This authoritative text is ideal for courses that take a developmental approach to language acquisition across the full life span, from infancy through the aging process. The text thoroughly explores syntax, morphology, semantics, phonology, and pragmatics. It examines atypical development with attention to the most common disorders affecting language acquisition, presents strong coverage of individual differences in language acquisition and learning, describes how and why they occur, and provides contemporary references and the most recent research findings. The panel of expert authors provides students with cutting-edge research knowledge in an interesting and highly readable format. The goal is the best and most up-to-date information for the student, with guides for further exploration of topics of interest.The emphasis on change over the life span is even more important to students from all fields, since it reinforces current developments in cognitive neuroscience that indicate language, once acquired, is not static, but rather, undergoes constant neural reorganization