Child Second Language Acquisition; A bi-directional study of English and Italian tense-aspect morphology (Studies in Bilingualism)

Based on the author's doctoral dissertation--University of Edinburgh, 2003. "As one of the first books in child second language acquisition (SLA), this book focuses on the core area of tense-aspect morphology, reporting on three L[subscript 1]-Italian children learning L[subscript 2] English vs. three L[subscript 1]-English children learning L[subscript 2] Italian. An innovative longitudinal/bidirectional research design, where two languages represent both source and target, show effects of language transfer in learners that, because of their age, still have potential to become native-speakers of the target. An unusual feature of this book is that relevant studies of acquisition of L[subscript 2] Italian, some heretofore only in Italian, are reviewed, incorporated into the study and made available to a more general audience. Though the main focus is on child SLA, crucial comparisons to both first language acquisition vs. adult SLA are presented. This approach will thus be of interest more generally to readers in first and second language acquisition and child development."--BOOK JACKET Child Second Language Acquisition......Page 2 Editorial page......Page 3 Title page......Page 4 LCC data......Page 5 Dedication......Page 6 Table of contents......Page 8 Acknowledgements......Page 10 LIST OF TABLES......Page 12 LIST OF FIGURES......Page 14 ABBREVIATIONS......Page 16 INTRODUCTION......Page 18 1. THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO TENSE-ASPECT......Page 22 2. THE ACQUISITION OF TENSE-ASPECT MORPHOLOGY......Page 72 3. METHODOLOGICAL PROCEDURES......Page 118 4. ANALYSES AND RESULTS......Page 136 5. GENERAL DISCUSSION......Page 228 CONCLUSION......Page 238 REFERENCES......Page 242 SUBJECT INDEX......Page 254 The series Studies in Bilingualism......Page 258