scholarly journals Interfaces between linguistic systems: Evidence from Child Language

Linguistics ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lyle Lustigman
Keyword(s):  
Child Language ◽  
Clause Structure ◽  
Speech Output ◽  
Verb Inflection ◽  
Language Research ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
Contextual Appropriateness ◽  
General Linguistics ◽  
Children's Speech

AbstractInterfaces between grammatical domains have been considered from various perspectives in child language research and in general linguistics. The study aims to provide evidence for interfaces in acquisition of early clause-structure, based on longitudinal data from three Hebrew-acquiring toddlers. Two facets of their early speech output were examined: Usage productivity in verb-inflection, identified by a criterion of contextual appropriateness; and structural transparency/opacity of children’s speech output, with transparent forms being unambiguous in relation to their grammatical targets. These factors yielded two distinct developmental periods for the three children: I – from the onset of verb usage to productive verb inflection, and II – from productive verb inflection to disappearance of structural opacity. Period II displays a puzzling mixture of both transparent and opaque usages, not only in verb inflection, but also in use of prepositions marking objects and adverbs. These puzzles are resolved by the significant correlations that emerged between apparently unrelated linguistic systems: (1) opaque verb-forms occur mainly together with object/adverbs, and (2) transparent prepositions occur mainly in combination with transparent verbs. These unexpected convergences between different linguistic systems are discussed as underlining the role of structural transparency/opacity and as shedding new light on between-domain interfaces in language acquisition.

scholarly journals Finiitverbide kõrvutikasutus laste ja lastele suunatud kõnes ehk Söö söö söö suu tühjaks

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 5-24
Author(s):  
Reili Argus
Keyword(s):  
Speech Acts ◽  
First Language ◽  
Adult Child ◽  
Fine Tuning ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
Directive Speech Acts ◽  
Children's Speech ◽  
Directive Speech ◽  
Observation Period

Artiklis kirjeldatakse lapse ja tema vanema suulise argisuhtluse direktiivsetes lausungites kasutatavaid verbi finiitvormide kõrvutikasutusi ning selgitatakse nende rolli nii eesti suulise direktiivse argisuhtluse kui ka keeleomandamise perspektiivist. Verbi finiitvormi kõrvutikasutused on lapsele suunatud kõnes sagedased ja täiskasvanu kõne iga viies direktiivne lausung sisaldab rohkem kui kaht finiitverbi kõrvuti. Samas ei ole aga verbi kõrvutikasutused sagedased laste kõnes, kust võib leida vaid mõned üksikud näited. Vanema kõne verbi kõrvutikasutuste sageduse poolest vaatlusperioodi vältel ei muutu. Verbi finiitvormi kõrvutikasutused on analüüsis jagatud esmalt kaheks – sama ja eri verbi kõrvuti esinemised; eri verbi kõrvuti kasutused omakorda kolmeks: esimese verbina liikumisverbi sisaldavateks ehk tüüpilisteks seriaalkonstruktsioonideks, esimese verbina partiklilaadset verbivormi sisaldavateks ning sidesõnaga ühendatud verbi kõrvutikasutusteks. Kõige enam kasutasid vanemad seriaalkonstruktsioone ja partiklilaadsete verbivormidega algavaid verbi kõrvuti kasutusi, vähem leidus sama verbi korduseid. Lastele suunatud kõne verbi kõrvuti kasutustel on mõned täiskasva nutele suunatud kõnest erinevad jooned, kõige enam on selliseid erijooni partikli laadsete verbivormidega kõrvutikasutustel. Suhtluses on sellistel ühenditel käsu intensiivistamise roll, selle kõrval ka koostöö algatamise, lapse tegevuse pidurdamise, ergutamise, aga ka tegevuse muutmise roll. Abstract. Reili Argus: The co-occurrences of verb finite forms used by children and their caregivers. The article describes the co-occurrences of verb finite forms used by children and their caregivers in directive speech acts of spontaneous everyday speech. The role of co-occurrences of verbs have been described from the perspective of Estonian everyday directive communication and from the perspective of first language acquisition. The co-occurrences of finite verbs are frequent in child directed speech and almost every fifth directive utterance consists of co-occurrence of verb finite forms. These kinds of co-occurrences are not characteristic to children’s speech and only a couple of examples can be found from their data. The frequency of verb co-occurrences does not change during the observation period, so, the clear fine-tuning effect of the child directed speech was not observed in the analyzed data. All instances of verb co-occurrences have been divided into two sub-classes – the repetitions of the same lemma and co-occurrences of different lemmas, last sub-class consists of constructions where the first verb denotes movement, that is typical serial constructions; constructions where the first verb was a particlelike verb form; and constructions with conjunctions. The most frequent type of verb co-occurrences in child directed speech were typical serial constructions and constructions where the first constituent was particle-like verb form, repetitions of same lemma were not so frequent. The co-occurrences of verb finite forms used in child directed speech had some features which are not characteristic to adult directed speech, such different features were registered mostly in constructions with particle-like verb forms. In adult-child interaction, verb co-occurrences have mostly been used for intensifying the command, but also for initiating cooperation, stopping, stimulating, and modifying the child’s activities.

