Towards a dynamic systems approach to the development of language and music - Theoretical foundations and methodological issues

2009

Music and language are considered as distinct auditory systems that serve different communicative uses. From the perspective of infants rather inexperienced with their native musical and linguistic systems, these differences are less apparent. One of the enduring puzzles related to human cognitive development is the question of how children acquire these complex systems with such effortlessness and speed, and how developmental change can be explained. Dynamic systems theory (DST) can make significant contributions to our understanding of cognitive development, and has already been successfully applied to first and second language development. By drawing together findings from various scient…