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This book provides a state of the art review of key developmental findings across phonological, morphological, syntactic, and semantic aspects of language acquisition. It places language acquisition phenomena in a richly comparative context, highlighting the link between linguistic theory, language development, and theories of learning.

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In this handbook, renowned scholars from a range of backgrounds provide a state of the art review of key developmental findings in language acquisition. The book places language acquisition phenomena in a richly linguistic and comparative context, highlighting the link between linguistic theory, language development, and theories of learning.

The book is divided into six parts. Parts I and II examine the acquisition of phonology and morphology respectively, with chapters covering topics such as phonotactics and syllable structure, prosodic phenomena, compound word formation, and processing continuous speech. Part III moves on to the acquisition of syntax, including argument structure, questions, mood alternations, and possessives. In Part IV, chapters consider semantic aspects of language acquisition, including the expression of
genericity, quantification, and scalar implicature. Finally, Parts V and VI look at theories of learning and aspects of atypical language development respectively.

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Jeffrey Lidz is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Maryland, having previously held positions at Northwestern University, the University of Pennsylvania, CNRS Paris, and the University of Delaware. His main research interests are in language acquisition, syntax, and psycholinguistics and his many publications include articles in Language Acquisition, Language Learning and Development, Language, Linguistic Inquiry, and
Natural Language Semantics, as well as chapters in numerous edited volumes.

William Snyder is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Connecticut. His current research topics include argument structure (datives, resultatives, particles, path phrases), A- and A-bar movement (passives, reflexive-clitic constructions, P-stranding, comparatives), compound words, and syllable structure. A past editor of the journal Language Acquisition: A Journal of Developmental Linguistics, Snyder is author of Child Language: The Parametric Approach (OUP 2007).


Joe Pater is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Massachusetts. His work explores phonological theory and acquisition and has been published in journals including Phonology, Linguistic Inquiry, and Natural Language and Linguistic Theory. His current research focuses on the use of weighted constraints for the modelling of phonology and its learning.

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