Acquisition Of Functional Categories Research Articles

Children’s early negative auxiliaries are true auxiliaries

ABSTRACT This study investigates young children’s acquisition of functional categories through their use of negative words and negative auxiliaries in particular. Drawing from CHILDES, we analyze twelve months of spontaneous speech by 14 children (youngest age 1;9, oldest age 3;1) and their mothers, in order to assess whether children’s earliest negative productions are morphological combinations and reflect possession of abstract syntactic categories or are instead input-driven formulae. In five analyses we show that (i) two-year-olds use a wide and overlapping range of negative and positive auxiliaries; (ii) the range of the negative auxiliaries children produce is strongly correlated with the range of the positive auxiliaries they produce; (iii) children’s most common negative auxiliary, don’t, is used grammatically with respect to the syntactic category being negated and with respect to overt markings of tense; (iv) children’s subject agreement errors with don’t are mirrored by subject agreement errors with do, have, and haven’t; and (v) children omit auxiliaries with not at rates that cannot be attributed to properties of their input. Our findings support the hypothesis that children’s earliest negations are syntactically adult-like and reflect the possession of abstract syntactic categories. By age 2, English-learning children productively combine auxiliary, negation, and tense categories and syntactically differentiate different negative morphemes.

Language learning

Language learning

THE ACQUISITION OF FRENCH IN DIFFERENT CONTEXTS: FOCUS ON FUNCTIONAL CATEGORIES

THE ACQUISITION OF FRENCH IN DIFFERENT CONTEXTS: FOCUS ON FUNCTIONAL CATEGORIES. Philippe Prévost and Johanne Paradis (Eds.). Amsterdam: Benjamins, 2004. Pp. 381. $132.00 cloth.This collection of essays explores, in a generative framework, the acquisition of functional categories in French across four “acquisition contexts” (p. 1): first language (L1) acquisition, second language (L2) acquisition, bilingual L1 acquisition, and L1 acquisition by people with specific language impairment (SLI).

The acquisition of functional categories in early French second language grammars: the use of finite and non-finite verbs in negative contexts

This cross-sectional study of first language (L1) English adolescents learning French as a second language (L2) uses their development of negatives in relation to finite and non-finite verbs to investigate the status and nature of functional categories in these learners’ emerging grammars. Analysing oral data from elicited production tasks from instructed learners, it provides evidence for a lack of functional categories in the Initial State and the earliest L2 grammars (Vainikka and Young-Scholten, 1996; Hawkins, 2001). However, the results from the study also indicate that the functional category I (or T) then emerges reasonably rapidly. The pattern of development of negation and finite and non-finite verbs in these learners’ grammars also suggests that feature values are in place for the functional categories once they are projected, as learners consistently raise the verb. The learners do use root infinitives but the properties of these root infinitives differ to those found in L1 acquisition (Pierce, 1992; Wexler, 1994; 1998), thus supporting Wexler’s maturational account of Optional Infinitives in L1 acquisition. Additionally, the rare occurrence of raised non-finite verbs would indicate that there is a problem with the realization of surface morphology in accordance with the Missing Surface Inflection Hypothesis of Prévost and White (2000a) rather than an impairment in the grammar (Meisel, 1997; Hawkins, 2000).

On the Acquisition of the Indefinite Article

The present article argues that the idea of morphology-driven syntax carries over to first-language acquisition. Morphology encodes properties of functional categories, i.e. particular features and feature values that must be set according to the target (adult) language during the acquisition process. In agreement with previous findings concerning the acquisition of functional categories in the verbal domain, we discuss here some cross-linguistic data with respect to the nominal functional domain. In this respect, specificity can be said to develop stepwise, as the result of the valuation of the /number/ before the /person/ feature of noun phrases, which finds its reflection in the emergence of indefinite articles before definite articles.

