ABSTRACT
The study of children's first language (L1) acquisition traverses across different disciplines and fields, such as linguistics, psychology, and education, each with different goals and practices. Arabic L1 acquisition studies differ in their disciplinary focus, scope, design, and implications. Several studies are descriptive in nature, focusing on the stages of language development or the order in which specific linguistic areas appear. The chapter presents a selective review of the main trends and developments in research on Arab children's acquisition of their L1. It focuses on research in specific linguistic areas and examines the early phonological and lexical developments in Arabic-speaking children. The chapter looks at the acquisition of key areas in Arabic morphology and syntax, including nominal morphology, verbal morphology, negation, interrogation, and relative clauses. It details the L1 acquisition of Arabic by children with specific language impairment and focuses on potential venues for future research on Arabic L1 acquisition.
