{"product_id":"constructing-a-language-michael-tomasello-9780674017641","title":"Constructing a Language: A Usage-Based Theory of Language Acquisition","description":"\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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Michael Tomasello\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0674017641\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780674017641\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Harvard University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/31\/2005\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 408\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.45lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.10h x 6.00w x 1.00d","brand":"Michael Tomasello","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43981079380223,"sku":"9780674017641","price":34.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_80bf0e15-3388-44a6-a4b4-312bba7f31a7.jpg?v=1683253545","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/constructing-a-language-michael-tomasello-9780674017641","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}