Language Acquisition

Definition

Language acquisition is a process that includes the perception and understanding of language, as well as the meaningful use of it. It is generally conceptualized as referring to the initial mastery of language occurring in infancy rather than the second language learning that can occur later in childhood or adolescence.

Language acquisition progresses through a number of stages, starting very young in infancy. Particularly in the early stages of language acquisition, a distinction can be made between receptive and expressive language. Although these domains of development progress at slightly different rates early in life, the excessive divergence of these areas can be a marker of atypical development. The first task of infants is to master the sound structure used in their native language; they are born with the ability to differentiate all phonemes used in human language. Toward the first birthday, however, through “perceptual narrowing,” the infant loses the ability to...