4. Three acquisition puzzles and the relation between input and output
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Manuela Schönenberger
Abstract
I discuss three puzzles arising from the study of two children acquiring Swiss German, a verb-second (V2) language which displays the verb-final pattern in embedded clauses. Before switching to the verb-final pattern the children use verb movement in embedded clauses which presents the following puzzles bearing on the relation between input and output. (i) The children generalize verb movement to all embedded clauses although a large proportion in the input unambiguously show the verb-final pattern. (ii) The children produce V2 in wil ‘because’-clauses, although the adults usually produced the verb-final pattern. (iii) One of the children still misplaces finite auxiliaries at age 8;0. In trying to solve these puzzles I draw a comparison between the child data and adult matrix clauses, and also note similarities between these acquisition data and diachronic English data.
Abstract
I discuss three puzzles arising from the study of two children acquiring Swiss German, a verb-second (V2) language which displays the verb-final pattern in embedded clauses. Before switching to the verb-final pattern the children use verb movement in embedded clauses which presents the following puzzles bearing on the relation between input and output. (i) The children generalize verb movement to all embedded clauses although a large proportion in the input unambiguously show the verb-final pattern. (ii) The children produce V2 in wil ‘because’-clauses, although the adults usually produced the verb-final pattern. (iii) One of the children still misplaces finite auxiliaries at age 8;0. In trying to solve these puzzles I draw a comparison between the child data and adult matrix clauses, and also note similarities between these acquisition data and diachronic English data.
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
