The
Central Institute of Indian Languages was set up on the 17th July, 1969 with a
view to assisting And coordinating the development of Indian of Languages. The
Institute was charged with the responsibility of serving as a nucleus to bring
together all the research and literacy output from the various linguistic streams
to a common head and narrowing the gap between basic research and developmental
research in the fields of languages and linguistics in India.
The Institute and its five Regional Language Centres are thus engaged in research
and teaching which lends to the publication of a wide ranging variety of materials.
Materials designed for teaching / learning At different levels And suited to specific
needs is one of the major areas of interest in its series of publication. Basic
research relating to the acquisition of language and study of language in its
manifold psycho-social relations constitutes another broad range of its interest.
In
recent years the processes of language acquisition have been receiving serious
attention from linguists, psychologists, and educationists. Knowledge of the external
stimulation, internal structure of the organism, the ways in which it processes
input information and organizes its own behaviour, the inborn structure, the genetically
determined course of maturation and past experience Are some of the factors one
should consider in explicating the learning processes and functions. The interpretations
of the learning processes of the correlations between linguistic, cognitive and
physical maturational milestones, though noticed by linguists and psychologists,
are yet to be studied in greater depth. As Noam Chomsky repeatedly points out,
it is one's attitudes to the internal structure of the organism that seem to decide
the course of research on language acquisition.
In any case linguistic theory is in a great flux. A process considered as correct
now, may be completely changed later, on the basis of additional information.
As theory construction is in a great flux experimental designs should be carefully
made. Moreover, in order to understand and characterize the symbolic activity
of man in a comprehensive manner, biological, social and psychological considerations,
in addition to linguistic ones, are absolutely essential. There seems to be a
better awareness and appreciation now in various departments of linguistics, of
this crucial need to develop an integrated approach for the study of language,
while at the same time not ignoring the main task of linguists-the study of the
interplay of linguistic structures.
The Central Institute of Indian Languages has always taken an integrated and inter-disciplinary
approach in its researches on aspects of language use in education, administration
and mass communication. The present book Language Acquisition, Thought and Disorder,
by Dr. M.S. Thirumalai, a member of the Faculty of the CIIL, it is hoped, will
be found useful by students of linguistics and psychology, as well as by laymen
who would like to know something about the processes of language acquisition,
the relationship between language and thought, and aspects of speech disorders
and the neuropsychological mechanisms underlying speech.