Clause Structure and Word Order in the History of German

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Left Periphery ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Clause Structure ◽  
Verb Second ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Research ◽  
The Right ◽  
Theoretical Analyses

Over roughly the last decade, there has been a notable rise in new research on historical German syntax in a generative perspective. This volume presents a state-of-the-art survey of this thriving new line of research by leading scholars in the field, combining it with new insights into the syntax of historical German. It is the first comprehensive and concise generative historical syntax of German covering numerous central aspects of clause structure and word order, tracing them throughout various historical stages. Each chapter combines a solid empirical basis and valid descriptive generalizations with reference also to the more traditional topological model of the German clause with a detailed discussion of theoretical analyses couched in the generative framework. The volume is divided into three parts according to the main parts of the clause: the left periphery dealing with verbal placement and the filling of the prefield (verb second, verb first, verb third orders) as well as adverbial connectives; the middle field including discussion of pronominal syntax, order of full NPs and the history of negation; and the right periphery with chapters on basic word order (OV/VO), prosodic and information-structural factors, and the verbal complex including the development of periphrastic verb forms and the phenomena of IPP (infinitivus pro participio) and ACI (accusativus cum infinitivo). This book thus provides a convenient overview of current research on the major issues concerning historical German clause structure both for scholars interested in more traditional description and for those interested in formal accounts of diachronic syntax.

The acquisition of routines in child language

1976 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Berko Gleason ◽  
Sandra Weintraub
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Social Factors ◽  
Child Language ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Age Changes ◽  
Adult Participation ◽  
Parental Input

ABSTRACTThe acquisition of routines is one aspect of language development. Routines such as Bye-bye, in contrast to more referential language, appear to be among the earliest acquisitions and are congruent with the sensori-motor child's capacities. This study investigates performance of the highly constrained Hallowe'en Trick or treat routine in 115 children from 2 to 16 years of age. Changes in competence and the role of parental input are examined in relation to cognitive and social factors. (First routines; the Hallowe'en interaction; children's production; adult participation; adult metalanguage; implications for ethnographic research.)

The influence of discourse context on children's provision of auxiliary BE

2008 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANNA L. THEAKSTON ◽  
ELENA V. M. LIEVEN
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Current Paper ◽  
Discourse Context ◽  
Linguistic Representations ◽  
Prior Use ◽  
Single Child ◽  
Pass Through ◽  
Children's Speech