The Acquisition of French in Different Contexts: Focus on Functional Categories

Edited by Philippe Prévost and Johanne Paradis (Language Acquisition and Language Disorders, 32). Amsterdam — Philidelphia, John Benjamins 2004. vii+381 pp. Hb 13200; €110.00. This volume of studies, as the editors claim in their introduction, does indeed fill an ‘empirical gap’ in work on the acquisition of European languages. Although the theoretical framework is strictly defined, the robustness of the research in the varying contexts should entail that the volume also appeals to those who investigate the acquisition of French from other theoretical perspectives. All the studies within the volume are dedicated to a generative framework and concentrate on the acquisition of functional categories within that framework. The editors and authors of individual chapters are all well-established researchers within this field. The studies within the volume cover a range of linguistic contexts: first language (L1) acquisition, second language (L2) acquisition, bilingual first language acquisition and specifically language impaired acquisition (SLI). In all the contexts the research is predominantly with young children, although some of the L2 acquisition studies make comparisons between adult L2 and child L1 acquisition of certain grammatical structures (Hawkins and Franceschina, Granfeldt and Schlyter). The research throughout the volume focuses on a clustering of grammatical aspects, primarily the Determiner Phrase (DP) functional category and the functional categories implicated in the verbal domain. Within a generative approach, the acquisition of functional categories has been the dominant line of inquiry for the last decade. The questions over the years and across different linguistic contexts have been ‘strikingly similar’ and the issues discussed in this volume are no exception. The focus is on the presence or absence of functional categories in developing grammars and what properties they may have once they have been projected. The editors tentatively and perhaps optimistically suggest in their introduction that because the researchers are investigating similar issues and syntactic properties in a range of acquisition contexts, it may be possible to build a unified theory of the process of functional category acquisition. After a concise but informative introduction to the volume and the field of inquiry, the book is divided into two sections, one on LI acquisition and SLI acquisition and the other on L2 acquisition and bilingualism. Each individual chapter presents a thorough summary of the grammatical aspect being investigated, then outlines the research methods used. The research reported in this volume generally used robust methods of participant selection and research methodology. The majority of the studies are longitudinal with a small number of participants, however some are comparative (Hamann, Paradis and Crago) and some make use of data from grammaticality judgements (Labelle and Valois, Hawkins and Franceschina). Results are presented clearly in tables and charts and most of the chapters make appropriate use of comparative statistics. Significantly, within this volume there is the introduction of important new directions in research in this field of inquiry, for example, the semantics/syntax interface in acquiring functional categories (Prévost) and the use of prosodic analysis to support specifically syntactic arguments (De Cat). The collection of studies is an important contribution to work in this field. The volume will prove useful for all researchers investigating the acquisition of French but particularly for those working from within a generative framework.

L'ACQUISITION DES CATÉGORIES FONCTIONNELLES: ÉTUDE COMPARATIVE DU DÉVELOPPEMENT DU DP FRANÇAIS CHEZ DES ENFANTS ET DES APPRENANTS ADULTES [THE ACQUISITION OF FUNCTIONAL CATEGORIES: COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FRENCH DP IN CHILDREN AND ADULT LEARNERS

L'ACQUISITION DES CATÉGORIES FONCTIONNELLES: ÉTUDE COMPARATIVE DU DÉVELOPPEMENT DU DP FRANÇAIS CHEZ DES ENFANTS ET DES APPRENANTS ADULTES [THE ACQUISITION OF FUNCTIONAL CATEGORIES: COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FRENCH DP IN CHILDREN AND ADULT LEARNERS]. Jonas Granfeldt. Lund: Institute d'Études Romanes de Lund, Université de Lund, 2003. Pp. 268.This doctoral dissertation constitutes an excellent example of how linguistic theory can contribute to the formulation of testable hypotheses about the nature of language acquisition. Taking as a point of departure Chomsky's Principles and Parameters model and the Minimalist Program, the author carries out a careful and detailed analysis of the status and development of the Determiner Phrase (DP) in two different sets of data: (a) bilingual (French-Swedish) first language (L1) developmental data produced by three children, and (b) second language (L2) French developmental data produced by eight Swedish adult speakers.

Computational complexity and the acquisition of functional categories by French-speaking children with SLI

Previous research conducted with French-speaking normally developing children and children with specific language impairment has shown a striking asymmetry between present and past tense production - the passe compose - in favor of the present. Based on specific assumptions about the nature of finiteness and the projection of the passe compose in French, we have explained this asymmetry in terms of the computational complexity hypothesis (Jakubowicz and Nash 2001). According to this hypothesis, kernel functional categories (i.e. INFL in French) are easier to compute than supplementary functional categories that are added to the functional skeleton of the clause (i.e. PAST in French). Alternatively, given that in the French past-tense construction the finiteness of the clause is expressed by an auxiliary in its present form, while the verb denoting the event surfaces as a participle, children's difficulty in using the past tense could be due to the absence of overt morphological marking that signals past meaning in the auxiliary. The research reported in this article was designed to determine the adequacy of this alternative theoretical interpretation, which we call the morphological salience hypothesis, for explaining the difficulties of French-speaking children with respect to the passe compose. To this effect, a study based on elicited production of the past tense and the pluperfect was conducted with two groups of normally developing children aged three and four respectively and a group of children with specific language impairment who ranged in age from 5;5 years to nine years of age. Results showed (i) that normal children are significantly less accurate on the pluperfect than on the past tense, and (ii) that the pluperfect is completely unavailable to the SLI group, while past tense is (almost) systematically or optionally avoided depending on the children. We argue that these findings provide further support for the computational complexity hypothesis

