The Lexicon in Acquisition (Cambridge Studies in Linguistics, Series Number 65)

Eve Clark argues for the centrality of the lexicon in language and language acquisition. She looks at the hypotheses children draw on about possible word meanings, and how they map their meanings onto forms. Starting with children's emerging knowledge of conventional words and meanings, she takes up their growing knowledge of word structure as reflected in their formation of new words. The Lexicon in Acquisition synthesizes Professor Clark's widely respected work in the field, and will interest linguists, psychologists, and cognitive scientists. Without Words, Children Can't Talk About People, Places, Things, Actions, Relations, Or States, And They Have No Grammatical Rules. Without Words, There Would Be No Sound Structure, No Word Structure, And No Syntax. The Lexicon Is Central In Language, And In Language Acquisition. Eve Clark Argues For This Centrality And For The General Principles Of Conventionality And Contrast At The Core Of Language Acquisition. She Looks At The Hypotheses Children Draw On About Possible Word Meanings, And How They Map Their Meanings Onto Forms. Starting With Children's Emerging Knowledge Of Conventional Words And Their Meanings, She Then Takes Up Their Growing Knowledge Of Word Structure As Reflected In Their Formation Of New Words. The Lexicon In Acquisition Is Unusual In Dealing With Data From A Large Variety Of Languages, In Its Emphasis On The General Principles Children Rely On As They Analyse Complex Word-forms And In The Broad Perspective It Takes On Lexical Acquisition. --from Publisher's Description. The Lexicon: Words Old And New -- The Lexicon -- Acquiring A Lexicon -- Lexical Acquisition -- Early Lexical Development -- First Words -- Early Words And Semantic Fields -- First Meanings -- Word Class And Word Structure -- The Mapping Problem -- Ontological Categories -- Conceptual Constraints -- Lexical Constraints -- Conventionality And Contrast -- Conventionality -- Contrast -- Pragmatic Principles And Acquisition -- Conventionality -- Contrast -- Morphology And Allomorphy -- Transparency And Simplicity -- Complex Words -- Types Of Mapping -- Transparency Of Meaning -- Simplicity Of Form -- Productivity -- Structure-based Models Of Productivity -- Norm-based Models Of Productivity -- Function-based Models Of Productivity -- Contemporary Preferences -- Productivity In Acquisition -- Case Studies Of Lexical Innovation -- Words For Things -- English -- Other Germanic Languages -- More Words For Things -- Romance -- Slavic -- Two More Languages -- Words For Agents And Instruments -- English -- Icelandic -- Hebrew -- French And Italian -- Words For Actions -- New Verbs In English -- Other Germanic Languages -- Romance And Slavic -- Two More Languages -- Words For Undoing Actions -- Undoing In English -- Undoing In German -- Undoing In Other Languages -- Issues For Acquisition -- Lexical Acquisition -- Production Does Not Equal Comprehension -- Representing Linguistic Knowledge -- Structure Versus Process -- Coda. Eve V. Clark. Includes Bibliographical References And Indexes. Without words, children can't talk about people, places, things, actions, relations, or states, and they have no grammatical rules. Without words, there would be no sound structure, no word structure, and no syntax. The lexicon is central in language, and in language acquisition. Eve Clark argues for this centrality and for the general principles of conventionality and contrast at the core of language acquisition. She looks at the hypotheses children draw on about possible word meanings, and how they map their meanings on to forms. The book is unusual in dealing with data from a wide variety of languages, in its emphasis on the general principles children rely on as they analyse complex word forms, and in the broad perspective it takes on lexical acquisition Frontmatter Acknowledgments (page xi) 1 The lexicon: words old and new (page 1) 1 LEXICAL ACQUISITION (page 19) 2 Early lexical development (page 21) 3 The mapping problem (page 43) 4 Conventionality and contrast (page 67) 5 Pragmatic principles and acquisition (page 84) 6 Transparency and simplicity (page 109) 7 Productivity (page 126) 2 CASE STUDIES OF LEXICAL INNOVATION (page 141) 8 Words for things (page 143) 9 More words for things (page 160) 10 Words for agents and instruments (page 177) 11 Words for actions (page 198) 12 Words for undoing actions (page 219) 3 CONCLUSION (page 239) 13 Issues for acquisition (page 241) Bibliography (page 260) Index of names (page 293) Index of subjects (page 299)