Human Development: Vol.53/5 Learning Language in Atypical Contexts

The study of language learning today includes novel ways of taking into account the impact of genes and the environment. New theories in this domain consider how cognitive systems are established by the human genetic make-up and how they develop in a variety of circumstances. An exclusive feature of this special issue is that it goes beyond the study of language learning by typical learners in typical environments. For example, deaf children and bilingual children deal with quite different inputs when learning a language. The papers in this issue analyse these differences and how they affect language learning. The learning processes of children with specific language impairments are also analysed, and it is queried to what extent the difficulties they encounter are specific to language learning as such. The papers in this special issue are dynamic in their approach to development, and show how development can be shaped by individual differences in perceptual or learning mechanisms as well as by environments with different linguistic inputs. Psycholinguists and linguists, speech therapists and researchers, developmental, cognitive and neuropsychologists as well as educators will find an up-to-date overview on language development.