John Benjamins Publishing Company
The acquisition of nominal determiners in French and German
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Abstract
In many languages, the acquisition of nominal determiners is a central aspect of the emergence of grammar in children. This study compares the development of determiners — between the ages 1–3 — in the spontaneous productions of two children who acquire French and Austrian German respectively. Starting with the contrast between Romance and Germanic languages and focusing on morphosyntactic factors, the study evaluates the impact of typological and language-specific differences on the acquisition of determiners. We examine the prediction that determiners should emerge earlier in French than in German and classical hypotheses concerning varying prominence among determiners, definite over indefinite, masculine over feminine, and singular over plural, in the light of developmental data.
Abstract
In many languages, the acquisition of nominal determiners is a central aspect of the emergence of grammar in children. This study compares the development of determiners — between the ages 1–3 — in the spontaneous productions of two children who acquire French and Austrian German respectively. Starting with the contrast between Romance and Germanic languages and focusing on morphosyntactic factors, the study evaluates the impact of typological and language-specific differences on the acquisition of determiners. We examine the prediction that determiners should emerge earlier in French than in German and classical hypotheses concerning varying prominence among determiners, definite over indefinite, masculine over feminine, and singular over plural, in the light of developmental data.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
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Introduction
- Grammaticalization and first language acquisition 1
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Articles
- The study of early comprehension in language development 13
- The acquisition of nominal determiners in French and German 37
- Exploring patterns of adaptation in child-directed speech during the process of early grammaticalization in child language 61
- Sonority, gender and the impact of suffix predictability on the acquisition of German noun plurals 81
- The impact of typological factors in monolingual and bilingual first language acquisition 101
- Developmental perspectives on the expression of motion in speech and gesture 129
- Language-specificity of motion event expressions in young Korean children 157
- Index 185
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
-
Introduction
- Grammaticalization and first language acquisition 1
-
Articles
- The study of early comprehension in language development 13
- The acquisition of nominal determiners in French and German 37
- Exploring patterns of adaptation in child-directed speech during the process of early grammaticalization in child language 61
- Sonority, gender and the impact of suffix predictability on the acquisition of German noun plurals 81
- The impact of typological factors in monolingual and bilingual first language acquisition 101
- Developmental perspectives on the expression of motion in speech and gesture 129
- Language-specificity of motion event expressions in young Korean children 157
- Index 185
