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First language development: a usage-based perspective on past and current research*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 July 2014

ELENA LIEVEN
ELENA LIEVEN*
Affiliation:
School of Psychological Sciences, University of Manchester
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Abstract

I first outline three major developments in child language research over the past forty years: the use of computational modelling to reveal the structure of information in the input; the focus on quantifying productivity and abstraction; and developments in the explanation of systematic errors. Next, I turn to what I consider to be major outstanding issues: how the network of constructions builds up and the relationship between social and cognitive development and language learning. Finally, I briefly consider a number of other areas of importance to a psychologically realistic understanding of children's language development.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 41 , Issue S1: Reflections: 40 years of JCL , July 2014 , pp. 48 - 63
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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Footnotes

[*]

Address for correspondence: Elena Lieven, School of Psychological Sciences, University of Manchester, M13 9PL, UK. e-mail: elena.lieven@manchester.ac.uk

References

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