Acquiring Linguistic Constructions

This chapter is about how young children master the use of a language, with a focus on grammatical constructions. Major theories of language acquisition are presented, along with the basic facts of language development, from childrens' acquisition of simple grammatical constructions to complex constructions and discourse. Also covered are the language children hear, the acquisition of morphology, individual differences, and atypical development. Keywords: analogy; constructions; distribution learning; grammar; language acquisition; learning

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