Chapter 4. Relative clause acquisition in Hebrew and the learning of constructions
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Inbal Arnon
Abstract
In this chapter, I outline the developmental path of relative clauses in Hebrew while asking more general questions about how constructions are learned. I argue that Hebrew-speaking children show a gradual expansion of uses that is sensitive to the distributional patterns in their input. This pattern, found both in comprehension and production, is consistent with usage-based predictions about how constructions are learned. Taking Hebrew relative clauses as a case-study, I show how children’s own uses become more semantically and structurally complex, and how their understanding develops to rely less on morphological cues. By looking closely at production and comprehension patterns we can see that children’s use of relative clauses, like that of other constructions, develops gradually over time in ways that are sensitive to language-general and language specific cues. Finally, I suggest that the frequency of multi-word sequences (larger than one lexical word) plays a role in children’s expansion of uses: Other things being equal, children prefer to produce construction variants with a higher chunk frequency.
Abstract
In this chapter, I outline the developmental path of relative clauses in Hebrew while asking more general questions about how constructions are learned. I argue that Hebrew-speaking children show a gradual expansion of uses that is sensitive to the distributional patterns in their input. This pattern, found both in comprehension and production, is consistent with usage-based predictions about how constructions are learned. Taking Hebrew relative clauses as a case-study, I show how children’s own uses become more semantically and structurally complex, and how their understanding develops to rely less on morphological cues. By looking closely at production and comprehension patterns we can see that children’s use of relative clauses, like that of other constructions, develops gradually over time in ways that are sensitive to language-general and language specific cues. Finally, I suggest that the frequency of multi-word sequences (larger than one lexical word) plays a role in children’s expansion of uses: Other things being equal, children prefer to produce construction variants with a higher chunk frequency.
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
