Parsing, pragmatics, and representation
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Jill G. de Villiers
Abstract
How do young children comprehend wh-questions from two-clause sentences? Is it via parsing heuristics like first resort, or different grammars, or the question-under-discussion? Fifty preschool children and twenty-three adults gave answers to nine adjunct wh-questions from sentences with false complements. The effects of verb and wh-question were tested on the type of answer children give: short distance, long distance, and reality answers, which link the wh only to the embedded verb. Neither children nor adults preferred to fill the first gap, but adults and children differed in the likelihood of a reality answer. This answer type was linked to children’s language skill assessed by another index. The disparities in various theoretical positions and research findings are then discussed. Differences in the form of the sentences used across the laboratories point to a new explanation for the disparity between the different results.
Abstract
How do young children comprehend wh-questions from two-clause sentences? Is it via parsing heuristics like first resort, or different grammars, or the question-under-discussion? Fifty preschool children and twenty-three adults gave answers to nine adjunct wh-questions from sentences with false complements. The effects of verb and wh-question were tested on the type of answer children give: short distance, long distance, and reality answers, which link the wh only to the embedded verb. Neither children nor adults preferred to fill the first gap, but adults and children differed in the likelihood of a reality answer. This answer type was linked to children’s language skill assessed by another index. The disparities in various theoretical positions and research findings are then discussed. Differences in the form of the sentences used across the laboratories point to a new explanation for the disparity between the different results.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Three streams of generative language acquisition research 1
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Part I. Variation in input
- The comprehension of 3rd person singular -s by NYC English-speaking preschoolers 7
- Children’s acquisition of sociolinguistic variation 35
- Variability within varieties of English 59
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Part II. First language acquisition
- Parsing, pragmatics, and representation 85
- The interpretation of disjunction in VP ellipsis in Mandarin Chinese 107
- When OR is conjunctive in child Mandarin 125
- The acquisition of V-V compounds in Japanese 143
- Differentiating universal quantification from completive aspect in child Cantonese 159
- On the learnability of implicit arguments 185
- Red train, big train, broken train 203
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Part III. Second language acquisition
- The acquisition of Mandarin reflexives by heritage speakers and second language learners 225
- Interpretation of count and mass NPs by L2-learners from generalized classifier L1s 253
- Acquisition of word order in L2 Spanish 271
- Argument omission in SignL2 acquisition by deaf learners 297
- The Bottleneck Hypothesis updated 319
- Author index 347
- Subject index 355
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Three streams of generative language acquisition research 1
-
Part I. Variation in input
- The comprehension of 3rd person singular -s by NYC English-speaking preschoolers 7
- Children’s acquisition of sociolinguistic variation 35
- Variability within varieties of English 59
-
Part II. First language acquisition
- Parsing, pragmatics, and representation 85
- The interpretation of disjunction in VP ellipsis in Mandarin Chinese 107
- When OR is conjunctive in child Mandarin 125
- The acquisition of V-V compounds in Japanese 143
- Differentiating universal quantification from completive aspect in child Cantonese 159
- On the learnability of implicit arguments 185
- Red train, big train, broken train 203
-
Part III. Second language acquisition
- The acquisition of Mandarin reflexives by heritage speakers and second language learners 225
- Interpretation of count and mass NPs by L2-learners from generalized classifier L1s 253
- Acquisition of word order in L2 Spanish 271
- Argument omission in SignL2 acquisition by deaf learners 297
- The Bottleneck Hypothesis updated 319
- Author index 347
- Subject index 355
