{"product_id":"constructing-a-language-a-usage-based-theory-of-language-acquisition-9780674017641","title":"Constructing a Language: A Usage-Based Theory of Language Acquisition","description":"\u003cp\u003e • Author(s): Michael Tomasello\u003cbr\u003e • Publisher: Harvard University Press\u003cbr\u003e • Publisher Imprint: Harvard University Press\u003cbr\u003e • BISAC: Cognitive Psychology \u0026amp; Cognition\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this groundbreaking book, Michael Tomasello presents a comprehensive usage-based theory of language acquisition. Drawing together a vast body of empirical research in cognitive science, linguistics, and developmental psychology, Tomasello demonstrates that we don't need a self-contained \"language instinct\" to explain how children learn language. Their linguistic ability is interwoven with other cognitive abilities. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eTomasello argues that the essence of language is its symbolic dimension, which rests on the uniquely human ability to comprehend intention. Grammar emerges as the speakers of a language create linguistic constructions out of recurring sequences of symbols; children pick up these patterns in the buzz of words they hear around them. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAll theories of language acquisition assume these fundamental skills of intention-reading and pattern-finding. Some formal linguistic theories posit a second set of acquisition processes to connect somehow with an innate universal grammar. But these extra processes, Tomasello argues, are completely unnecessary--important to save a theory but not to explain the phenomenon. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFor all its empirical weaknesses, Chomskian generative grammar has ruled the linguistic world for forty years. \u003ci\u003eConstructing a Language\u003c\/i\u003e offers a compellingly argued, psychologically sound new vision for the study of language acquisition.","brand":"Harvard University Press","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":45035622203543,"sku":"9780674017641","price":2920.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0666\/3471\/1191\/files\/9780674017641.webp?v=1769198758","url":"https:\/\/atlanticbooks.com\/products\/constructing-a-language-a-usage-based-theory-of-language-acquisition-9780674017641","provider":"Atlantic Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}