Reviewed by Iris F. Levitis, University of Rostock

This is the second edition of First language acquisition first published in 2003. The purpose of introducing the sub-field of first language acquisition is delineated by the author, Eve V. Clark, as illustrating the essential connection between children’s need to communicate and the resulting cumulative process of language acquisition. Divided into four parts, the book follows the trajectory of child language from simple to complex utterances. C begins by situating language acquisition in an interactionist framework in Ch. 1, ‘Acquiring language: Issues and questions’ (1–18).

Part 1, ‘Getting started’, commences by constructing the topic through the joint focus of mother and infant. The role and purpose of child directed speech is specifically discussed in Ch. 2, ‘In conversation with children’ (21–50), as well as debates about its universality. Ch. 3, ‘Starting on language: Perception’ (51–74), addresses how children start to segment speech sounds and learn the phonemes of their language. In Ch. 4, ‘Early words’ (75–94), C examines what kinds of words children first begin using cross-linguistically and how they make the best of a limited vocabulary. Ch. 5, ‘Sounds in words: Production’ (94–121), covers language production from pre-babbling to first words. The semantic and pragmatic aspects of word acquisition are the subject of the final chapter, Ch. 6 ‘Words and meanings’ (122–48).

Part 2, ‘Constructions and meanings’, is likewise composed of five chapters. In this section, C demonstrates how children begin to expand in their detail by producing longer utterances. Ch. 7, ‘First combination, first constructions’ (151–75), looks at the learning of inflections and word classes. In Ch. 9, ‘Adding complexity within clauses’ (199–228), C shows the learning of clausal complexity such as negation and question formation. C addresses the combining of clauses in Ch. 10, ‘Combining clauses: More complex constructions’ (229–53). This section closes with a final chapter, Ch. 11 ‘Constructing words’ (254–78), which deals with the formation of words.

In Part 3, ‘Using language’, C focuses on the acquisition of conversational skills. In Ch. 12, ‘Honing conversational skills’ (281–305), C examines how speech acts and turn taking skills are learned. Aspects of politeness and the understanding of social roles are then explored in Ch. 13, ‘Doing things with language’ (306–35). The final chapter in this section, Ch. 14 ‘Two languages at a time’ (336–54), addresses the acquisition of more than one language or dialect.

In Part 4, ‘Process in acquisition’, C explains and examines two debates in the field of first language acquisition. In Ch. 15, ‘Specialization for language’ (357–77), C reviews the arguments for and against an innate language acquisition device. She closes the volume with a discussion of how child language acquisition changes over time in Ch. 16 ‘Acquisition and change’ (378–400).

This book will be useful to the teaching of undergraduates and graduate students alike. Though it would provide an excellent introduction for undergraduates, this text is dense enough with research references that it could also provide graduate students an entrance into a specific area of first language acquisition research. In addition to a glossary and extensive reference section, there is a name index, which offers easy reference to each researcher and where he or she is mentioned in the book. All together, this book would be a useful resource for researchers in the field of first language acquisition.