Before grammar
-
Cecilia Rojas-Nieto
Abstract
This paper presents early complex constructions with querer ‘want’ produced by a young Mexican Spanish-speaking child. It argues that constructions in the complement position, regardless their infinitive or subjunctive marking, result from simple cut and paste operations and do not involve any complex syntactic operations. Crucial for this proposal is the fact that these marked constructions have an independent exposition before they get into any combination, and the frequent and distributed occurrence of anomalous two-predicate combinations that result from the adjunction of unrestricted constructions from the child’s construction inventory. A functional-pragmatic motivation is proposed. Evidence is interpreted within the Usage-Based Theory of Language Acquisition (Tomasello 2003), taking into account recent work on child’s early complex constructions (Diessel & Tomasello 2005; Givón 2007, 2008).
Abstract
This paper presents early complex constructions with querer ‘want’ produced by a young Mexican Spanish-speaking child. It argues that constructions in the complement position, regardless their infinitive or subjunctive marking, result from simple cut and paste operations and do not involve any complex syntactic operations. Crucial for this proposal is the fact that these marked constructions have an independent exposition before they get into any combination, and the frequent and distributed occurrence of anomalous two-predicate combinations that result from the adjunction of unrestricted constructions from the child’s construction inventory. A functional-pragmatic motivation is proposed. Evidence is interpreted within the Usage-Based Theory of Language Acquisition (Tomasello 2003), taking into account recent work on child’s early complex constructions (Diessel & Tomasello 2005; Givón 2007, 2008).
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
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