ABSTRACTChildren pass through a stage in development when they produce utterances that contain auxiliary BE (he's playing) and utterances where auxiliary BE is omitted (he playing). One explanation that has been put forward to explain this phenomenon is the presence of questions in the input that model S-V word order (Theakston, Lieven & Tomasello, 2003). The current paper reports two studies that investigate the role of the input in children's use and non-use of auxiliary BE in declaratives. In Study 1, 96 children aged from 2 ; 5 to 2 ; 10 were exposed to known and novel verbs modelled in questions only or declaratives only. In Study 2, naturalistic data from a dense database from a single child between the ages of 2 ; 8 to 3 ; 2 were examined to investigate the influence of (1) declaratives and questions in the input in prior discourse, and (2) the child's immediately previous use of declaratives where auxiliary BE was produced or omitted, on his subsequent use or non-use of auxiliary BE. The results show that in both the experimental and naturalistic contexts, the presence of questions in the input resulted in lower levels of auxiliary provision in the children's speech than in utterances following declaratives in the input. In addition, the children's prior use or non-use of auxiliary BE influenced subsequent use. The findings are discussed in the context of usage-based theories of language acquisition and the role of the language children hear in their developing linguistic representations.

Type/Token Ratios: what do they really tell us?

1987 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Richards
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Sample Size ◽  
Linear Relationship ◽  
Child Language ◽  
Lexical Diversity ◽  
Diversity Measure ◽  
Closed Class ◽  
Language Research ◽  
Non Linear

ABSTRACTType/Token Ratios have been extensively used in child language research as an index of lexical diversity. This paper shows that the measure has frequently failed to discriminate between children at widely different stages of language development, and that the ratio may in fact fall as children get older. It is suggested here that such effects are caused by a negative, though non-linear, relationship between sample size (i.e. number of tokens) and Type/Token Ratio. Effects of open and closed class items are considered and an alternative Verbal Diversity measure is examined. Standardization of the number of tokens before computing Type/Token Ratios is recommended.

The visual number world: A dynamic approach to study the mathematical mind

2018 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Hartmann ◽  
Jochen Laubrock ◽  
Martin H Fischer
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Cognition ◽  
Mental Arithmetic ◽  
Simultaneous Presentation ◽  
Language Research ◽  
On Line ◽  
Arithmetic Performance ◽  
Mathematical Mind ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Visual Number

In the domain of language research, the simultaneous presentation of a visual scene and its auditory description (i.e., the visual world paradigm) has been used to reveal the timing of mental mechanisms. Here we apply this rationale to the domain of numerical cognition in order to explore the differences between fast and slow arithmetic performance, and to further study the role of spatial-numerical associations during mental arithmetic. We presented 30 healthy adults simultaneously with visual displays containing four numbers and with auditory addition and subtraction problems. Analysis of eye movements revealed that participants look spontaneously at the numbers they currently process (operands, solution). Faster performance was characterized by shorter latencies prior to fixating the relevant numbers and fewer revisits to the first operand while computing the solution. These signatures of superior task performance were more pronounced for addition and visual numbers arranged in ascending order, and for subtraction and numbers arranged in descending order (compared to the opposite pairings). Our results show that the “visual number world”-paradigm provides on-line access to the mind during mental arithmetic, is able to capture variability in arithmetic performance, and is sensitive to visual layout manipulations that are otherwise not reflected in response time measurements.

scholarly journals Language in social reproduction: Sociolinguistics and sociosemiotics

2009 ◽  
Vol 37 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 43-81
Author(s):  
Patrizia Calefato
Keyword(s):  
Social Reproduction ◽  
Social Dimension ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Sixties ◽  
Roman Jakobson ◽  
New Type ◽  
General Linguistics ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Relationship

This paper focuses on the semiotic foundations of sociolinguistics. Starting from the definition of “sociolinguistics” given by the philosopher Adam Schaff, the paper examines in particular the notion of “critical sociolinguistics” as theorized by the Italian semiotician Ferruccio Rossi-Landi. The basis of the social dimension of language are to be found in what Rossi-Landi calls “social reproduction” which regards both verbal and non-verbal signs. Saussure’s notion of langue can be considered in this way, with reference not only to his Course of General Linguistics, but also to his Harvard Manuscripts.The paper goes on trying also to understand Roland Barthes’s provocative definition of semiology as a part of linguistics (and not vice-versa) as well as developing the notion of communication-production in this perspective. Some articles of Roman Jakobson of the sixties allow us to reflect in a manner which we now call “socio-semiotic” on the processes of transformation of the “organic” signs into signs of a new type, which articulate the relationship between organic and instrumental. In this sense, socio-linguistics is intended as being sociosemiotics, without prejudice to the fact that the reference area must be human, since semiotics also has the prerogative of referring to the world of non-human vital signs.Socio-linguistics as socio-semiotics assumes the role of a “frontier” science, in the dual sense that it is not only on the border between science of language and the anthropological and social sciences, but also that it can be constructed in a movement of continual “crossing frontiers” and of “contamination” between languages and disciplinary environments.

