The seventh edition of The Development of Language, written and contributed by leading researchers, covers language acquisition and development from infancy through adulthood.

This authoritative text is ideal for courses that take a developmental approach to language acquisition across the full life span, from infancy through the aging process. The text thoroughly explores syntax, morphology, semantics, phonology, and pragmatics. It examines atypical development with attention to the most common disorders affecting language acquisition, presents strong coverage of individual differences in language acquisition and learning, describes how and why they occur, and provides contemporary references and the most recent research findings. The panel of expert authors provides students with cutting-edge research knowledge in an interesting and highly readable format. The goal is the best and most up-to-date information for the student, with guides for further exploration of topics of interest.

The emphasis on change over the life span is even more important to students from all fields, since it reinforces current developments in cognitive neuroscience that indicate language, once acquired, is not static, but rather, undergoes constant neural reorganization.

Table of Contents
1 The development of language : an overview and a preview 1
2 Communication development in infancy 39
3 Phonological development : learning sounds and sound patterns 62
4 Semantic development : learning the meanings of words 112
5 Putting words together : morphology and syntax in the preschool years 148
6 Language in social contexts : communicative competence in the preschool years 191
7 Theoretical approaches to language acquisition 230
8 Individual differences : implications for the study of language acquisition 292
9 Atypical language development 324
10 Language and literacy in the school years 396
11 Developments in the adult years 444