On the learnability of implicit arguments
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Victoria Mateu
Abstract
It has been argued that the experiencer argument of seem is always syntactically projected, and should thus induce an intervention effect even when not overtly produced. The results of our experimental study provide evidence for this claim – English-speaking children perform poorly on raising with seem, whether the intervening experiencer argument is overt or implicit. Conversely, Spanish-speaking children show adult-like performance with the raising semi-modal verb parecer ‘seem’, which does not take an experiencer argument. This outcome raises questions regarding learnability, i.e. English-speaking children must know to project an implicit experiencer with seem, while Spanish-speaking children must not do so with the functional verb parecer. In this paper we provide a learning path that resolves this learning challenge.
Abstract
It has been argued that the experiencer argument of seem is always syntactically projected, and should thus induce an intervention effect even when not overtly produced. The results of our experimental study provide evidence for this claim – English-speaking children perform poorly on raising with seem, whether the intervening experiencer argument is overt or implicit. Conversely, Spanish-speaking children show adult-like performance with the raising semi-modal verb parecer ‘seem’, which does not take an experiencer argument. This outcome raises questions regarding learnability, i.e. English-speaking children must know to project an implicit experiencer with seem, while Spanish-speaking children must not do so with the functional verb parecer. In this paper we provide a learning path that resolves this learning challenge.
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
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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
