Yonata Levy – författare

This unique, edited book bridges studies in language disorders and linguistic theory with timely contributions from leading scholars in language development. It presents an attempt to define Specific Language Impairment, relating it to children of normal and disordered language capabilities. The chapter presentations examine language development across a variety of populations of children, from those with Specific Language Impairment to second language learners. The contributors discuss criteria for the definition of SLI, compare and contrast SLI with profiles of children with other disorders and dialects, and offer a comprehensive look at the Whole Human Language, which ties together spoken and signed languages. Methodological concerns that affect the credibility and generalizability of the findings are discussed and controversies between opposing linguistic approaches to language acquisition are presented. The conceptual thread that gradually reveals itself as the chapters unfold is a theoretical issue of central importance to cognitive theory, as well as to our understanding of the biological correlates of language--it concerns the variability that linguistic competence can manifest in children under different biological conditions and life circumstances.Language Competence Across Populations: Toward a Definition of Specific Language Impairment is an essential volume for advanced students and scholars in linguistics and psychology who have an interest in language acquisition and language disorders, as well as for the clinical professionals dealing with children with language impairments.

This volume investigates the implications of the study of populations other than educated, middle-class, normal children and languages other than English on a universal theory of language acquisition. Because the authors represent different theoretical orientations, their contributions permit the reader to appreciate the full spectrum of language acquisition research. Emphasis is placed on the principle ways in which data from pathology and from a variety of languages may affect universal statements. The contributors confront some of the major theoretical issues in acquisition.

Understanding how a child acquires his or her native tongue is one of the major unsolved mysteries of psychology. Categories and Processes in Language Acquisition, originally published in 1988, and as the title indicates is about the acquisition of linguistic categories, and about the child’s learning processes. The categories of concern are those that are manifest in structure, i.e., other than simply as word meanings. The book begins with a chapter on the earliest nonlexical categories for which there is evidence. Then there are several chapters on word classes and the acquisition of relational categories, followed by papers that discuss models of the child’s learning mechanism. Finally, there is an integrative concluding chapter by two of the editors. Today it can be read in its historical context.