Foundations of Language Development: A Multidisciplinary Approach, Volume 1 provides information pertinent to the important discoveries and issues in the area of language development. This book covers important topics, including language policy, language rehabilitation, and language in the classroom. Organized into three parts encompassing 19 chapters, this volume begins with an overview of the relationship between animal communication and language proper. This text then examines the early metaphysical views as to the origin of speech and explores the probable nature of the language employed by early man. Other chapters consider the growing conception that language is essentially a localizable cerebral function. This book discusses as well the shortcomings of speech as a means of human communication. The final chapter deals with a comparison of child language with deteriorated language in senile dementia. This book is a valuable resource for linguists and readers who are faced with practical decisions concerning language.
