Children and Language

Paper Summary:

In this book review of "How Children Learn the Meanings of Words", author Paul Bloom's theory of language acquisition in small children is explained. The paper discusses the primary theory called the "theory of mind," which is also called naive psychology. The paper explains that the book presents this theory on language acquisition through descriptions of research, presented in a clear and largely conversational manner. The writer of the review recommends this book to both students and to parents interested in helping their children acquire language.

Outline:
Theory of Mind
Fast Mapping
Objects and Concepts
Context Learning
About this Book
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"This book describes the process of language acquisition through syntactic cues that are present in the child's environment. Such a process is not just a part of language acquisition, but is also part of other forms of reasoning as well. The capacity to learn language in such a way belongs to human beings alone. Although other mammals are capable of communicating in what could be considered to be a limited language, only humans have the capability to acquire abstract concepts."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Bloom, Paul. How Children Learn the Meanings of Words. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2000.

More papers on Children and Language:

• Essay # 84563 : "Children and Language"
• Essay # 86302 : "Increasing Children's Language Skills"
• Book Review # 100769 : "How Children Learn Language"

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