EGH215 First Language Acquisition

Pre-requisites: EGH109

Aims/Description: This second-year module is aimed at students who have already taken Linguistic Theory in Level 1. In this course, we focus specifically on the first language acquisition of phonetic, phonological, and morpho-syntactic knowledge. Addressing both theoretical and methodological issues, the course explores the relationship between the logical problem of language acquisition -- how very young children manage to acquire quite abstract and subtle properties of their target grammars in the absence of clear positive evidence -- and the developmental problem of acquisition -- how children recover from systematic errors, and acquire subtle language-specific properties. We also explore the related tension between nativist vs. emergentist explanations for language acquisition and development.

Staff Contact: ORFITELLI ROBYN

Teaching Methods: Lectures, Seminars, Tutorials, Independent Study

Assessment: Course work

Information on the department responsible for this unit (English):

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Teaching timetable

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Teaching methods and assessment displayed on this page are indicative for 2025-26.