Language Acquisition
MIT OpenCourseWare's introduction to first language acquisition, a subfield of linguistics studying how children learn to speak and understand language in their first few years without explicit instruction. The course contrasts this effortless process with the difficulty adults face learning a second language after the critical period. Topics cover core areas of linguistic knowledge from a developmental angle: the lexicon, sentence structure, meaning composition, and pragmatics, tracing how each capacity emerges in young children. Materials include MIT's syllabus, readings, and assignments as published through OpenCourseWare, free to access under a Creative Commons license with no certificate offered. The course suits students of linguistics or psychology who want to understand the mechanisms behind children's rapid, universal acquisition of grammar and meaning, grounded in MIT's Linguistics and Philosophy department curriculum.