5. The role of diminutives in the acquisition of Italian morphology
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Sabrina Noccetti
Abstract
The paper deals with the acquisition of diminutives by four Italian children with three objectives: to highlight parallelisms and differences in input and output data; to contrast the mechanism of item-based learning (cf. Tomasello 2003) to the dual-route model (Clahsen et al. 2003) as regards the acquisition of diminutives; to investigate whether the productive use of diminutives is a simplifying strategy for acquiring the morphology of non-productive, opaque inflectional classes. The analysis of data reveals a common developmental pattern in the children and that the acquisition of diminutive suffixes (especially -ino) can be ascribed to children’s rule extraction. The children, more markedly two of them, use the regular inflection of the diminutives as a strategy to simplify the input data.
Abstract
The paper deals with the acquisition of diminutives by four Italian children with three objectives: to highlight parallelisms and differences in input and output data; to contrast the mechanism of item-based learning (cf. Tomasello 2003) to the dual-route model (Clahsen et al. 2003) as regards the acquisition of diminutives; to investigate whether the productive use of diminutives is a simplifying strategy for acquiring the morphology of non-productive, opaque inflectional classes. The analysis of data reveals a common developmental pattern in the children and that the acquisition of diminutive suffixes (especially -ino) can be ascribed to children’s rule extraction. The children, more markedly two of them, use the regular inflection of the diminutives as a strategy to simplify the input data.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
- 1. Form and meaning of diminutives in Lithuanian child language 13
- 2. Diminutives in Russian at the early stages of acquisition 43
- 3. The acquisition of diminutives in Croatian 73
- 4. Diminutives in Greek child language 89
- 5. The role of diminutives in the acquisition of Italian morphology 125
- 6. The acquisition of diminutives in Spanish 155
- 7. A longitudinal study of the acquisition of diminutives in Dutch 183
- 8. Diminutives and hypocoristics in Austrian German (AG) 207
- 9. Acquisition of diminutives in Hungarian 231
- 10. Diminutives in Finnish child-directed and child speech 263
- 11. The (scarcity of) diminutives in Turkish child language 279
- 12. Acquiring diminutive structures and meanings in Hebrew 295
- 13. Diminutives provide multiple benefits for language acquisition 319
- Conclusions 343
- Subject index 351
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
- 1. Form and meaning of diminutives in Lithuanian child language 13
- 2. Diminutives in Russian at the early stages of acquisition 43
- 3. The acquisition of diminutives in Croatian 73
- 4. Diminutives in Greek child language 89
- 5. The role of diminutives in the acquisition of Italian morphology 125
- 6. The acquisition of diminutives in Spanish 155
- 7. A longitudinal study of the acquisition of diminutives in Dutch 183
- 8. Diminutives and hypocoristics in Austrian German (AG) 207
- 9. Acquisition of diminutives in Hungarian 231
- 10. Diminutives in Finnish child-directed and child speech 263
- 11. The (scarcity of) diminutives in Turkish child language 279
- 12. Acquiring diminutive structures and meanings in Hebrew 295
- 13. Diminutives provide multiple benefits for language acquisition 319
- Conclusions 343
- Subject index 351
