Introduction

As we saw in chapter 2, unless children can “say what they mean” and “mean what they say” they have not acquired language. Children must bring all their computational power for syntax and phonology to bear on the expression and comprehension of a potentially infinite set of thoughts, beliefs, hopes and desires. In formal terms, the Language Faculty must include a “conceptual interface” (figure 2.1). Our investigation must include semantics: the study of meaning which is linguistically encoded. It must include study of how children link cognitive concepts and ideas (both their own and those of others) to those meanings which are linguistically coded. This linking requires “powerful inferential capabilities” involving pragmatics, the study of language use. (Carston 2002 provides overview.)

Meanings are not provided by the environment (chapter 3); children must create them. Unlike the acquisition of syntax and phonology, the acquisition of the semantic dimension of language knowledge will continue throughout life (see appendix 6 for summary of developmental milestones).

What must children acquire?

Children must:

(A) Discover the units, not only breaking the speech stream into words, e.g., (1), but interpreting them. Although (1) is parsed into units, and it isolates potential words in (a) and words and functional categories in (b), it remains meaningless.