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Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science pp 1–13Cite as

Language Acquisition

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Synonyms

First language acquisition; Language development; Primary language acquisition

Definition

Process of acquiring the sound system, structures, rules, and symbolic representations of a language and their meanings.

Introduction

How typically developing children universally acquire their primary language(s) with ease before any or without formal schooling is the foundation of research in language acquisition. There have been two general strands of research: nativist and nonnativist. The nativist approach proposes that an innate module gives humans a priori knowledge about the nature of language, specifically syntax, and results in the universal acquisition of language among all typically developing children (Chomsky 1957, 1975). The second strand assumes that there is no innate mechanism specifically dedicated to language, but innate social and cognitive abilities that have evolved for other purposes. There has been no clear winner as research from other disciplines examining...

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  1. California State University – Northridge, Northridge, CA, USA

    Anna Dina L Joaquin

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  1. Anna Dina L Joaquin
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  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

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    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

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  1. University of South Carolina – Beaufort, Bluffton, SC, USA

    Carey Fitzgerald

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Joaquin, A.D.L. (2018). Language Acquisition. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2416-1

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