ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the process of language learning and considers theories of how children learn language. There is great variation in language acquisition in children. The pre-linguistic stage, one-word stage and development of grammar stages appear to be universal and apply to all children regardless of the language they are learning or the society they are in. Once children start to combine words children learn grammar very quickly and pass through a number of phases that are characterised by increasing complexity of the grammar and sentence length. Two other important aspects of language are the acquisition of word meaning and pragmatics. Acquisition of new words is initially slow but shortly before 18 months old there is a rapid acceleration that is followed by the emergence of two-word sentences. The skills needed to communicate with others, or pragmatics, are apparent in early childhood and, like grammatical rules, most are learned by the age of 5.
