Review

Reviewed Work(s): Language Acquisition: The Growth of Grammar by Maria Teresa

Guasti
Review by: Andrew Radford
Source: Language , Dec., 2004, Vol. 80, No. 4 (Dec., 2004), pp. 855-857
Published by: Linguistic Society of America

Stable URL: [Link]

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 REVIEWS 855

Golston, Golston and

Prince and Smolensky
have inconsistent year

REFERENCES

HANSON, KRISTIN, and PAUL KIPARSKY. 1996. A parametric theory of poetic meter. Language 72
POPE, J. C. 1966. The rhythm of Beowulf. Rev. edn. New Haven: Yale University Press.
PRINCE, ALAN S., and PAUL SMOLENSKY. 1993. Optimality theory: Constraint interaction in gener
mar. New Brunswick: Rutgers University, and Boulder: University of Colorado, Ms.

Nordiska sprhk
Stockholm University
SE-106 91 Stockholm
Sweden

[[Link]@ [Link]]

Language acquisition: The growth of grammar. By MARIA TERESA GUASTI. Cam-

bridge, MA: MIT Press, 2002. Pp. 474. ISBN 026207222X. $55 (Hb).
Reviewed by ANDREW RADFORD, University of Essex
This excellent new book (intended for upper undergraduates, graduates, and researchers) pro-
vides the most comprehensive and up-to-date textbook account currently available of generative
research into first language acquisition (particularly the acquisition of syntax) by monolingual
children. It is well presented (with sections and subsections clearly laid out) and written in a
readable style.
The book includes an introductory chapter on the nature of language acquisition and further
chapters on the development of phonological perception and production by infants (Ch. 2) and
the acquisition of the lexicon (Ch. 3), of syntax (clause structure, null subjects, A-bar movement
and A-movement: Chs. 4-7), of binding (Ch. 8), of quantification (Ch. 9), and of control (Ch.
10). The final chapter deals with dissociation between language and other cognitive capacities
in children with specific language impairment or Williams syndrome. At the end of each chapter
is a list of key terms, together with (in the case of Chs. 2-11) suggestions for further reading
and a set of study questions. At the end of the book, there are thirteen pages of notes on the
various chapters. Material throughout the book is drawn from a range of (mainly European)
languages such as English, Dutch, French, Italian, and German.
The theoretical and descriptive framework adopted in the chapters dealing with syntax is that of
Chomsky's principles-and-parameters theory (PPT) and subsequent work based on versions of the
minimalist program (MP) (Chomsky 1995). The material is well written, well exemplified, well
argued, and technically competent. Overall, the book is an impressive piece of scholarship that
provides an up-to-date and well-informed account of a wide range of acquisition phenomena, with
extensive references to published material (as can be seen from the fact that it contains a thirty-eight-
page bibliography). There is quite simply no other work that provides as authoritative an account of
PPT/MP-based research into the acquisition of syntax by monolingual first-language learners.
Inevitably, given the technical complexity of PPT and MP, the chapters on the acquisition of
syntax are demanding in terms of the level of technical competence that is assumed. In order to
follow some of the theory-specific argumentation, readers require knowledge of the X-bar schema
and the syntax of AgrP, NegP and split CP projections, overt and covert movement, quantifier
raising, feature checking, a range of parameters (e.g. the verb-second parameter), binding (e.g.
A-bar binding of variables), weak and strong crossover, theta theory, A-chains, and so on. While
many of these topics are covered in recent introductory syntax textbooks such as Carnie 2002,
Adger 2003, and Radford 2004, by no means all are-and some of the material in the book
requires familiarity with earlier work in syntax for which a textbook like Haegeman 1994 would

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856 LANGUAGE, VOLUME 80, NUMBER 4 (2004)

