From lexical to functional categories

New foundations for the study of language development

Bibliographic Data

ID20342918
AuthorsCristina Dye (0000-0002-2957-1793, Newcastle University), Cristina D Dye (Newcastle University, corresponding author), Yarden Kedar (0000-0002-9228-4850, Beit Berl College), Barbara Lust (0000-0002-7923-7937, Cornell University)
Year2019
Volume39
Issue1
Pages9-32
Publication date2019-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueFirst Language (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0142-7237 • E-ISSN: 1740-2344
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0142723718809175
OpenAlexW2907381080
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited100

Scholars of language development have long been challenged to understand the development of functional categories. Traditionally, it was assumed that children’s language development initially relies on lexical elements, while functional elements become accessible only at later periods; and that it is lexical growth which bootstraps grammatical development. Over the last decades, however, a growing body of empirical research has come to contradict the traditional view. This new research involves a wide range of methodologies (e.g. discrimination, comprehension, production, neurophysiological) and a variety of languages, and extends the study of functional categories throughout development, beginning in infancy. In this article, the authors review a transformation that has occurred in the field. While lexical categories have long been assumed to be foundational to language acquisition, now functional categories have been revealed to play a foundational role. The article selects highlights of critical evidence emerging from various methods, languages and developmental periods, and articulates leading questions that now confront our field. Evidence suggests that language acquisition in the child, which begins long before first words, includes a continuous acquisition of functional categories. Functional categories provide a skeleton for sentence construction and a foundation for grammatical organization throughout acquisition

Cognitive science · Comprehension · Field (mathematics) · Language acquisition · Language development · Lexical item · Lexis · Linguistics · Natural language processing · Second-language acquisition · Sentence · Variety (cybernetics) · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Language Development and Disorders · Mathematics · Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism · Psychology · Reading and Literacy Development