title: First language development: a usage-based perspective on past and current research.
abstract: I first outline three major developments in child language research over the past forty years: the use of computational modelling to reveal the structure of information in the input; the focus on quantifying productivity and abstraction; and developments in the explanation of systematic errors. Next, I turn to what I consider to be major outstanding issues: how the network of constructions builds up and the relationship between social and cognitive development and language learning. Finally, I briefly consider a number of other areas of importance to a psychologically realistic understanding of children's language development.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychological Sciences,University of Manchester.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lieven
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D002663:Child Language; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006801:Humans; D007804:Language Development; D012106:Research; D014706:Verbal Learning