CSflim

This field of study is known as language acquisition. If you want to read up on it, I highly reccommend, The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker - it is an absolutely fascinating read, convincingly argued and very, very well written (as are all of Pinker's books).


EDIT: re Chomsky: I wouldn't really reccommend his books as an introduction to language acquisition, as his intended audience was mainly other linguists. As such it assumes a familiarity with various concepts in linguistics. But maybe instead a book about Chomsky, rather than by Chomsky might be a good choice.

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