This book describes how the child acquires a linguistic system before he is capable of verbal utterances or has developed the ability to structure language in a meaningful way. The first chapter of the book contains a discussion of previous language development studies on learning the mother tongue and proposes a hypothesis of language development that is grounded in a sociolinguistic framework. The second chapter presents the results of an intensive study of the language acquisition of one child beginning shortly after birth. Chapter three describes the three phases a child goes through in the process of developing language that has specific meanings as determined by society. In chapter four, language development is viewed as a semiotic process, that is, as an aspect of the social system. Chapter five analyzes the transitional phases that occur as language acquires meaning and synthesizes the literature review, hypothesis, research, and previous discussion in the book. The sixth chapter focuses on how a child adapts language in conformity with the social system. (RB)