The Onset of Language [Paperback]

This fascinating book offers exciting insights into the precursors of speech.The Onset of Language outlines an approach to the development of expressive and communicative behaviour from early infancy to the onset of single word utterances. Nobuo Masataka's research is rooted in ethology and dynamic action theory. He argues that expressive and communicative actions are organised as a complex and cooperative system with other elements of the infant's physiology, behaviour and social environments. This fascinating book offers exciting, new insights into the precursors of speech and will be of interest to researchers and students of psychology, linguistics and animal behaviour biology.The Onset of Language outlines an approach to the development of expressive and communicative behaviour from early infancy to the onset of single word utterances. Nobuo Masataka's research is rooted in ethology and dynamic action theory. He argues that expressive and communicative actions are organised as a complex and cooperative system with other elements of the infant's physiology, behaviour and social environments. This fascinating book offers exciting, new insights into the precursors of speech and will be of interest to researchers and students of psychology, linguistics and animal behaviour biology.Outlining an approach to the development of communicative behavior from early infancy to the onset of single word utterances, Nobuo Masataka's research is rooted in ethology and dynamic action theory. He argues that expressive and communicative actions are organized as a complex and cooperative system with other elements of the infant's physiology, behavior and social environments. This book offers new insights into the precursors of speech and will be of interest to researchers and students of psychology, linguistics and animal behavior biology.List of figures; List of tables; Acknowledgements; 1. Introduction; 2. The development of the ability to take turns; 3. Cooing in three-month-oldlß