Also available in electronic format through Cambridge Core, publisher's institutional platform.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 270-307) and indexes.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of figures

List of tables

List of contributors

Preface

Introduction: Beginning from Baby Talk: twenty years of research on input in interaction / Catherine E. Snow 1. Introduction
2. A modest beginning
3. Future possibilities
4. Conclusion

Part I: General Issues

1) The language of primary caregivers / Julian M. Pine
1. Introduction
2. Why is CDS used?
3. Effects and non-effects of CDS
4. How is CDS used by the child?
5. CDS and stylistic differences in early language development
6. Conclusion

2) The changing role of negative evidence in theories of language development / Jeffrey L. Sokolov and Catherine E. Snow
1. Historical origins
2. The paving of the nativist road
3. Parallel roads: nativist and empiricist accounts
4. The empiricist road upgraded
5. The existence of implicit negative evidence
6. Beyond the existence proof: the effects of negative evidence
7. Issues in defining negative evidence
8. A multiple factors framework
9. Robust learning mechanisms
10. Functional readiness for learning
11. Benefits of a multiple factors framework

3) Crosslinguistic and crosscultural aspects of language addressed to children / Elena V. M. Lieven
1. Introduction
2. The range of environments in which language is learned
3. Language socialization
4. Issues and problems in studying input crosslinguistically
5. Conclusions

4) Child-directed speech and influences on language acquisition: methodology and interpretation / Brian J. Richards
1. Introduction
2. Child-directed speech and individual differences: the universals fallacy
3. Inferring causation
4. The nature of the evidence for environmental effects
5. Passive observation studies using correlational statistics
6. Experimental designs in language acquisition research
7. Conclusion

Part II: Specific Aspects of Input and Interaction

5) The rest of the family: the role of fathers and siblings in early language development / Michelle E. Barton and Michael Tomasello
1. Introduction
2. Fathers
3. Siblings
4. The child's expanding social world

6) Phonetic and prosodic aspects of Baby Talk / Alan Cruttenden
1. Introduction
2. Baby Talk phonetics
3. Baby Talk prosody
4. Facilitation
5. Fine-tuning
6. Crosslinguistic variation
7. Summary and conclusion

7) Language learning at home and school / Peter Geekie and Bridie Raban
1. The structure of classroom discourse
2. Classroom discourse and the development of meaning
3. Language and learning at school and home
4. Vygotsky: sign operations and cognitive development
5. Bruner and the Language Acquisition Support System
6. Comprehension and learning in young children
7. The nature of Geekie's study
8. Becoming competent participants in the writing session
9. Learning to write
10. Conclusions

Part III: Types of Language Learner

8) Language interaction with atypical language learners / Gina Conti-Ramsden
1. Introduction
2. Atypical language learners
3. Parent-child interaction
4. Semantically contingent responses
5. Directiveness and control
6. Intervention and parent-child interaction
7. Under-researched areas
8. Concluding remarks

9) Interaction and childhood deafness / Clare Gallaway and Bencie Woll
1. Introduction
2. Interaction and the acquisition of spoken language by deaf children
3. Sign language development
4. Acquiring language in the absence of input
5. Conclusions

10) Input and interaction in second language acquisition / Marjorie Bingham Wesche
1. Introduction

2. Typology of modified codes
3. The nature of linguistic and interactional modifications in Foreigner Discourse
4. Other kinds of language input to learners
5. Theoretical perspectives on the role of the linguistic environment in second language acquisition
6. Current research
7. Conclusions

Conclusion

Conclusions and directions / Brian J. Richards and Clare Gallaway
1. Introduction
2. Describing child-directed speech
3. Functions of child-directed speech
4. Implications for professionals

References

Author Index

Subject Index

"Language addressed to children, or 'Baby Talk' became the subject of research interest thirty years ago. Since then, the linguistic environment of infants and toddlers has been widely studied. Input and Interaction in Language Acquisition is an up-to-date statement of the facts and controversies surrounding 'Baby Talk', its nature and likely effects. With contributions from leading linguists and psychologists, it explores language acquisition in different cultures and family contexts, in typical and atypical learners, and in second and foreign language learners. It is designed as a sequel to the now famous Talking to Children, edited by Catherine Snow and Charles Ferguson, and Professor Snow here provides an introduction, comparing issues of importance in the field today with the previous concerns of researchers." (Book Cover)