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CHAPTERI
Generaloverviewoffirstlanguageacquisition
theories
Introduction
Themajorityofissuesraisednowadaysinthefieldoffirstlanguage
acquisitionaredeeplyrootedinearlierlinguistic,pedagogicalandsociological
developments.However,theaimofthischapterisnottoprovideanin-depth
studyofearlierapproachesbutrathertopresentchronologicallythetheoretical
foundationsoftoday’sthinkingaswellastheoriginofthelong-lasting
dichotomybetweenthesupportersoftheinnatenesshypothesisandthosewho
claimthatlanguageemergesinthecourseofoverallcognitivedevelopment.
1
ForthemostpartIwillrestrictmyconsiderationstothepost-warperiod,which
initsearlyyearssawtherapiddevelopmentofpsycholinguistics,andbrought
aboutabreakthroughinfirstlanguageacquisitionresearch.Numeroustheories
wereputforwardthenwhichlateronconstitutedandstillconstituteaframeof
referenceforotherstudies.
Iwillbeginwithabriefdiscussionoftheconceptionsdominantin
mainstreampsychologyandlinguisticsinthe1950sand1960s,which,because
oftheirimpact,maybereferredtoasmilestonesinfirstlanguageacquisition
studies.Iwillalsoviewinretrospect,wherenecessary,earlierapproaches.Then
Iwillgoontodescribethefar-reachinginfluenceofthe‘Chomskyanrevolution’
onthestudyoffirstlanguageacquisitioninthe1970sandIshallalsoseethatit
hasproducedlong-termconsequences.Next,Iwilldevotemyattentionto
semanticapproachesthatledtotheemergenceofcognitivetheoriesoffirst
languageacquisition.Myaimwillbetoshowthatcognitivismhasevolvedfrom
criticismofChomsky’sUniversalGrammar.Moreover,itisdeeplyrootedinthe
developmentofthenotionsofprototypeandcategory.Inthelastpartofthe
presentchapterIwilldescribethewholearrayofcognitiveapproachestofirst
1Anexhaustiveanalysisofearlyfirstlanguageacquisitiontheoriescanbefoundin,for
example,Selinker(1992)orDulayetal.(1982).
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