language acquisition

The process of learning a language. From birth through age five, children subconsciously acquire the basics of their home language (phonology, morphology, syntax, pragmatics) assuming the absence of a disability and access to human language input. From ages six and continuing throughout adulthood, individuals continue this subconscious learning adding layers of complexity to what they already know. Each grade level of formal school instruction adds to the cognitive complexity of spoken and written language development.