Abstract

This book presents diverse, original research studies on typical and atypical child language acquisition in monolingual, bilingual and bi-dialectal settings, with a focus on development, assessment and research methodology. Languages investigated in the studies include underrepresented languages, such as Farsi, Greek, Icelandic, isiXhosa, Maltese, Mandarin and Slovene, without excluding representative work in major languages like English and Spanish. The language areas of focus are phonology, lexicon, morphology and syntax and the book incorporates studies in under-researched language impairment, such as Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome and language impairment in 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome. The book has practical significance in that it proposes tools and assessment practices that are of universal crosslinguistic relevance while also dealing with language-specific complications. The studies presented enhance existing knowledge and stimulate answers on what the acquisition of disparate languages in different contexts can teach us about language/communication development in the presence or absence of disorder.

Babatsouli, Ingram, Müller and team provide thinking SLPs/SLTs with a relevant, readable, sophisticated, research-driven and clinically applicable account of straighforward and disordered crosslinguistic language acquisition in English, Farsi, Icelandic, isiXhosa, Mandarin, Slovene, and more. In a word: polished.

Elena Babatsouli is Director of the Institute of Monolingual and Bilingual Speech in Chania, Greece. Her research focuses on phonology/phonetics and morphology, and her research interests include typical and atypical language acquisition (first, second, bilingual) and language use (dialects and speech errors).

David Ingram is Professor in the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Arizona State University, USA. His research interests include language acquisition in typically developing children and children with language disorders, with a crosslinguistic focus.

Nicole Müller is Professor and Head of the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University College Cork, Ireland. Her research interests include multilingualism and neurogenic and neurodegenerative conditions leading to cognitive-communicative impairments. She is co-editor (with Martin J. Ball) of the book series Communication Disorders Across Languages.

This volume addresses cutting-edge topics relevant to assessment and treatment of children acquiring language in bilingual learning environments. The varied developmental levels and language acquisition topics covered will provide a needed resource for both clinicians and researchers related to typical and atypical language development profiles in bilingual children.
This volume is an exciting collection of works which turn "diversity into a core theme". The editors have masterfully brought together studies dealing with typical and atypical language development, cross-linguistic and bilingual research, and language assessment and methodology. The overall result is a comprehensive yet innovative account of recent findings in cross-linguistic language acquisition.