In so doing, the abiding theme of nature and nurture is adopted as a framework for discussion. It claims
that at the end of this chapter the reader will have a good grasp of some of the basic facts of child language
acquisition, having organized them on a timeline. It looks at some of the fundamental challenges facing
both nativist and non-nativist theories of child language. With regard to the non-nativist position it describes
the notion of a domain-general learning mechanism. It is unlikely that any learning mechanism is truly
domain general and, moreover, it is likely that several learning mechanisms may be required to help account
for language acquisition. In the nativist case, it tells us that language-learning mechanisms are required,
irrespective of whether the child is genetically endowed with Universal Grammar.
As mentioned before, a theme running through the book is the nature-nurture debate, rekindled in the
modern era by Noam Chomsky, with his belief that the child is born with a rich knowledge of language
(Chomsky, 2012). This book is rare in its balanced presentation of evidence from both sides of the nature-
nurture divide. Moreover, the reader is encouraged to adopt a critical stance throughout and weigh up the
evidence for themselves.
Key features for the student include:
• boxes and exercises to foster an understanding of key concepts in language and linguistics;
• a glossary of key terms; suggestions for further reading;
Applied Linguistics Research Journal, 3(1),61-63 3

• a list of useful websites at the end of each chapter;

• discussion points for use in class;
• and separate author and subject indexes.

Any book that goes into a second edition is clearly getting most things right , but it seems to me that
several areas touched on in this book invite further clarification. Moreover, the book seeks to cover a lot of
grounds, and this presents some challenges. For example, some areas in child language acquisition which
are taken for granted in books addressing the child language, are not mentioned in this volume. The notion
of modularity, which I think, deserves at least a definition in such books, is totally forgotten. Another area
which is not addressed is Piaget developmental growth, which, at least to me, is among the needed parts
of every book in the area of first language acquisition. Another untouched area throughout this edition is
Vygotsky sociocultural theory and the valuable notions of zone of proximal development and scaffolding.
Furthermore, Neurolinguistics and the neurons’ behaviors and functions in learning is also not mentioned
in this book. Finally, as Friederici and Thierry (2008) put it, in recently published books in the field, both
behavioral and electrophysiological measures should be used to investigate early language development,
but this topic is not provided in this volume, too.
Nevertheless, this book represents a provocative, wide-ranging, and welcome contribution to the field of first
or child language acquisition.

References:
Bavin, E. (2009). The Cambridge handbook of child language. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.
org/10.1017/CBO9780511576164
Chomsky, N. (2012). The science of language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/
CBO9781139061018
Friederici, A. D. & Thierry, G. (2008). Early language development. John Benjamins Publishing. https://doi.
org/10.1075/tilar.5