Language acquisition is a contentious field of research occupied by cognitive and developmental psychologists, linguists, philosophers, and biologists. Perhaps the key component to understanding how language is mastered is explaining word acquisition. At twelve months, an infant learns new words slowly and laboriously; but at twenty months, he or she acquires an average of ten new words per day. How can we explain this phenomenal change? A theory of word acquisition deepens our understanding of the nature of language but also provides real insight into the workings of the developing mind. This book presents competing word acquisition theories that have emerged in the past decade. Each theory is presented by the researcher. The book provides introductory and summary chapters to help assess each theoretical model.
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