Chapter 3. Learning from social interaction
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Silke Brandt
Abstract
According to usage-based and constructivist approaches to language development, linguistic categories and structures have semantic content and a communicative function. Relative clauses (RCs) serve a variety of functions in spoken discourse. Depending on their function, RCs occur in different discourse and linguistic contexts and are marked by different formal, semantic, and lexical features. This has largely been ignored in studies that investigated children’s processing of these complex structures. I will summarize cross-linguistic corpus studies that analyzed the form and function of RC constructions in children’s and adults’ speech. Furthermore, I will summarize findings from recent cross-linguistic experiments that suggest that children’s processing of RC constructions is constrained by the form and function of RCs as they are used in social interactions as well as by the form and function of other related, more frequent constructions. Most of the corpus and experimental data come from children learning English, German, Japanese, or Cantonese because there are comparable studies, but I will also indicate when there is data from other languages.
Abstract
According to usage-based and constructivist approaches to language development, linguistic categories and structures have semantic content and a communicative function. Relative clauses (RCs) serve a variety of functions in spoken discourse. Depending on their function, RCs occur in different discourse and linguistic contexts and are marked by different formal, semantic, and lexical features. This has largely been ignored in studies that investigated children’s processing of these complex structures. I will summarize cross-linguistic corpus studies that analyzed the form and function of RC constructions in children’s and adults’ speech. Furthermore, I will summarize findings from recent cross-linguistic experiments that suggest that children’s processing of RC constructions is constrained by the form and function of RCs as they are used in social interactions as well as by the form and function of other related, more frequent constructions. Most of the corpus and experimental data come from children learning English, German, Japanese, or Cantonese because there are comparable studies, but I will also indicate when there is data from other languages.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Introduction. The acquisition of relative clauses 1
- Chapter 1. Relative clauses 13
- Chapter 2. A connectionist account of the acquisition and processing of relative clauses 39
- Chapter 3. Learning from social interaction 61
- Chapter 4. Relative clause acquisition in Hebrew and the learning of constructions 81
- Chapter 5. Acquisition of relative clauses in Finnish 107
- Chapter 6. Learning to produce Quechua relative clauses 141
- Chapter 7. The acquisition of relative clauses in Japanese 173
- Chapter 8. The acquisition of relative clauses in Cantonese and Mandarin 197
- Chapter 9. Structural priming in comprehension of relative clause sentences 227
- Index 243
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Introduction. The acquisition of relative clauses 1
- Chapter 1. Relative clauses 13
- Chapter 2. A connectionist account of the acquisition and processing of relative clauses 39
- Chapter 3. Learning from social interaction 61
- Chapter 4. Relative clause acquisition in Hebrew and the learning of constructions 81
- Chapter 5. Acquisition of relative clauses in Finnish 107
- Chapter 6. Learning to produce Quechua relative clauses 141
- Chapter 7. The acquisition of relative clauses in Japanese 173
- Chapter 8. The acquisition of relative clauses in Cantonese and Mandarin 197
- Chapter 9. Structural priming in comprehension of relative clause sentences 227
- Index 243
