Synopses & Reviews
In this important volume, Lois Bloom brings together her original theoretical and empirical work on early lexical development. She examines the expressive power children acquire as they begin to talk and analyzes their cognitive development, affect expression, and the social context for making the transition from prelinguistic expression to the expression of contents of mind.
Review
"...its thoroughness and its elegant intertwining of empirical results and theoretical arguments make it essential reading for graduate students and faculty in the field of first language acquisition and in any relevant subfields of psychology, philosophy, and education." L. Bebout, Choice"...proposes an interactive model of language development--interactive in her scheme both because the child's situation in a social context is essential and because language development is essentially related to cognitive and affective capacities....an important step forward in the attempt to account for early word learning from the perspective of real children faced with the task of acquiring and using a language." Marilyn Shatz, Science"...its thoroughness and its elegant intertwining of empirical results and theoretical arguments make it essential reading for graduate students and faculty in the field of first language acquisition and in any relevant subfields of psychology, philosophy, and education." L. Bebout, Choice"...the latest contribution from a distinguished scholar." TES
Table of Contents
Part I. Theory and Background: 1. The power of expression; 2. Representation and expression; 3. The emergent infant; 4. The expressive infant; 5. The transition to language; Part II. From Nine Months to Two Years: 6. Translation from theory to method; 7. Developments in expression; 8. Developments in affect expression; 9. Developments in word learning; 10. Developments in cognition; 11. Meaning and expression.