universal grammar the following is a book which readers of this list might find of interest . for more information please visit http : / / mitpress . mit . edu / promotions / books / craihs98 investigations in universal grammar a guide to experiments on the acquisition of syntax and semantics stephen crain and rosalind thornton this introductory guide to language acquisition research is presented within the framework of universal grammar , a theory of the human faculty for language . the authors focus on two experimental techniques for assessing children 's linguistic competence : the elicited production task , a production task , and the truth value judgment task , a comprehension task . their methodologies are designed to overcome the numerous obstacles to empirical investigation of children 's language competence . they produce research results that are more reproducible and less likely to be dismissed as an artifact of improper experimental procedure . in the first section of the book , the authors examine the fundamental assumptions that guide research in this area ; they present both a theory of linguistic competence and a model of language processing . in the following two sections , they discuss in detail their two experimental techniques . stephen crain is professor of linguistics and rosalind thornton is assistant professor of linguistics , both at the university of maryland at college park . language , speech , and communication series a bradford book may 1998 cloth 7 x 10 , 368 pp . , 46 illus . isbn 0-262 - 03250 - 3 jud wolfskill associate publicist phone : ( 617 ) 253-2079 mit press fax : ( 617 ) 253-1709 five cambridge center e - mail : wolfskil @ mit . edu cambridge , ma 02142-1493 http : / / mitpress . mit . edu
