Pathways to Language: From Fetus to Adolescent

by Kyra Karmiloff, Annette Karmiloff-Smith

Our journey to language begins before birth, as babies in the womb hear clearly enough to distinguish their mother's voice. Canvassing a broad span of experimental and theoretical approaches, this book introduces new ways of looking at language development.

A remarkable mother-daughter collaboration, Pathways to Language balances the respected views of a well-known scholar with the fresh perspective of a younger colleague prepared to challenge current popular positions in these debates. The result is an unusually subtle, even-handed, and comprehensive overview of the theory and practice of language acquisition, from fetal speech processing to the development of child grammar to the sophisticated linguistic accomplishments of adolescence, such as engaging in conversation and telling a story.

With examples from the real world as well as from the psychology laboratory, Kyra Karmiloff and Annette Karmiloff-Smith look in detail at the way language users appropriate words and grammar. They present in-depth evaluations of different theories of language acquisition. They show how adolescent usage has changed the meaning of certain phrases, and how modern living has led to alterations in the lexicon. They also consider the phenomenon of atypical language development, as well as theoretical issues of nativism and empiricism and the specificity of human language. Their nuanced and open-minded approach allows readers to survey the complexity and breadth of the fascinating pathways to language acquisition.

Genres: Nonfiction, Linguistics, Psychology, Academic

274 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 15, 2001

Reviews

[Marina Hurt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had higher expectations, I must admit.

[Lyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a great read if you are interested in the prenatal development of infant's linguistic capabilities. Although that sentence may sound as though it drips with sarcasm, it does not. The book lends itself more to the academic fields of Psychology and Cognitive Development, but also is packed with information that may concern parents, or parents to be.

I recommend this book especially for men during the process of maternal pregnancy. It offers a solid knowledge of what is happening beyond the emotions and feelings of development and provides a good course of action on why the external environment is so important and not merely how.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I ran out of time on my library loan on this and had to give it back when I was only about half-way through. It was extremely technical, which was a bit challenging considering my meager background in linguistics, but was really good at laying out the developments (and arguments) involved in understand how we learn language.

[Lina]

I have certainly read better non-fiction uni-books. There's an excessive use of difficult words, and the lack of singular "they" which annoyed me to no end. Hopefully with having read this, I'll be able to pass my exam without too much crying.

[Shin Tan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good developmental review of language