Abstract
This chapter introduces child language research and linguistic theory that forms the base for language development. Researchers in child language look outside linguistic theory for the “causes” of development, seeking both cognitive and social influences on language acquisition and language structure. Of the two affairs, one with cognitive and the other with social theories, the chapter concentrates on the search for social influences on language acquisition. It concludes that the case for externally driven, structural effects on language development is not very good. Research on social factors in language acquisition has concentrated primarily on these kinds of effects, and as a result, social-causal theories have not yet obtained adequate empirical support.
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