Language Acquisition: The Growth of Grammar (review)

This excellent new book (intended for upper undergraduates, graduates, and researchers) provides the most comprehensive and up-to-date textbook account currently available of generative research into first language acquisition (particularly the acquisition of syntax) by monolingual children. It is well presented (with sections and subsections clearly laid out) and written in a readable style.

The book includes an introductory chapter on the nature of language acquisition and further chapters on the development of phonological perception and production by infants (Ch. 2) and the acquisition of the lexicon (Ch. 3), of syntax (clause structure, null subjects, A-bar movement and A-movement: Chs. 4–7), of binding (Ch. 8), of quantification (Ch. 9), and of control (Ch. 10). The final chapter deals with dissociation between language and other cognitive capacities in children with specific language impairment or Williams syndrome. At the end of each chapter is a list of key terms, together with (in the case of Chs. 2–11) suggestions for further reading and a set of study questions. At the end of the book, there are thirteen pages of notes on the various chapters. Material throughout the book is drawn from a range of (mainly European) languages such as English, Dutch, French, Italian, and German.

The theoretical and descriptive framework adopted in the chapters dealing with syntax is that of Chomsky’s principles-and-parameters theory (PPT) and subsequent work based on versions of the minimalist program (MP) (Chomsky 1995). The material is well written, well exemplified, well argued, and technically competent. Overall, the book is an impressive piece of scholarship that provides an up-to-date and well-informed account of a wide range of acquisition phenomena, with extensive references to published material (as can be seen from the fact that it contains a thirty-eight-page bibliography). There is quite simply no other work that provides as authoritative an account of PPT/MP-based research into the acquisition of syntax by monolingual first-language learners.

Inevitably, given the technical complexity of PPT and MP, the chapters on the acquisition of syntax are demanding in terms of the level of technical competence that is assumed. In order to follow some of the theory-specific argumentation, readers require knowledge of the X-bar schema and the syntax of AgrP, NegP and split CP projections, overt and covert movement, quantifier raising, feature checking, a range of parameters (e.g. the verb-second parameter), binding (e.g. A-bar binding of variables), weak and strong crossover, theta theory, A-chains, and so on. While many of these topics are covered in recent introductory syntax textbooks such as Carnie 2002, Adger 2003, and Radford 2004, by no means all are—and some of the material in the book requires familiarity with earlier work in syntax for which a textbook like Haegeman 1994 would be more appropriate. Moreover, some familiarity with aspects of the morphosyntax of a range of European languages is also needed if readers are to follow the discussion of the acquisition of French, German, Italian, and so forth. The book does contain a glossary of technical terms, but this is skimpy (only five pages long) and provides no entry for numerous technical terms (e.g. variable) that are central to understanding some of the material covered in the book. What all of this means is that teachers may have their work cut out for them in ensuring that students have the necessary technical background to follow the book.

The relatively technical nature of some of the discussion in the book could make it a daunting prospect for undergraduates. A colleague who adopted the book as a recommended text for an undergraduate course on child language acquisition last year found in the end-of-year examination that almost all students avoided questions related to the core syntax chapters, instead choosing to answer questions on the nature of acquisition (using the relatively nontechnical material in Ch. 1), on connectionism, and on bilingual acquisition...