scholarly journals Regulatory and Planning Speech Functions Influence on the Senior Preschoolers’ and Junior Schoolchildren’s Voluntary Development

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 256-280
Author(s):  
Valentyna Poul ◽  
Ostap Bodyk
Keyword(s):  
Structural Model ◽  
First Graders ◽  
Time History ◽  
Speech Development ◽  
Preschool Age ◽  
Behavior Development ◽  
Experimental Works ◽  
Volitional Behavior ◽  
Children's Speech

The article is based on the idea of studying the growth of the regulatory role of child’s speech in the activity organization and feasance and the conduct of child’s behavior. According to this idea, the child’s volitional behavior arises with the skills appearance to build speech utterances, when youngster begins to draw up a plan of his/her activity and regulate the process of his/her implementation with their help, i.e., the development of planning and regulatory speech functions is in progress. Emphasis is placed just on the problem of forming in children the ability to build utterances on their own in connection with the development of speech functions and their volitional development. It’s given the proof of the interconnection of the stages development of planning and regulatory speech functions in preschool and junior schoolchildren and the conditionality of the volitional development of children by the development of their speech skills and functions. The paper presents a functional-structural model of the development process optimization of planning and regulatory speech functions by children in forming their speech skills. It’s illustrated the structure of the program forming preschoolers’ and first graders’ skills to model speech utterances for their development of planning and regulatory speech functions, the formation of which is considered as one of the their volitional behavior development mechanisms. The effectiveness of this program has been experimentally proved. The results show the substantial children’s speech development changes, the positive will development dynamics, the time history in an interrelation between children’s will and speech development, namely: volitional development was connected with all connected speech indicators at the same time, in preschoolers – mainly with their utterances completeness and logic, in first-graders – with the understanding of the meaning of their own speech in activity. On the basis of the scientists’ theoretical and experimental works and presented empirical research results analysis it’s suggested to assume the senior preschool age as a sensitive for the regulatory speech function development and the junior school age – planning one.

Perspectives on sociolinguistic variation (Review article)

1985 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 515-526 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralph W. Fasold
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Review Article ◽  
Speech Community ◽  
Sociolinguistic Variation ◽  
Language Structure ◽  
The Social ◽  
General Linguistics

This chapter [of Sociolinguistic patterns – RWF] will deal with the study of language structure and evolution within the social context of the speech community. The linguistic topics to be considered here cover the area usually named “general linguistics,” dealing with phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics (Labov 1972:184). Surely, this is too narrow a conception of the role of sociolinguistic research (Romaine 1982:6).

Practice and progression in Second Language Research methods

AILA Review ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 80-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison Mackey
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Corpus Linguistics ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Research Synthesis ◽  
Deep Dive ◽  
Psychology Education ◽  
Language Research ◽  
General Linguistics

Since its inception, the field of second language research has utilized methods from a number of areas, including general linguistics, psychology, education, sociology, anthropology and, recently, neuroscience and corpus linguistics. As the questions and objectives expand, researchers are increasingly pushing methodological boundaries to gain a clearer picture of second language learning. At one end for example, we see measures of cognition (e.g., brain imaging and eye tracking) and at the other end we see exploration of issues of culture and identity (e.g., ethnographies, deep dive case studies, introspective and narrative analyses). There is an emerging emphasis on research synthesis, meta-analysis, and replication. This article illustrates a few of the advancements in methods and research agendas in SLA. I will conclude by highlighting some of the ways that second language researchers can continue to incorporate, assimilate, and shape methodology, as well as pointing out some of the potential pitfalls, and overall, how these methodological innovations benefit the field.

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