Oxford introductions to Language Study Series Editor H.G. Widdowson Published in hs sie: Psycholinguistics Rod Ellis: Second Language Acquisition Thomas Scovel: Psycholinguistics Bernard Spolsky: Sociolinguistics homas Scovel HG. Widdowson: Linguistics : George Yule: Pragmatics OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESSOstord University Press Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6 Oxford New York Athens Auckland Bangkok Bogota Bombay Buenos Aires Caleurta Cape Town Dares Salaaun Delht Florence Hong Kong, Istanbul Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madras Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi Paris Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto Warsaw and associated companies in Berlin Ibadan oxFoRD and oxFoRD ENGLISH are trade marks of Oxford University Press ISHN 019 437213 8 © Oxford University Press 1998 First published 1998 ‘No unauthorized photocopying All rights reserved. No part of this public may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, rmechanieal, photocopying, recording or otherwise, witkout the prior written permission of Oxford University Press ‘This book is sold subject to the condition that irshall nor, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in aay form of binding ‘or cover other than that in which itis published and without a similar condition inclading this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. “Typeset by Wyvern 21 Ltd, Bristol Printed in Spain for Derick & ElizabethContents Preface Author's preface SECTION 1 Survey Introduction Acquisition: when I was a child, | spoke as a child -no language but a cry” First words The birth of grammar Evidence for innateness Childish creativity Stages of linguistic development Production: putting words in one’s mouth Conceptualization Formulation Articulation Self-monitoring Comprehension: understanding what we hear and read The comprehension of sounds The comprehension of words The comprehension of sentences, The comprehension of texts Comprehension concluded qr 13 17 19 22, 27 29 4r 45 50 55 59 66 68