The status of functional categories in child second language acquisition: evidence from the acquisition of CP

This study examines the status of the functional categories in child second language (L2) acquisition of English. Results from longitudinally collected data are reported, presenting counterevidence for recent hypotheses on early L2 acquisition that assume (1) a structure-building approach according to which the acquisition of functional categories follows an implicational sequence of development of VP-IP-CP (Vainikka and Young-Scholten, 1994; 1996a; 1996b; 1998); and (2) a direct relationship between the acquisition of inflectional morphology and the development of functional categories (Eubank, 1993/94; 1996; Vainikka and Young-Scholten, 1994; 1996a; 1996b; 1998). The child L2 data analysed in this article show that the development of CP is not implicationally contingent on the prior acquisition of IP. The data also suggest that the lack of morphological forms in interlanguage grammars reflects a problem with the realization of surface morphology, rather than an impairment in the domain of functional projections.

INTRODUCTION

Due to the recognition of the centrality of the lexicon for SLA theory (see the 1987 thematic issue of SSLA, edited by Susan Gass), the last few years have witnessed an increased interest in understanding lexical knowledge. As Gass (1999) reminded us, learning vocabulary in a second language is a complex task that involves much more than learning sound-meaning pairings; it also involves learning how lexical information is morphologically expressed and syntactically constrained. The present issue provides a natural sequel to the 1999 SSLA thematic issue, “Incidental L2 Vocabulary Acquisition,” by addressing some of the questions raised in that volume, in particular the questions related to the intimate relationship between syntax and semantics at the lexical interface. This issue is devoted to the L2 acquisition of verb meaning and argument structure crosslinguistically, and it explores in detail the nature of linguistic systems that L2 learners acquire in this particular domain. The six central articles offer a coherent approach to the topic, using linguistic theory to help us understand the characteristics of learner grammars. Until recently, linguistic approaches to SLA have placed a strong emphasis on understanding the acquisition of functional categories, for example, and the acquisition of the lexicon has received less attention. Understanding how the lexico-syntactic interface is mentally represented, and how it evolves during the second language acquisition process, is crucial for developing an adequate theory of L2 knowledge in general, as well as for informing theories of the lexicon.

The acquisition of the determiner phrase in bilingual and second language French

This study deals with the acquisition of Functional Categories in the French Determiner Phrase. The development of determiners and prenominal adjectives in three bilingual Swedish–French children is compared with that of four Swedish second language learners of French. It is argued that acquisition is crucially different in these two cases. The bilingual children initially have restrictions on phrase structure, resulting at one stage in a complementary distribution of determiners and adjectives. These results support a structure building view of L1 acquisition. For L2 acquisition of the same structure, there is no evidence for an initially reduced phrase structure. This finding is explained in terms of a transfer effect. A preliminary comparison with the acquisition of finiteness suggests that, whereas there is some correlation over time in the L1B subjects, no such correlation is found in the L2 learners.

On Continuity and the Emergence of Functional Categories in Bilingual First-Language Acquisition

A variety of positions have been proposed to explain the ontological development of functional categories. These positions follow either a Maturation or Continuity perspective. We examined the acquisition of inflectional phrase and determiner phrase in children acquiring French and English simultaneously in order to evaluate the descriptive adequacy of the two perspectives. Crosslinguistic comparisons are essential to testing Maturation versus Continuity, and bilingual children are excellent participants in crosslinguistic research because the two languages reside within one individual. We collected naturalistic production data from two bilingual children ages 1;9 to 2;11 and 1;11 to 3;0 who were at Brown's Stage I (mean length of utterance < 2.00). Our analyses indicate that the use of function morphemes associated with Inflection Oat) appeared at different times in the children's languages, whereas the use of determiners appeared at the same time. The between-language discrepancy in the emergence of Infl-associated items demonstrates the influence of external factors, such as specific language input, on the acquisition of functional categories. Thus, we argue that our results are most consistent with a Continuity perspective.

Syntactic Acquisition in Bilingual Children

Recent research on pragmatic and syntactic development in bilingual 2-year-olds has shown that these children have differentiated language systems. However, it remains to be shown whether their grammars develop autonomously or interdependently from 2 years onward. The present study investigates the potential interference between the grammars of French-English bilingual children, aged 2–3 years. We examined their acquisition of functional categories, specifically the properties of INFL (finiteness and agreement) and negation, as these grammatical properties differ in both adult French and English and child French and English. Our results indicate that the bilingual children show no evidence of transfer, acceleration, or delay in acquisition, and support the hypothesis that their grammars are acquired autonomously. Some implications of these findings for the debate on continuity in the emergence of functional categories are discussed.