ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to broaden the view of language acquisition adopted so far in this book. From a perspective that has been heavily English-based and monolingual, we move to consider the way children faced with other languages and multiple languages approach them. The chapter begins with a brief account of some of the ways in which languages can vary, and then shows how a parameter approach to language acquisition offers an explanation for how children approach such variability. This is followed by further focus both on aspects of language acquisition this approach can account for, as well as on some that it cannot (and is not intended to) account for. Next, the particular window on acquisition afforded by bilingual development is considered, along with a discussion of the nature of bilingual acquisition and bilingual language use, particularly code switching. The chapter closes with a brief consideration of child second language development.
