Children's Language: Revised Edition

Ray Cattell is Emeritus Professor of Linguistics at the University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.

• 1. Getting to rub two words together; 2. Catching fire; 3. Do we teach children to speak: Skinner and behaviourism; 4. Learning through touching and feeling: Jean Piaget; 5. What goes on in the mind?: Mentalism and Chomsky; 6. A close look at Chomsky's theories; 7. Do we help children to speak; 8. Learning how to mean: Halliday; 9. The two hemispheres of the brain - A; 10. The two hemispheres of the brain - B; 11. The bounds of language acquisition; 12. Animals and language; 13. Bootstrapping - A; 14. Bootstrapping - B; 15. The best of both worlds? Annette Karmiloff-Smith; 16. Conclusion Glossary.

"Views about the nature of language acquisition differ dramatically, and it is not easy for the uninitiated non-specialist to gain a general overview of the field and the different views and perspectives held by various researchers in the field. Cattell's Children's Language: Consensus and Controversy meets this need and provides a welcome introduction to this very important field. It is well-written, cogent and easy to follow, and does an outstanding job of introducing some very complex topics in a readily-understandable manner. Highly recommended for general readers and undergraduate students." Choice"