Translator's Note |
Acknowledgments |
Introduction |
The Gift of Language |
A Complex Gift |
The Gift of Evolution |
The Gift of Speech and the Child |
The Question of Modularity |
An Interactive Learning System |
Speech and Communication |
From Infans to Child |
The Infant Does Not Talk, But ... / 1: |
The Newborn Child: A Stranger |
Speech Is Not the Infant's Language |
A Competent Newborn |
The Infant Is Prepared Before Birth |
The Talents of Infants |
What's in a Name? |
Organization of the Brain for Language |
The Emergence of Speech / 2: |
Vocal Expressions of the First Months |
Quick Studies of Their Native Language |
Babbling |
What Do Children Say Between Seven and Ten Months? |
What Do Children Say Between Ten and Twelve Months? |
Wherein the Babbling of Babes Is Subjected to the Seriousness of Scientists |
Do French Babies Babble in French and Yoruba Babies in Yoruba? |
They Begin Speaking Their Language Without an Accent |
Babbling in Sign Language |
The Communicative Universe of the Baby / 3: |
Communication and Expression |
Looking |
Reciprocal Behaviors |
Turn-Taking |
Expression of Emotion |
Sharing Information About the Outside World |
Motherese |
Baby Talk |
Cultures and Modes of Talking to Babies |
Critical Periods |
Discovering the Meaning of Words: Nine to Seventeen Months / 4: |
Dividing Up and Assembling |
The Infant in Action |
Putting Together the Pieces of the Puzzle |
The Problem of Small Pieces |
Recognizing and Understanding |
Finding the Same Object Again |
Recognizing Familiar Words |
The Mental Representation of Words |
Understanding Words |
The First Lexical Steps: Eleven to Eighteen Months / 5: |
The Words for Saying It |
The World and the Baby |
Is the Baby a Physicist? |
Objects and Words |
First Words |
Trials and Errors |
Two Lexicons? |
Building the First Vocabulary |
To Each Baby His Own Style / 6: |
All the Same and All Different |
Emilie, Sean, and Timmy: The Minimalist Strategy |
Simon, Leo, and Marie: The Charms of Conversation |
Charles, Noel, and Others: The Middle Way |
Henri: Stepping Back to Move Forward |
They Are the Ones Who Choose |
Languages, Cultures, and Children / 7: |
Language and Socialization |
Cultural Milieus and First Words |
Subjects of Conversation of French, American, Swedish, and Japanese Children |
The Hedonism of French Babies |
The Pragmatism and Sociability of American Children |
The Taste for Action of Swedish Children |
The Aesthetic Sense of Japanese Babies |
But All the Children of the World |
Speech Becomes Language: Eighteen to Twenty-Four Months / 8: |
A New Step |
The Explosion of the Lexicon |
The Discovery of Phonology |
The Modification of Cerebral Responses |
First Sentences |
The First Sentences of French Children |
Conclusion |
The Principal Stages in the Development of Speech from Before Birth to Two Years / Appendix A: |
International Phonetic Alphabet / Appendix B: |
Notes |
Glossary |
Bibliography |
Index |