Lexical V-V compounds in child Japanese: An experimental study

Abstract

AbstractJapanese is known to have verbal compounds consisting of two verbs (hereafter “V-V compounds”), and many theoretical studies have shown that V-V compounds can be divided into two types: lexical and syntactic V-V compounds (Kageyama 1993, among many others). A recent study by Kageyama (2013, 2016a, 2016b) points out that the lexical V-V compounds can be further categorized into two types, one of which can be paraphrased as the V-teV sequence. The aim of our current study is to elucidate based on experimental data whether Japanese-speaking children aged 4-5 can correctly comprehend lexical V-V compounds and differentiate them from the V-teV sequence which are superficially similar to but syntactically distinct from them. Our experiment reveals that children can differentiate between the syntactic properties of these constructions and thus have acquired the two different constructions consisting of two-verb sequences by the time they turn 4 years old.