Acquisition of German diminutive formation and compounding in a comparative perspective
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Wolfgang U. Dressler
Abstract
Early phases of first language acquisition can shed light on general preferences in diminutive formation and compounding, as is demonstrated in this typological characterization of German diminutives and compounds and their acquisition. The role of typology is shown to be similar to that in acquisition of inflection in the parameters of morphological richness, productivity, and transparency, but different in other respects. The impact of frequency in children’s input by caregivers on their output appears to be important in corresponding token frequencies, but very restricted in predicting order of emergence.
Abstract
Early phases of first language acquisition can shed light on general preferences in diminutive formation and compounding, as is demonstrated in this typological characterization of German diminutives and compounds and their acquisition. The role of typology is shown to be similar to that in acquisition of inflection in the parameters of morphological richness, productivity, and transparency, but different in other respects. The impact of frequency in children’s input by caregivers on their output appears to be important in corresponding token frequencies, but very restricted in predicting order of emergence.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword & acknowledgments vii
- Editors’ introduction ix
-
Part I. Regularity, irregularity, and analogy
- Arguments from Lovari loan-verb adaptation for an analogy-based analysis of verbal systems 3
- Possible and impossible variation in Hungarian 23
- Variation in the possessive allomorphy of Hungarian 51
- Revisiting exocentricity in compounding 65
- A constructionist account of the Modern Dutch adnominal genitive 83
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Part II. The role of frequency in morphological complexity, morphological change and language acquisition
- Perspectives on morphological complexity 107
- Morphological complexity and unsupervised learning 135
- A working typology of multiple exponence 163
- Linguistic self-regulation 189
- Suffix predictability and stem transparency in the acquisition of German noun plurals 217
- Acquisition of German diminutive formation and compounding in a comparative perspective 237
- Index 265
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword & acknowledgments vii
- Editors’ introduction ix
-
Part I. Regularity, irregularity, and analogy
- Arguments from Lovari loan-verb adaptation for an analogy-based analysis of verbal systems 3
- Possible and impossible variation in Hungarian 23
- Variation in the possessive allomorphy of Hungarian 51
- Revisiting exocentricity in compounding 65
- A constructionist account of the Modern Dutch adnominal genitive 83
-
Part II. The role of frequency in morphological complexity, morphological change and language acquisition
- Perspectives on morphological complexity 107
- Morphological complexity and unsupervised learning 135
- A working typology of multiple exponence 163
- Linguistic self-regulation 189
- Suffix predictability and stem transparency in the acquisition of German noun plurals 217
- Acquisition of German diminutive formation and compounding in a comparative perspective 237
- Index 265
