First Verbs: A Case Study of Early Grammatical Development - Hardcover

Tomasello, Michael

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521374960 ISBN 13: 9780521374965

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1992

Synopsis

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.

About this title

Book Description

During the second year of his daughter's life, Michael Tomasello kept a detailed diary of her language, creating a rich database. He made a careful study of how she acquired her first verbs and analysed the role that verbs played in her early grammatical development.

Review

"...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

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521374960
• ISBN 13: 9780521374965
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 384