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This page intentionally left blank Child Language The remarkable way in which young children acquire lan- guagehaslongfascinatedlinguistsanddevelopmentalpsy- chologistsalike.Languageisaskillthatwehaveessentially masteredbytheageofthree,andwithincredibleeaseand speed, despite the complexity of the task. This accessible textbookintroducesthefieldofchildlanguageacquisition, exploring language development from birth into the early childhood years. Setting out the key theoretical debates, it considersquestionssuchaswhatcharacteristicsofthehuman mindmakeitpossibletoacquirelanguage;howfaracquisi- tionisbiologicallyprogrammedandhowfaritisinfluenced byourenvironment;whatmakessecondlanguagelearning (inadulthood)differentfromfirstlanguageacquisition;and whetherthespecificstagesinlanguagedevelopmentareuni- versalacrosslanguages.Clearandcomprehensive,itissetto becomeakeytextforallcoursesinchildlanguageacquisi- tion,withinlinguistics,developmentalpsychologyandcog- nitivescience. barbara lust isProfessorintheDepartmentofHuman Development,CornellUniversity.Shehascontributedtothe buildingofCornellUniversity’sLanguageAcquisitionLab, whichhasdevelopedarangeofmaterialsforthestudyoflan- guageacquisitioninmorethantwentylanguagesacrossthe world.Shehasalsobuiltaprogramofcoursesintheareaof languageacquisitionandcognitivedevelopment,whichare taught to students across Developmental Psychology, Lin- guistics,Psychology,andCognitiveStudies.Shehasprevi- ouslyco-edited,withClaireFoley,LanguageAcquisition:the EssentialReadings(2004). CAMBRIDGE TEXTBOOKS IN LINGUISTICS Generaleditors:p. austin, j. bresnan, b. comrie, s. crain, w. dressler, c. ewen, r. lass, d. lightfoot, k. rice, i. roberts, s. romaine, n.v. smith Child Language AcquisitionandGrowth Inthisseries: p. h. matthewsMorphologySecondedition b. comrieAspect r. m. kempsonSemanticTheory t. bynonHistoricalLinguistics j. allwood, l.-g. andersonando¨. dahlLogicinLinguistics d. b. fryThePhysicsofSpeech r. a. hudsonSociolinguisticsSecondedition a. j. elliotChildLanguage p. h. matthewsSyntax a. redfordTransformationalSyntax l. bauerEnglishWord-Formation s. c. levinsonPragmatics g. brownandg. yuleDiscourseAnalysis r. huddlestonIntroductiontotheGrammarofEnglish r. lassPhonology a. comrieTense w. kleinSecondLanguageAcquisition a. j. woods, p. fletcheranda. hughesStatisticsinLanguageStudies d. a. cruseLexicalSemantics a. radfordTransformationalGrammar m. garmanPsycholinguistics g. g. corbettGender h. j. giegerichEnglishPhonology r. cannFormalSemantics j. laverPrinciplesofPhonetics f. r. palmerGrammaticalRolesandRelations m. a. jonesFoundationsofFrenchSyntax a. radfordSyntacticTheoryandtheStructureofEnglish:AMinimalistApproach r. d. van valin, jr,andr. j. lapollaSyntax:Structure,MeaningandFunction a. durantiLinguisticAnthropology a. cruttendenIntonationSecondedition j. k. chambersandp. trudgillDialectologySecondedition c. lyonsDefiniteness r. kagerOptimalityTheory j. a. holmAnIntroductiontoPidginsandCreoles c. g. corbettNumber c. j. ewenandh. van der hulstThePhonologicalStructureofWords f. r. palmerMoodandModalitySecondedition b. j. blakeCaseSecondedition e. gussmanPhonology:AnalysisandTheory m. yipTone w. croftTypologyandUniversalsSecondedition f. coulmasWritingSystems:AnIntroductiontotheirLinguisticAnalysis p. j. hopperande. c. traugottGrammaticalizationSecondedition l. whiteSecondLanguageAcquisitionandUniversalGrammar i. plagWord-FormationinEnglish w. croftanda. cruseCognitiveLinguistics a. siewierskaPerson a. radfordMinimalistSyntax:ExploringtheStructureofEnglish d. bu¨ringBindingTheory m. buttTheoriesofCase n. hornstein, j. nun˜esandk. grohmannUnderstandingMinimalism b. c. lustChildLanguage:AcquisitionandGrowth Child Language Acquisition and Growth barbara c. lust CornellUniversity cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb2 2ru, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridg e.org /9780521444781 ©BarbaraLust2006 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published in print format 2006 isbn-13 978-0-511-24970-9eBook (EBL) isbn-10 0-511-24970-5 eBook (EBL) isbn-13 978-0-521-44478-1hardback isbn-10 0-521-44478-0 hardback isbn-13 978-0-521-44922-9paperback isbn-10 0-521-44922-7 paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate. To Jim and the World of Nagaraj

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M. BUTT Theories of Case. N. HORNSTEIN, J. NU˜NES and K. GROHMANN Understanding Minimalism. B. C. LUST Child Language: Acquisition and