The Acquisition of Italian

A major contribution to the study of language acquisition and language development inspired by theoretical linguistics has been made by research on the acquisition of Italian syntax. This book offers an updated overview of results from theory-driven experimental and corpus-based research on the acquisition of Italian in different modes (monolingual, early and late L2, SLI, etc.), as well as exploring possible developments for future research. The book focuses on experimental studies which address research questions generated by linguistic theory, providing a detailed illustration of the fruitful interaction between linguistic theorizing and developmental studies. The authors are leading figures in theoretical linguistics and language acquisition; their own work is featured in the research presented here. Students and advanced researchers will benefit from the systematic review offered by this book and the critical assessment of the field that it provides.

Nina Hyams, UCLA:
The Acquisition of Italian is a comprehensive, up-to-date overview of grammatical development in Italian-speaking children. The authors do an excellent job of balancing empirical coverage of a range of topics with discussion of important theoretical issues, giving the book a wide appeal. The volume focuses largely on typical L1 acquisition, but also includes work on SLI and other impaired populations as well as L2 acquisition. I highly recommend this volume to anyone interested in grammar acquisition in young children, especially as viewed through the lens of Italian.