Aspects of Argument Structure Acquisition in Inuktitut

Aspects of Argument Structure Acquisition in Inuktitut PDF Author: Shanley Allen
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 902722479X
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 269

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Book Description
This book discusses the first language acquisition of three morphosyntactic mechanisms of transitivity alternation in arctic Quebec Inuktitut. Data derive from naturalistic longitudinal spontaneous speech samples collected over a nine-month period from four Inuit children. Both basic and advanced forms of passive structures are shown to be used productively by Inuktitut-speaking children at an early age relative to English-speaking children, but consistent in age with speakers of non-Indo-European languages reported on in the literature; potential explanations of this difference include frequency of caregiver input and details of language structure. Morphological causatives appear slightly later in the acquisition sequence, and their first instances reflect use of unanalyzed routines. Lexical causatives are present from the earliest ages studied. Evidence of a period of overgeneralization of lexical causatives in one subject at the same time as the morphological causative shows signs of being productively acquired suggests that the seeming overgeneralization may reflect nothing more than as yet unstable use of the morphological causative. Noun incorporation structures are shown to be used productively by Inuktitut-speaking children at an early age relative to Mohawk-speaking children; potential explanations of this difference include details of language structure and relative language use in the environments of the learners. Findings are considered in light of current debates in the literature concerning continuity versus maturation of grammatical structure, and concerning the functional categories available to the child at early stages of acquisition. Data presented argue against late maturation, and suggest that all functional categories may be accessed by the Inuktitut-speaking child early in the acquisition process.

Aspects of Argument Structure Acquisition in Inuktitut

Aspects of Argument Structure Acquisition in Inuktitut PDF Author: Shanley Allen
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 902722479X
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 269

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book discusses the first language acquisition of three morphosyntactic mechanisms of transitivity alternation in arctic Quebec Inuktitut. Data derive from naturalistic longitudinal spontaneous speech samples collected over a nine-month period from four Inuit children. Both basic and advanced forms of passive structures are shown to be used productively by Inuktitut-speaking children at an early age relative to English-speaking children, but consistent in age with speakers of non-Indo-European languages reported on in the literature; potential explanations of this difference include frequency of caregiver input and details of language structure. Morphological causatives appear slightly later in the acquisition sequence, and their first instances reflect use of unanalyzed routines. Lexical causatives are present from the earliest ages studied. Evidence of a period of overgeneralization of lexical causatives in one subject at the same time as the morphological causative shows signs of being productively acquired suggests that the seeming overgeneralization may reflect nothing more than as yet unstable use of the morphological causative. Noun incorporation structures are shown to be used productively by Inuktitut-speaking children at an early age relative to Mohawk-speaking children; potential explanations of this difference include details of language structure and relative language use in the environments of the learners. Findings are considered in light of current debates in the literature concerning continuity versus maturation of grammatical structure, and concerning the functional categories available to the child at early stages of acquisition. Data presented argue against late maturation, and suggest that all functional categories may be accessed by the Inuktitut-speaking child early in the acquisition process.

Aspects of Argument Structure Acquisition in Inuktitut

Aspects of Argument Structure Acquisition in Inuktitut PDF Author: Shanley Allen
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027299153
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 269

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Book Description
This book discusses the first language acquisition of three morphosyntactic mechanisms of transitivity alternation in arctic Quebec Inuktitut. Data derive from naturalistic longitudinal spontaneous speech samples collected over a nine-month period from four Inuit children. Both basic and advanced forms of passive structures are shown to be used productively by Inuktitut-speaking children at an early age relative to English-speaking children, but consistent in age with speakers of non-Indo-European languages reported on in the literature; potential explanations of this difference include frequency of caregiver input and details of language structure. Morphological causatives appear slightly later in the acquisition sequence, and their first instances reflect use of unanalyzed routines. Lexical causatives are present from the earliest ages studied. Evidence of a period of overgeneralization of lexical causatives in one subject at the same time as the morphological causative shows signs of being productively acquired suggests that the seeming overgeneralization may reflect nothing more than as yet unstable use of the morphological causative. Noun incorporation structures are shown to be used productively by Inuktitut-speaking children at an early age relative to Mohawk-speaking children; potential explanations of this difference include details of language structure and relative language use in the environments of the learners. Findings are considered in light of current debates in the literature concerning continuity versus maturation of grammatical structure, and concerning the functional categories available to the child at early stages of acquisition. Data presented argue against late maturation, and suggest that all functional categories may be accessed by the Inuktitut-speaking child early in the acquisition process.

The Acquisition of Ergativity

The Acquisition of Ergativity PDF Author: Edith L. Bavin
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027271232
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 349

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Book Description
Ergativity is one of the main challenges both for linguistic and acquisition theories. This book is unique, taking a cross-linguistic approach to the acquisition of ergativity in a large variety of typologically distinct languages. The chapters cover languages from different families and from different geographic areas with different expressions of ergativity. Each chapter includes a description of ergativity in the language(s), the nature of the input, the social context of acquisition and developmental patterns. Comparisons of the acquisition process across closely related languages are made, change in progress of the ergative systems is discussed and, for one language, acquisition by bilingual and monolingual children is compared. The volume will be of particular interest to language acquisition researchers, linguists, psycholinguists and cognitive scientists.

