First Verbs: A Case Study of Early Grammatical Development

by Michael Tomasello

Overview

First Verbs is a detailed diary study of one child's earliest language development during her second year of life. Using a Cognitive Linguistics framework, the author focuses on how his daughter acquired her first verbs, and the role verbs played in her early grammatical development. The author argues that many of a child's first grammatical structures are tied to individual verbs, and that earliest language is based on general cognitive and social-cognitive processes, especially event structures and cultural learning.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521034517
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	12/14/2006
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	5.94(w) x 8.94(h) x 0.87(d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments; 1. Introduction; 2. In the beginning was the verb; 3. Methods and an introduction to T's language; 4. Change of state verbs and sentences; 5. Activity verbs and sentences; 6. Other grammatical structures; 7. The development of T's verb lexicon; 8. The development of T's grammar; 9. Language acquisition as cultural learning; References; Appendix; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"...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

From the Publisher