Flexibility and productivity are hallmarks of human language use. Competent speakers have the capacity to use the words they know to serve a variety of communicative functions, to refer to new and varied exemplars of the categories to which words refer, and in new and varied combinations with other words. When and how children achieve this flexibility--and when they are truly productive language users--are central issues among accounts of language acquisition. The current study tests competing hypotheses of the achievement of flexibility and some kinds of productivity against data on...

Erika Hoff's LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT, 5th Edition communicates both the content and the excitement of this quickly evolving field. By presenting a balanced treatment that examines all sides of the issues, Hoff helps readers understand different theoretical points of view-- and the research processes that have lead theorists to their findings. After an overview and history of the field, Hoff thoroughly covers the biological bases of language development and the core topics of phonological, lexical, and syntactic development. She also provides in-depth discussions of the communicative foundations...

This is a comprehensive and accessible guide to the methods researchers use to study child language, written by experienced scholars in the study of language development.

• Presents a comprehensive survey of laboratory and naturalistic techniques used in the study of different domains of language, age ranges, and populations, and explains the questions addressed by each technique
• Presents new research methods, such as the use of functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) to study the activity of the brain
• Expands on more traditional research methods such as...