The Universal Consistency Hypothesis and the Prediction of Word Order Acquisition Stages in the Speech of Bilingual Children

Abstract

Quechua-speaking children in Peru speak Spanish with variable word order in the VP and the NP; the alternative patterns stem from Quechua and Spanish. The younger the child, the more predominant are the V-final and N-final phrases, as in Quechua. Here we investigate whether the newly acquired Spanish V-medial clause and N-initial phrase patterns are learned in a sequence predicted by a theory of linguistic change. Several plausible alternatives that are consistent with the Trigger-Chain Theory or Universal Violation Hypothesis, and with the Universal Consistency Hypothesis (UCH) of Hawkins 1979, were checked against recorded speech by Peruvian bilingual children of three different ages. Our quantitative analysis strongly supports the UCH-in particular, Hawkins' Universals I and III. These predict that the V-medial clause pattern emerges before the postnominal genitive, and this in turn precedes the use of the postnominal adjective. Our data also justify strengthening two of the principles in the UCH.*