be more appropriate. Moreover, some familiarity with aspects of the m

of European languages is also needed if readers are to follow the discu
of French, German, Italian, and so forth. The book does contain a glos
but this is skimpy (only five pages long) and provides no entry for nu
(e.g. variable) that are central to understanding some of the material co
all of this means is that teachers may have their work cut out for them i
have the necessary technical background to follow the book.
The relatively technical nature of some of the discussion in the book co
prospect for undergraduates. A colleague who adopted the book as a re
undergraduate course on child language acquisition last year found in the
that almost all students avoided questions related to the core syntax ch
to answer questions on the nature of acquisition (using the relatively n
Ch. 1), on connectionism, and on bilingual acquisition (answering ques
topics on the basis of supplementary course handouts). Of course, it may b
ates suffer from a rare form of syntactophobia unique to Essex (perhaps a
tophilia of the nine faculty members in my department who teach synta
more concern is the fact that a very bright graduate student, who bor
had taken courses on minimalist syntax and the acquisition of syntax with
it difficult to follow, mainly because of the differing theoretical assump
parts of the book, for example, whether there are Agr-projections or not
ments are NPs or DPs, whether CP has a split structure or not, and whet
are binary-branching or not. Of course, none of this is in any sense G
reflects the fact that PPT/MP is built on shifting theoretical sands (e.g
coming into fashion, going out again, and then coming back in again),
instability, more than anything, that reduces students' willingness (or con
to come to grips with the paradigm. It is a tribute to G's expository skill
external constraints, she has managed to produce a first-rate work of
from which those prepared to do the necessary background reading in sy
deal about acquisition research within the PPT/MP paradigm.
In a book that provides such a comprehensive account of PPT/MP-bas
it seems almost perverse to point to omissions and shortcomings. How
book that may disappoint some is its focus on monolingual acquisition
would note that most of the students in my acquisition course last year s
that they found bilingual acquisition the most interesting topic covere
also note that almost all students taking an acquisition course taught b
last year opted to answer an exam question on bilingual acquisition. A
is essentially about the acquisition of syntax, a chapter on the acquisition
children would have been more central to the overall focus of the boo
about phonological perception and production by infants.
The book is being marketed as a textbook that (as the dust cover tells us
sive introduction to current thinking on language acquisition'. According
be evaluated (in large measure) from a pedagogical perspective. While
the book does an excellent job of informing readers about claims made in
PPT/MP-based research on LI acquisition, it is less clear whether the b
students to reflect on (i.e. ask searching critical questions about and c
relevant research, and whether it trains them to formulate and test resear
there is some criticism of work that the author does not favor (e.g. th
clauses model of Radford 1990), readers are not encouraged to adopt a
favored models (e.g. the optional infinitives model of Wexler 1999). Even
does not offer a critical perspective on favored theories, one might ha
questions found at the end of the chapters would invite critical thinking
most part they essentially ask students to summarize relevant parts of th
the end of Ch. 5 we find questions like 'Why was the idea that children m

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 REVIEWS 857

topic-drop parameter
early null subjects?', 'W
'Discuss the nature of
what the required answ
supports the null aux
could be seen to encou
uncritically regurgita
this approach is illust
examination paper me
syntax' question on th
large chunks of the te
foster. In one of the f
of their
t own, G asks
data-base' (150, questio
directions as to which
research methods. Ind
as such in the bibliog
not mentioned in the
MacWhinney & Snow
However, I end here
shortcomings, this is u
book on PPT/MP appr
appeared. It is a book th
can afford to be without.

REFERENCES

AD(;cR, DAVID. 2003. Core syntax: A minimalist approach. Oxford: Oxford University Press
CARNIE, ANIREW. 2002. Syntax: A generative introduction. Oxford: Blackwell.
CHOMSKY, NOAM. 1995. The minimalist program. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
HAEGEMAN, LIIIANIE. 1994. Introduction to government and binding theory. 2nd edn. Oxford:
MACWHINNEY, BRIAN, and CATHERINE SNOW. 1995. The child language data exchange syste
Linguistics 12.271-96.
RADFORD, ANDREW. 1990. Syntactic theory and the acquisition of English syntax. Oxford: Blac
RADFORD, ANDREW. 2004. Minimalist syntax: Exploring the structure of English. Cambridg
University Press.
WEXLER, KEN. 1999. Very early parameter-setting and the unique checking constraint: A ne
of the optional infinitive stage. Language acquisition: Knowledge representation and pro
by Antonella Sorace, Caroline B. Heycock, and Richard Shilcock, 23-27. Amsterdam: Nor

Department of Language and Linguistics

University of Essex
Wivenhoe Park

Colchester, Essex, CO4 3SQ

England
[radford@[Link]]

Programming for linguists: Perl for language researchers. By MICHAEL HAMMOND.

Oxford: Blackwell, 2003. Pp. 219. ISBN 0631234349. $39.95.
Reviewed by JOHN GOLDSMITH, University of Chicago
In case you hadn't noticed, the world has changed. We now have our own computers, each
of us, and we have instant access to the largest collection of documents in the world, documents
in more languages than we could have dreamed of. I'm referring to the internet, of course, and

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