2. The development and interaction of Case and Number in early Russian
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Galina Gordishevsky
Abstract
This chapter reports the results of a spontaneous speech study on the interaction between Case and Number in child Russian. Following Hoekstra & Hyams (1995, 1996) and Müller (1994), we hypothesize that the Number head is initially underspecified in child grammars and represents [+singular] only. Our results support this hypothesis, exhibiting almost flawless Case licensing in the singular, but failure to use plural Cased forms correctly between the ages 1;8–2;0 and to a lesser extent between the ages 2;1–2;6. Our results also support the Full Clause or Full Competence Hypothesis (Hyams 1992; Wexler 1992; Poeppel & Wexler 1993), according to which functional categories are present in child grammar from the beginning.
Abstract
This chapter reports the results of a spontaneous speech study on the interaction between Case and Number in child Russian. Following Hoekstra & Hyams (1995, 1996) and Müller (1994), we hypothesize that the Number head is initially underspecified in child grammars and represents [+singular] only. Our results support this hypothesis, exhibiting almost flawless Case licensing in the singular, but failure to use plural Cased forms correctly between the ages 1;8–2;0 and to a lesser extent between the ages 2;1–2;6. Our results also support the Full Clause or Full Competence Hypothesis (Hyams 1992; Wexler 1992; Poeppel & Wexler 1993), according to which functional categories are present in child grammar from the beginning.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
- 1. Left-dislocated subjects: A construction typical of young French-speaking children? 13
- 2. The development and interaction of Case and Number in early Russian 31
- 3. Verb movement and subject placement in the acquisition of word order: Pragmatics or structural economy? 61
- 4. Three acquisition puzzles and the relation between input and output 87
- 5. The acquisition of universal quantifiers in Spanish 119
- 6. Subject-object asymmetry in children's comprehension of sentences containing logical words 137
- 7. On the "vulnerability" of the left periphery in French/German balanced bilingual language acquisition 161
- 8. The subjects of unaccusative verbs in bilingual Basque/Spanish children 183
- 9. Dominance, mixing and cross-linguistic influence: On their relation in bilingual development 209
- 10. A cross-linguistic analysis of binding in Down syndrome 235
- 11. Balanced bilingual children with two weak languages: A French/German case study 269
- Afterword 295
- Index of subjects 299
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
- 1. Left-dislocated subjects: A construction typical of young French-speaking children? 13
- 2. The development and interaction of Case and Number in early Russian 31
- 3. Verb movement and subject placement in the acquisition of word order: Pragmatics or structural economy? 61
- 4. Three acquisition puzzles and the relation between input and output 87
- 5. The acquisition of universal quantifiers in Spanish 119
- 6. Subject-object asymmetry in children's comprehension of sentences containing logical words 137
- 7. On the "vulnerability" of the left periphery in French/German balanced bilingual language acquisition 161
- 8. The subjects of unaccusative verbs in bilingual Basque/Spanish children 183
- 9. Dominance, mixing and cross-linguistic influence: On their relation in bilingual development 209
- 10. A cross-linguistic analysis of binding in Down syndrome 235
- 11. Balanced bilingual children with two weak languages: A French/German case study 269
- Afterword 295
- Index of subjects 299
