The Child's Path to Spoken Language
Progressing gradually from babbling to meaningful sentences is something most babies do naturally. But why do they? John 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. A major synthesis of the latest research on early language acquisition, this volume revises the way we understand ourselves and our approach to speech. 1. A Biolinguistic Approach to Language Development -- 2. Faces and Voices: The Perceptual Path to Spoken Communication -- 3. The Social Capacity for Spoken Language -- 4. Vocal Communication and Vocal Learning -- 5. The Infant Becomes Articulate -- 6. The Neural Specialization for Linguistic Communication -- 7. Development of the Neural Capacity for Linguistic Communication -- 8. The Urge to Convey and the Capacity for Reference -- 9. Development of Spoken Language -- 10. Other Paths: The Neurobiology of Linguistic Variation -- 11. Reflections on the Path to Language
