Emergent clause-combining in adult-child interactional contexts
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Ruth A. Berman
Abstract
The study analyzes early clause-combining (CC) complex syntax of three Hebrew-acquiring girls in self-initiated autonomous constructions compared to three types of interlocutor-supported contexts – by means of Affirmations (encouraging comments), Scaffolding (structural prompts), and Co-Construction (adult-child clause-combining adjacency pairs). Two of the girls show a marked rise in self-initiated use of explicitly-marked canonical CC constructions along with a concurrent increase in reliance on interlocutor-supported contexts. The third child, who progressed more slowly in producing such autonomous CC constructions, also received relatively little supportive input overall. These findings for an increase in canonical CC usage together with a rise in reliance on supportive contexts suggest that interactive contexts play a role in advancing the consolidation of early complex syntax.
Abstract
The study analyzes early clause-combining (CC) complex syntax of three Hebrew-acquiring girls in self-initiated autonomous constructions compared to three types of interlocutor-supported contexts – by means of Affirmations (encouraging comments), Scaffolding (structural prompts), and Co-Construction (adult-child clause-combining adjacency pairs). Two of the girls show a marked rise in self-initiated use of explicitly-marked canonical CC constructions along with a concurrent increase in reliance on interlocutor-supported contexts. The third child, who progressed more slowly in producing such autonomous CC constructions, also received relatively little supportive input overall. These findings for an increase in canonical CC usage together with a rise in reliance on supportive contexts suggest that interactive contexts play a role in advancing the consolidation of early complex syntax.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgements vii
- List of contributors ix
- introduction Language acquisition in interaction 1
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Part 1. The social and interactional nature of language input (five papers)
- Conversational input to bilingual children 13
- Social environments shape children’s language experiences, strengthening language processing and building vocabulary 29
- The interactional context of language learning in Tzeltal 51
- Conversation and language acquisition 83
- Taking the floor on time 101
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Part 2. The role of paralinguistic information in language learning (three papers)
- Temporal synchrony in early multi-modal communication 117
- Shared attention, gaze and pointing gestures in hearing and deaf children 139
- How gesture helps children learn language 157
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Part 3. Pragmatic forces in language learning (six papers)
- Referential pacts in child language development 175
- “We call it as puppy” 191
- Learning words through probabilistic inferences about speakers’ communicative intentions 207
- Word order as a structural cue and word reordering as an interactional process in early language acquisition 231
- The discourse basis of the Korean copula construction in acquisition 251
- Emergent clause-combining in adult-child interactional contexts 281
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Part 4. Interactional effects on language structure and use (three papers)
- Analytic and holistic processing in the development of constructions 303
- From speech with others to speech for self 315
- How to talk with children 333
- Index 353
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgements vii
- List of contributors ix
- introduction Language acquisition in interaction 1
-
Part 1. The social and interactional nature of language input (five papers)
- Conversational input to bilingual children 13
- Social environments shape children’s language experiences, strengthening language processing and building vocabulary 29
- The interactional context of language learning in Tzeltal 51
- Conversation and language acquisition 83
- Taking the floor on time 101
-
Part 2. The role of paralinguistic information in language learning (three papers)
- Temporal synchrony in early multi-modal communication 117
- Shared attention, gaze and pointing gestures in hearing and deaf children 139
- How gesture helps children learn language 157
-
Part 3. Pragmatic forces in language learning (six papers)
- Referential pacts in child language development 175
- “We call it as puppy” 191
- Learning words through probabilistic inferences about speakers’ communicative intentions 207
- Word order as a structural cue and word reordering as an interactional process in early language acquisition 231
- The discourse basis of the Korean copula construction in acquisition 251
- Emergent clause-combining in adult-child interactional contexts 281
-
Part 4. Interactional effects on language structure and use (three papers)
- Analytic and holistic processing in the development of constructions 303
- From speech with others to speech for self 315
- How to talk with children 333
- Index 353
