2020-21 Academic Catalog

Humans are unique among animals in that we attain native speaker competency in any language(s) we receive a sufficient amount of exposure to during the right time of our development. The path of first language acquisition is remarkably stable regardless of the language(s) being acquired, and yields insights into the nature of human language. In this course, we explore children's capacity to acquire language, with a focus on its implications for linguistic theory. Topics include acquisition of phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics, and acquisition in extraordinary circumstances. Prerequisite: 100-level linguistics course