The Discovery of Spoken Language

The Discovery of Spoken Language marks one of the first efforts to integrate thefield of infant speech perception research into the general study of language acquisition. It fillsin a key part of the acquisition story by providing an extensive review of research on theacquisition of language during the first year of life, focusing primarily on how normally developinginfants learn the organization of native language sound patterns.Peter Jusczyk examines the initialcapacities that infants possess for discriminating and categorizing speech sounds and how thesecapacities evolve as infants gain experience with native language input. Jusczyk also looks at howinfants' growing knowledge of native language sound patterns may facilitate the acquisition of otheraspects of language organization and discusses the relationship between the learner's developingcapacities for perceiving and producing speech.

The book presents an excellent overview of the field and will certainly serve as an important source of reference for speech perception and language acquisition researchers. At the same time, it contains many fascinating theoretical insights into the operation of basic principles of development that have the potential to inspire future research within and beyond the area of speech perception.

This is a remarkable and important book. Jusczyk has composed a fine portrait of the infant listener and the many attempts to describe the beginnings of language. Thescope is comprehensive, and he has told the tale with rare style.