John Benjamins Publishing Company
Typology, acquisition, and development
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Ruth A. Berman
Abstract
This introductory chapter presents background on the typology, acquisition, and development of Israeli Hebrew in order to provide a shared frame of reference for readers’ perusal of the eleven chapters that follow. It starts by defining the overall goal of the volume, followed by an overview of prior research on acquisition of Hebrew since the 1980s. Salient features of the language are outlined in historical perspective, characterizing Modern Hebrew as a typologically mixed language, with consequences relevant to children’s acquisition of its phonology, orthography, morphology, and syntactic structure. Then follows a brief review of two key facets of the language that figure importantly in its acquisition and in various contributions of the present volume: the role of word-internal morphological structure and the uniquely Semitic features of consonantal roots, binyan verb patterns, and nominal mishkal patterns. The chapter concludes by summarizing the contents of the book, organized by different linguistic domains – phonology, morphology, syntax, discourse, and literacy – and covering periods of development from infancy to adolescence, based on varied sources of data and research methodologies and on distinct approaches to language and language acquisition.
Abstract
This introductory chapter presents background on the typology, acquisition, and development of Israeli Hebrew in order to provide a shared frame of reference for readers’ perusal of the eleven chapters that follow. It starts by defining the overall goal of the volume, followed by an overview of prior research on acquisition of Hebrew since the 1980s. Salient features of the language are outlined in historical perspective, characterizing Modern Hebrew as a typologically mixed language, with consequences relevant to children’s acquisition of its phonology, orthography, morphology, and syntactic structure. Then follows a brief review of two key facets of the language that figure importantly in its acquisition and in various contributions of the present volume: the role of word-internal morphological structure and the uniquely Semitic features of consonantal roots, binyan verb patterns, and nominal mishkal patterns. The chapter concludes by summarizing the contents of the book, organized by different linguistic domains – phonology, morphology, syntax, discourse, and literacy – and covering periods of development from infancy to adolescence, based on varied sources of data and research methodologies and on distinct approaches to language and language acquisition.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgments vii
- Transcription and coding conventions ix
- Typology, acquisition, and development 1
- Paths and stages in acquisition of the phonological word in Hebrew 39
- Phonological development in Israeli Hebrew-learning infants and toddlers 69
- Foundations of the early root category 95
- Development of Hebrew derivational morphology from preschool to adolescence 135
- Lexical development in Hebrew 175
- The nature of CDS in Hebrew 201
- From opacity to transparency 225
- Development of intra- and inter-clausal dependency in Hebrew 259
- Expression of temporality in Hebrew narratives written by deaf adolescents 295
- Early development of written language in Hebrew 325
- Metalinguistic awareness in reading Hebrew L2 353
- Author Index 387
- Subject Index 395
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgments vii
- Transcription and coding conventions ix
- Typology, acquisition, and development 1
- Paths and stages in acquisition of the phonological word in Hebrew 39
- Phonological development in Israeli Hebrew-learning infants and toddlers 69
- Foundations of the early root category 95
- Development of Hebrew derivational morphology from preschool to adolescence 135
- Lexical development in Hebrew 175
- The nature of CDS in Hebrew 201
- From opacity to transparency 225
- Development of intra- and inter-clausal dependency in Hebrew 259
- Expression of temporality in Hebrew narratives written by deaf adolescents 295
- Early development of written language in Hebrew 325
- Metalinguistic awareness in reading Hebrew L2 353
- Author Index 387
- Subject Index 395
