The Child's Path to Spoken Language

by John L. Locke

Overview

Progressing gradually from babbling to meaningful sentences is something most babies do naturally. But why do they? John L. Locke’s answer constitutes a fascinating journey along the path of language development, a tour that takes in all the stops—neurological and perceptual, social and linguistic—that mark the way to intelligible speech. A major synthesis of the latest research on early language acquisition, this volume revises the way we understand ourselves and our approach to speech.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674116399
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	09/24/1995
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	536
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

John L. Locke is Lecturer on Neurology, Harvard Medical School. He is Director of the Neurolinguistics Laboratory and of the Graduate Program in Communication Sciences and Disorders at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Table of Contents

A Biolinguistic Approach to Language Development

Faces and Voices: The Perceptual Path to Spoken Communication

The Social Capacity for Spoken Language

Vocal Communication and Vocal Learning

The Infant Becomes Articulate

The Neural Specialization for Linguistic Communication

Development of the Neural Capacity for Linguistic Communication

The Urge to Convey and the Capacity for Reference

Development of Spoken Language

Other Paths: The Neurobiology of Linguistic Variation

Reflections on the Path to Language

References

Credits

Index

Editorial Reviews

John Locke attempts to bring together a wide range of findings from infancy research in order to explore links between early development and the emergence of language…[and] provides authoritative and extremely clear summaries of relevant research… Locke has gone a good way towards charting the territory of a very important area and it is an essential read for those who are concerned with development in infancy.

British Journal of Developmental Psychology - Margaret Harris

In a fascinating, scholarly and clearly written account, [Locke] takes us to the brink of language proper by examining its perceptual, social, neural and cognitive precursors from before birth to the appearance of the first recognizable words.

Nature - Paul Fletcher

Locke reminds us that language learning occurs in the very real context of physical and social maturation and that children are neither little linguists nor experimental subjects in the laboratory. Researchers approaching the problem of language acquisition from different perspectives should welcome his contribution.

Science - Nan Bernstein Ratner

John Locke attempts to bring together a wide range of findings from infancy research in order to explore links between early development and the emergence of language...[and] provides authoritative and extremely clear summaries of relevant research...Locke has gone a good way towards charting the territory of a very important area and it is an essential read for those who are concerned with development in infancy.
— Margaret Harris

British Journal of Developmental Psychology

Locke reminds us that language learning occurs in the very real context of physical and social maturation and that children are neither little linguists nor experimental subjects in the laboratory. Researchers approaching the problem of language acquisition from different perspectives should welcome his contribution.
— Nan Bernstein Ratner

Science

In a fascinating, scholarly and clearly written account, [Locke] takes us to the brink of language proper by examining its perceptual, social, neural and cognitive precursors from before birth to the appearance of the first recognizable words.
— Paul Fletcher

Nature