Some directions for the systematic investigation of the acquisition of Cypriot Greek
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Kleanthes K. Grohmann
Abstract
Cypriot Greek is an understudied variety of Modern Greek, certainly as concerns the morphosyntactic grammatical system and developmental stages in young learners. This chapter lays out the beginnings of a larger research agenda currently undertaken by the Cyprus Acquisition Team and presents a first systematic foray into the first language acquisition of Cypriot Greek. One interesting contrast with Standard Modern Greek, and its relevance for young learners, is particularly highlighted: direct object clitic placement. The results from the pilot study presented here are capitalized on by formulating the tender beginnings of the Socio-Syntax of Development Hypothesis for language acquisition in ‘bi-x environments’ – that is, first language development in linguistic environments, such as that of Greek-speaking Cyprus, that are variably characterized as diglossic, bidialectal, or bilingual.
Abstract
Cypriot Greek is an understudied variety of Modern Greek, certainly as concerns the morphosyntactic grammatical system and developmental stages in young learners. This chapter lays out the beginnings of a larger research agenda currently undertaken by the Cyprus Acquisition Team and presents a first systematic foray into the first language acquisition of Cypriot Greek. One interesting contrast with Standard Modern Greek, and its relevance for young learners, is particularly highlighted: direct object clitic placement. The results from the pilot study presented here are capitalized on by formulating the tender beginnings of the Socio-Syntax of Development Hypothesis for language acquisition in ‘bi-x environments’ – that is, first language development in linguistic environments, such as that of Greek-speaking Cyprus, that are variably characterized as diglossic, bidialectal, or bilingual.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Introduction 1
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Part I. (2)L1 versus L2 versus child L2
- ‘Acquisition’ in grammatical development 19
- Tense and Aspect in early French development in aL2, 2L1 and cL2 learners 47
- Subject clitics in child L2 acquisition of French 75
- Placement of infinitives in successive child language acquisition 105
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Part II. The acquisition of sentence structure and functional categories
- The developmental pathway of nominal functional categories in early child Mandarin 125
- The emergence of CP in child Basque 151
- Some directions for the systematic investigation of the acquisition of Cypriot Greek 179
- Strict Interfaces and three kinds of Multiple Grammar 205
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Part III. Autonomous development vs. crosslinguistic influence in bilingual first language acquisition
- Delay and acceleration in bilingual first language acquisition 231
- Intonation targets of yes/no questions by Spanish and German monolingual and bilingual children 263
- Perception of German vowels by bilingual Portuguese-German returnees 287
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Part IV. Language acquisition, language contact and diachronic change
- Acquisition in the context of language change 309
- On the diachronic reanalysis of null subjects and null objects in Brazilian Portuguese 331
- On the decrease in subject-verb inversion in French declaratives 355
- On the relation between acceptability and frequency 383
- Name index 405
- Subject index 409
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Introduction 1
-
Part I. (2)L1 versus L2 versus child L2
- ‘Acquisition’ in grammatical development 19
- Tense and Aspect in early French development in aL2, 2L1 and cL2 learners 47
- Subject clitics in child L2 acquisition of French 75
- Placement of infinitives in successive child language acquisition 105
-
Part II. The acquisition of sentence structure and functional categories
- The developmental pathway of nominal functional categories in early child Mandarin 125
- The emergence of CP in child Basque 151
- Some directions for the systematic investigation of the acquisition of Cypriot Greek 179
- Strict Interfaces and three kinds of Multiple Grammar 205
-
Part III. Autonomous development vs. crosslinguistic influence in bilingual first language acquisition
- Delay and acceleration in bilingual first language acquisition 231
- Intonation targets of yes/no questions by Spanish and German monolingual and bilingual children 263
- Perception of German vowels by bilingual Portuguese-German returnees 287
-
Part IV. Language acquisition, language contact and diachronic change
- Acquisition in the context of language change 309
- On the diachronic reanalysis of null subjects and null objects in Brazilian Portuguese 331
- On the decrease in subject-verb inversion in French declaratives 355
- On the relation between acceptability and frequency 383
- Name index 405
- Subject index 409