<P>That children learn to speak so skillfully at a young age has long fascinated adults.Most children virtually master their native tongue even before learning to tie their shoelaces. Theability to acquire language has historically been regarded as a "gift" -- a view given scientificfoundation only in the present century by Noam Chomsky's theory of "universal grammar," which positsan innate knowledge of the principles that structure all languages.</P><P>In thisdelightful, accessible book, psycholinguist Bénédicte de Boysson-Bardies presents a broad picture oflanguage development, from fetal development to the toddler years, and examines a wide range ofpuzzling questions: How do newborns recognize elements of speech? How do they distinguish them fromnonspeech sounds? How do they organize and analyze them? How do they ultimately come to understandand reproduce these sounds? Finally, how does the ability to communicate through language emerge inchildren? Boysson-Bardies also addresses questions of particular interest to parents, such aswhether one should speak to children in a special way to facilitate language learning and whetherthere is cause to worry when a twenty-month-old child does not yet speak. Although the authorprovides a clear summary of the current state of language acquisition theory, the special appeal ofthe book lies in her research and "dialogue" with her many young subjects.</P>