Abstract:
First Language Acquisition is an innate process which reveals the connection between language
and the mind. Cognitivists believe that human begins acquire the first language with the help of
the Language Acquisition Device (LAD), an ability unique to them. According to the Critical
Period Hypothesis, children from the age of six months to three years, children internalise their
mother tongue from the language environment they are exposed to. The acquisition process is
a totally creative one in which universally identified common features and patterns can be
recognised. This paper is an effort to find out the linguistic features related to the first language
acquisition of a child who acquires Sinhala as his mother tongue. It is a study of language
development of an infant in a linguistic point of view. The research problem is to identify the
linguistic features of child language acquisition. Data were collected electronically and
manually in transcription. The paper discusses the structural linguistic features such as
phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics in the acquisition process. In addition, theories
of generative transformational grammar such as competence, performance and
overgeneralisation are also discussed. Grammatical phenomena, namely simplification,
addition, omission and substitution are observed as special features in the acquisition process.
The findings of the study are important to psycholinguists, language therapists and researchers
interested in applied linguistics.
