Progression and Regression in Language: Sociocultural, Neuropsychological and Linguistic Perspectives

Cambridge University Press, 1/27/1994
EAN 9780521438742, ISBN10: 0521438748

Paperback, 502 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.9 cm
Language: English

First published in 1994, this crosslinguistic collection looks at changes and developments in language involving gain or loss in structural complexity or utility. The dynamics of these processes of progression and regression are examined at the societal and the individual level, and the two are compared. In the former, the focus is on the social and cultural forces that influence groups of speakers to create new languages or abandon old ones. In the latter, the acquisition and attrition of both first and second languages are considered. Questions raised include: Can parallel structural patterning be observed in whole languages and in the individual's version of a language? Is there parallelism between progression and regression? Can changes occurring in progression and regression be interpreted in a typological framework? These are addressed from sociological, neuropsychological, and linguistic perspectives.

Part I. Introduction
1. Linguistic progression and regression
an introduction Kenneth Hyltenstam and Ã…ke Viberg
Part II. The Sociological Setting
2. The role of pidgin and creole languages in languages progression and regression Peter Mühlhaüsler
3. Structure and practice in language shift Jane Hill
4. Growing up monolingual in a multilingual community
how language socialisation patterns are leading to language shift in Gapun (Papua New Guinea) Don Kulick
5. Language change in a creole continuum
decreolisation? Charlene Sato
Part III. Psycho- and Neurolinguistic Aspects
6. Neurolinguistic aspects of first language acquisition and loss Jean Berko Gleason
7. Neurolinguistic aspects of second language development and attrition Loraine K. Obler
8. Second language acquisition as a function of age
research findings and methodological issues
9. Second language regression Alzheimer's dementia Kenneth Hyltenstam and Christopher Stroud
Part IV. The Linguistic Perspective
10. Crosslinguistic perspectives on native language acquisition Ruth Berman
11. Syntactic development in Danish L2 Anne Holmen
12. The weaker language in bilingual Swedish–French children Suzzane Schlyter
13. Four operating principles and input distribution as explanations for underdeveloped and mature morphological systems Roger Andersen
14. Crosslinguistic perspectives on lexical organisation and lexical progression Ã…ke Viberg
15. Attrition or expansion? changes in the lexicon of Finnish and American adult bilinguals in Sweden Sally Boyd
Part V. The Linguistic Perspective 2
Phonology
16. The development of phonological abilities Henning Wode
17. The course of development in second language phonology acquisition
a natural path or strategic choice? Bjorn Hammarberg
18. Sociolinguistic factors in loss and acquisition of phonology Roy C. Major
Index.