8. The subjects of unaccusative verbs in bilingual Basque/Spanish children
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María Pilar Larrañaga
Abstract
The upsurge of interest in word order rules amongst generative scholars over the last ten years has led to approaches which combine syntax, pragmatics and phonology in a highly persuasive explanatory way (Zubizarreta (1998); Cinque (1993) to name but a few). This chapter examined the position of the subjects of unaccusative verbs and their pragmatic entailments in the speech of two Basque/Spanish children brought up bilingually. The longitudinal data were analyzed with respect to the position of the subject and its information status. The results showed that there were two clear patterns of acquisition depending on the language concerned and have been discussed in the light of old and new hypotheses. Our discussion will be centred around the issues of the left periphery (Rizzi 1997) and cross-linguistic influence (Müller & Hulk 2001) since the domain of preverbal subjects meets the criteria proposed by the latter.
Abstract
The upsurge of interest in word order rules amongst generative scholars over the last ten years has led to approaches which combine syntax, pragmatics and phonology in a highly persuasive explanatory way (Zubizarreta (1998); Cinque (1993) to name but a few). This chapter examined the position of the subjects of unaccusative verbs and their pragmatic entailments in the speech of two Basque/Spanish children brought up bilingually. The longitudinal data were analyzed with respect to the position of the subject and its information status. The results showed that there were two clear patterns of acquisition depending on the language concerned and have been discussed in the light of old and new hypotheses. Our discussion will be centred around the issues of the left periphery (Rizzi 1997) and cross-linguistic influence (Müller & Hulk 2001) since the domain of preverbal subjects meets the criteria proposed by the latter.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
- 1. Left-dislocated subjects: A construction typical of young French-speaking children? 13
- 2. The development and interaction of Case and Number in early Russian 31
- 3. Verb movement and subject placement in the acquisition of word order: Pragmatics or structural economy? 61
- 4. Three acquisition puzzles and the relation between input and output 87
- 5. The acquisition of universal quantifiers in Spanish 119
- 6. Subject-object asymmetry in children's comprehension of sentences containing logical words 137
- 7. On the "vulnerability" of the left periphery in French/German balanced bilingual language acquisition 161
- 8. The subjects of unaccusative verbs in bilingual Basque/Spanish children 183
- 9. Dominance, mixing and cross-linguistic influence: On their relation in bilingual development 209
- 10. A cross-linguistic analysis of binding in Down syndrome 235
- 11. Balanced bilingual children with two weak languages: A French/German case study 269
- Afterword 295
- Index of subjects 299
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
- 1. Left-dislocated subjects: A construction typical of young French-speaking children? 13
- 2. The development and interaction of Case and Number in early Russian 31
- 3. Verb movement and subject placement in the acquisition of word order: Pragmatics or structural economy? 61
- 4. Three acquisition puzzles and the relation between input and output 87
- 5. The acquisition of universal quantifiers in Spanish 119
- 6. Subject-object asymmetry in children's comprehension of sentences containing logical words 137
- 7. On the "vulnerability" of the left periphery in French/German balanced bilingual language acquisition 161
- 8. The subjects of unaccusative verbs in bilingual Basque/Spanish children 183
- 9. Dominance, mixing and cross-linguistic influence: On their relation in bilingual development 209
- 10. A cross-linguistic analysis of binding in Down syndrome 235
- 11. Balanced bilingual children with two weak languages: A French/German case study 269
- Afterword 295
- Index of subjects 299
