Call for Papers: Journal of Child Language Special Issue on Age of Acquisition Effects in Child Language

[Heike Behrens]

Journal of Child Language Special Issue on Age of Acquisition Effects in Child Language

Guest Editors: Johanne Paradis and Elma Blom

While age of acquisition effects have been researched extensively in adult second language acquisition, there is less research focused on examining age of acquisition effects in child language learners. Papers for the special issue would include studies of all aspects of language development in populations of children and youth whose onset of exposure to their first (L1) or second (L2) language was not at birth, for example, deaf children of hearing parents, internationally adopted children and child L2 learners. Relevant topics and questions that papers could address include the following:

(1) Specific ages of onset in relation to long-term outcomes: At what ages in infancy or childhood does delay in onset of exposure to a language impact long-term outcomes in that language? Are age effects gradual or is there a definable 'critical period'?

(2) The impacts of age effects on acquisition: How does delay in onset of exposure to an L1 or L2 impact developmental patterns/stages, rates and long-term outcomes in language acquisition? Does it impact one more than another?

(3) Age effects and different linguistic domains: Do age effects impact linguistic domains, e.g., phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, differentially?

(4) Difference between delayed L1 versus delayed L2: How does the nature and magnitude of age effects differ when there is delay in exposure to a child's L1 vs. a child's L2? In other words, how does delay in exposure to any linguistic input (e.g., deaf children of hearing parents) affect acquisition differently than delay in exposure to a particular target language (e.g., child L2 learners or internationally adopted children)?

(5) Age effects interacting with other developmental factors: How do other child-internal and environmental factors interact with age of onset in determining acquisition processes and outcomes? For example, individual differences in language learning aptitude, quantity and quality of exposure to the target language could potentially mitigate or diminish the impact of later age of onset to a language. In the case of child L2 learners, transfer of skills and linguistic structures from their L1 could interact with age of onset effects in L2 acquisition.

The deadline for submission is October 31, 2014. Papers should be a maximum of 10,000 words, shorter papers preferred.

Submissions should be made on Manuscript Central: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jcl

In your covering letter, please state that the manuscript is to be considered for this special issue. Instructions for contributors are available on Manuscript Central.

The Special Issue is expected to be published in 2016.

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