Language acquisition: A psycholinguistic approach
Course description:
One of the most fascinating questions in linguistics and psychology is how children learn language. The vast majority of children master the complex system of language at a very early age, doing so effortlessly and without direct instruction. This class will take a psycholinguistic approach to language acquisition and will cover topics in experimental methodologies in babies, infants and children, major theoretical approaches to language acquisition, and the development of various levels of language representations. We will focus on typical first language acquisition; however we will also explore issues in second language acquisition, sign languages and developmental language disorders.
Class requirements: students will present a paper or two in class, as well as conduct an experiment with a child.
Class prerequisites: experimental methods in psycholinguistics