Chapter published in:
Sources of Variation in First Language Acquisition: Languages, contexts, and learners
Edited by Maya Hickmann †, Edy Veneziano and Harriet Jisa
[Trends in Language Acquisition Research 22] 2018
► pp. 1–24

Introduction
What can variation tell us about first language acquisition?

| Laboratoire Structures Formelles du Langage, CNRS & Université Paris 8
| Laboratoire Modèles, Dynamique, Corpus & Laboratoire de Psychopathologie et Processus de Santé, Université Paris Descartes & CNRS
| Laboratoire Dynamique du Langage, Université Lyon 2 & CNRS
After years of research focusing on universal regularities in child language, the study of variation has enriched our understanding of language development. Variation stems from exogenous and endogenous factors that can all influence the development of communicative capacities. This volume focuses on three main sources of variation considered from a large multimodal perspective that includes speech, gesture, and signs. First, research suggests that development partly varies with linguistic and/or cultural environments. A second source of variation stems from the input to which children are exposed across contexts. Finally, learners themselves differ along many dimensions, such as cognitive maturity, exposure to language(s), relative reliance on the visuo-gestural modality, and language impairments. The discussion highlights the need for more research on inter- and intra-individual variation within comparative perspectives allying complementary methodologies.
Keywords: exogenous/endogenous factors, input, discourse type, language impairment, linguistic and cultural environment, inter/intraindividual variation, morphosyntax, semantics
Article outline
  • 1.Why variation in language acquisition?
  • 2.Factors and types of variation
    • 2.1Exogenous and endogenous factors
    • 2.2Inter- and intra-individual variation
    • 2.3Developmental periods
    • 2.4Multimodality
  • 3.The organization of this volume
    • 3.1Universals and cross-linguistic variation in acquisition
      • Phonology
      • Nouns and verbs: Prosody, morphosyntax, and semantics
      • Syntax and semantics of motion expression
      • Speech and co-verbal gesture
    • 3.2Variation in input and in contexts during acquisition
      • Common ground
      • Input properties
      • Discourse types and registers
      • Input-output relationships
    • 3.3Variation in types of acquisition and types of learners
      • L1, 2L1 and L2 acquisition
      • Speech, gesture and sign
      • Language impairments
  • 4.Concluding remarks and future perspectives
  • Acknowledgements
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 22 February 2018
https://doi.org/10.1075/tilar.22.01hic
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