Editing Language acquisition (section)

=== Emergentism ===
[[Emergentism|Emergentist]] theories, such as Brian MacWhinney's [[competition model]], posit that language acquisition is a [[cognitive process]] that emerges from the interaction of biological pressures and the environment. According to these theories, neither nature nor nurture alone is sufficient to trigger language learning; both of these influences must work together in order to allow children to acquire a language. The proponents of these theories argue that general cognitive processes subserve language acquisition and that the result of these processes is language-specific phenomena, such as [[vocabulary development|word learning]] and [[syntax|grammar acquisition]]. The findings of many empirical studies support the predictions of these theories, suggesting that language acquisition is a more complex process than many have proposed.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Emergence of Language|publisher=Lawrence Erlbaum Associates|year=1999|isbn=978-0-8058-3010-1|editor=Brian MacWhinney|oclc=44958022}}</ref>