Preferred Argument Structure

Preferred Argument Structure PDF Author: John W. Du Bois
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027296138
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 469

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Book Description
Preferred Argument Structure offers a profound insight into the relationship between language use and grammatical structure. In his original publication on Preferred Argument Structure, Du Bois (1987) demonstrated the power of this perspective by using it to explain the origins of ergativity and ergative marking systems. Since this work, the general applicability of Preferred Argument Structure has been demonstrated in studies of language after language. In this collection, the authors move beyond verifying Preferred Argument Structure as a property of a given language. They use the methodology to reveal more subtle aspects of the patterns, for example, to look across languages, diachronically or synchronically, to examine particular grammatical relations, and to examine special populations or particular genres. This volume will appeal to linguists interested in the relationship of pragmatics and grammar generally, in the typology of grammatical relations, and in explanations derived from data- and corpus-based approaches to analysis.

The L2 Acquisition of Tense–Aspect Morphology

The L2 Acquisition of Tense–Aspect Morphology PDF Author: M. Rafael Salaberry
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027296251
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 499

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Book Description
The present volume provides a cross-linguistic perspective on the development of tense-aspect in L2 acquisition. Data-based studies included in this volume deal with the analysis of a wide range of target languages: Chinese, English, Italian, French, Japanese, and Spanish. Theoretical frameworks used to evaluate the nature of the empirical evidence range from generative grammar to functional-typological linguistics. Several studies focus on the development of past tense markers, but other issues such as the acquisition of a future marker are also addressed. An introductory chapter outlines some theoretical and methodological issues that serves as relevant preliminary reading for most of the chapters included in this volume. Additionally, a preliminary chapter offers a substantive review of first language acquisition of tense-aspect morphology. The analysis of the various languages included in this volume significantly advances our understanding of this phenomenon, and will serve as an important basis for future research.

The Lexicon–Syntax Interface in Second Language Acquisition

The Lexicon–Syntax Interface in Second Language Acquisition PDF Author: Roeland van Hout
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027296456
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
Second language acquisition has to integrate the totality of the SLA process, which includes both the learning of the core syntax of a language and the learning of the lexical items that have to be incorporated into that syntax. But these two domains involve different kinds of learning. Syntax is learnt through a process of implementing a particular set of universal structures, whereas the learning of lexis is characterised by the building up of associations (or connections). Yet these two systems must come together in the creation of a whole linguistic system in the mind of an individual. This book is designed to state the implications of these two paradigms in as clear a way as possible through examples of the research carried out within each paradigm and to examine how they can be made to inter-relate in a way which would enable us to explain better the overall process of SLA.

Biology and Knowledge Revisited

Biology and Knowledge Revisited PDF Author: Sue Taylor Parker
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 1135622469
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description
This book is part of the Jean Piaget Symposia. It focuses on classic issues between nature and nurture in cognitive and linguistic development and their neurological substrates. Specifically, it focuses on the experience-contingent, experience dependent

Child and Adolescent Development

Child and Adolescent Development PDF Author: William Damon
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118428730
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 1089

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Book Description
This advanced text for psychology, human development, and education provides students with state-of-the-art overviews of the discipline in an accessible, affordable format. Unique both in the depth of its coverage and in the timeliness of the research that it presents, this comprehensive text conveys the field of child and adolescent development through the voices of scientists who themselves are now shaping the field.

Time in Child Inuktitut

Time in Child Inuktitut PDF Author: Mary D. Swift
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110197413
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
This book presents a study of the development of time reference in young children acquiring Inuktitut as a first language. The first such study of an Eskimo-Aleut language, its account of children's development of time reference in a system that is fundamentally different from those found in languages previously studied makes a unique contribution to the literature on the acquisition of tense and aspect. Drawing on longitudinal spontaneous speech data from eight Inuit children between 2 and 3-and-a-half years old, this study analyzes the temporal structures, their meanings and context of use in children's communicative interactions with siblings, peers and caretakers during the early stages of language development. The comprehensive study of previously unexplored temporal phenomena and its unprecedented findings makes this book an important resource for researchers, teachers and students of child language development, especially the development of time reference. In addition, the documentation of the Inuktitut temporal system, especially as used in conversational speech, will be of interest to researchers of time reference.

The Language of the Inuit

The Language of the Inuit PDF Author: Louis-Jacques Dorais
Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
ISBN: 0773581766
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 410

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Book Description
The culmination of forty years of research, The Language of the Inuit maps the geographical distribution and linguistic differences between the Eskaleut and Inuit languages and dialects. Providing details about aspects of comparative phonology, grammar, and lexicon as well as Inuit prehistory and historical evolution, Louis-Jacques Dorais shows the effects of bilingualism, literacy, and formal education on Inuit language and considers its present status and future. An enormous task, masterfully accomplished, The Language of the Inuit is not only an anthropological and linguistic study of a language and the broad social and cultural contexts where it is spoken but a history of the language's speakers.