Early determination
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Ana Teresa Pérez-Leroux
Abstract
This study examines the syntactic and semantic factors in children’s initial production of determiners. Using longitudinal corpora of two monolingual Spanish-speaking children, we investigate whether children exhibit sensitivity to the pre-/post-verbal asymmetry, and awareness of the count-singular, mass and count-plural distinction from an early age. Our results indicate that the children in this study have determiners from a very young age, but their initial use is not as generalized as adults’. The data suggest that the different quantitative status of the relevant input across domains and categories (lexical class, number, function and position) plays a role in development. We conclude that children attend to the categorical distinctions, rather than the overall variability in the input, in the process of acquiring the determiner system.
Abstract
This study examines the syntactic and semantic factors in children’s initial production of determiners. Using longitudinal corpora of two monolingual Spanish-speaking children, we investigate whether children exhibit sensitivity to the pre-/post-verbal asymmetry, and awareness of the count-singular, mass and count-plural distinction from an early age. Our results indicate that the children in this study have determiners from a very young age, but their initial use is not as generalized as adults’. The data suggest that the different quantitative status of the relevant input across domains and categories (lexical class, number, function and position) plays a role in development. We conclude that children attend to the categorical distinctions, rather than the overall variability in the input, in the process of acquiring the determiner system.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Introduction xiii
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Part I. Diverse learning conditions and input characteristics
- Syllable-final /s/ lenition and the acquisition of plural morphology in Spanish-speaking children 3
- The article paradigm in Spanish-speaking children with SLI in language contact situations 29
- Development in early Basque-Spanish language mixing 57
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Part II. The developing syntax and semantics of determiner phrases
- Context and the Scalar Implicatures of Indefinites in Child Spanish 93
- Early determination 117
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Part III. The developing syntax of the verb phrase
- Before grammar 143
- Subjects, verb classes and word order in child Catalan 175
- Person and number asymmetries in child Catalan and Spanish 195
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Part IV. The development of inflectional morphology
- Relationships between linguistic and behavioral measures during development 217
- Temporal interface delay and root nonfinite verbs in Spanish-Speaking children with specific language impairment 239
- Specific language impairment in Spanish & Catalan 265
- Variability in the grammatical profiles of Spanish-speaking children with specific language impairment 283
- Index 303
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Introduction xiii
-
Part I. Diverse learning conditions and input characteristics
- Syllable-final /s/ lenition and the acquisition of plural morphology in Spanish-speaking children 3
- The article paradigm in Spanish-speaking children with SLI in language contact situations 29
- Development in early Basque-Spanish language mixing 57
-
Part II. The developing syntax and semantics of determiner phrases
- Context and the Scalar Implicatures of Indefinites in Child Spanish 93
- Early determination 117
-
Part III. The developing syntax of the verb phrase
- Before grammar 143
- Subjects, verb classes and word order in child Catalan 175
- Person and number asymmetries in child Catalan and Spanish 195
-
Part IV. The development of inflectional morphology
- Relationships between linguistic and behavioral measures during development 217
- Temporal interface delay and root nonfinite verbs in Spanish-Speaking children with specific language impairment 239
- Specific language impairment in Spanish & Catalan 265
- Variability in the grammatical profiles of Spanish-speaking children with specific language impairment 283
- Index 303
