The Development of Language

Combining the contributions of experts and highly-respected researchers, the eighth edition of Language Development offers a definitive exploration of language acquisition and development from infancy through adulthood.

Taking a multi-disciplinary approach, it examines what we know about language development—addressing communication development in infancy, phonological development, semantic development, morphology and syntax. Broadening the scope of study, it puts language development into larger biological, social and cultural contexts, while investigating individual differences, atypical development, literacy and even language development in adults. This edition includes more on cross-linguistic language acquisition (emphasizing Spanish), new research on the nature and treatment of language disorders in children, and new perspectives on the impact of culture on language development and variation.

Jean Berko Gleason, PhD. is one of the world’s leading experts on children’s language and one of the founding mothers of the field of psycholinguistics. She created the famous Wug Test, which reveals how children learn the rules of language, such as how to make singular words plural. Her current work investigates parents’ speech and the interactive nature of language acquisition.  She is the author of leading textbooks in her field and many influential studies of aphasia, language development, gender differences in language, and language in the Roma community in Hungary. Dr. Berko Gleason is Professor Emerita in the department of psychology at Boston University.  A member of the Academy of Aphasia, she is past president of the International Association for the Study of Child Language and of the Gypsy Lore Society.  Her work is frequently cited in the professional literature, and has been featured in the popular media. She is profiled in the PBS online Nova Science Now series The Secret Life of Scientists.

Nan Bernstein Ratner, Ed.D., C.C.C. is Professor and Chair, Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, University of Maryland at College Park. Dr. Bernstein Ratner is the editor of numerous volumes, and author of numerous chapters and articles addressing language acquisition and fluency in children. Many of her research reports can be found in the Journal of Speech and Hearing Research and other major journals, with chapters in major texts on child speech and language development. With Jean Berko Gleason, Dr. Bernstein Ratner is the author of the text Psycholinguistics as well as prior editions of Language Development.  Dr. Bernstein Ratner currently serves as Co-editor of Seminars in Speech and Language. In 1996, Dr. Ratner was made a fellow of the American Speech Language and Hearing Association. In 2006, she was presented with the Distinguished Researcher Award by the International Fluency Association.