Download or read book The Acquisition of the DP in Modern Greek written by Theodoros Marinis and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 2003-12-19 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers new data on the acquisition of functional categories in early child speech. Based on longitudinal corpora of five children acquiring Modern Greek as their first language, it describes the development of single DPs consisting of definite and indefinite articles, complex DPs that require the use of multiple definite articles — possessive constructions, appositive constructions and Determiner Spreading, a form of adjectival modification — and number and case marking in nouns and definite articles. Detailed quantitative and qualitative analyses show an incremental development of the DP. The findings address the debate concerning maturation versus continuity. Incremental acquisition of the DP argues in favour of a weak continuity approach to language acquisition. Whilst gradual acquisition of the DP remains unexplained within the Principles and Parameters Theory, it is fully compatible within Minimalism, as it is argued to result from the gradual acquisition of the features associated with the Greek DP.
Download or read book The Acquisition of the DP in Modern Greek written by Theodoros Marinis and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 2003-01-01 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers new data on the acquisition of functional categories in early child speech. Based on longitudinal corpora of five children acquiring Modern Greek as their first language, it describes the development of single DPs consisting of definite and indefinite articles, complex DPs that require the use of multiple definite articles possessive constructions, appositive constructions and Determiner Spreading, a form of adjectival modification and number and case marking in nouns and definite articles. Detailed quantitative and qualitative analyses show an incremental development of the DP. The findings address the debate concerning maturation versus continuity. Incremental acquisition of the DP argues in favour of a weak continuity approach to language acquisition. Whilst gradual acquisition of the DP remains unexplained within the Principles and Parameters Theory, it is fully compatible within Minimalism, as it is argued to result from the gradual acquisition of the features associated with the Greek DP.
Download or read book Acquiring the Left Periphery of the Modern Greek DP written by Theodore Marinis and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Advances in Greek Generative Syntax written by Melita Stavrou and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 2005-01-01 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of original research focuses on various lesser studied aspects of Greek syntax. The articles combine a sound empirical coverage within current developments of generative theory and cover a wide spectrum of areas. The syntax of sentential structure is dealt with by two articles, one is an extensive analysis of the distribution of goal and beneficiary dative DPs in Greek (and cross-linguistically) and the other addresses the relation agree in small clauses (and between adjectives and nouns). Two articles study the acquisition of the left periphery and of eventivity and one focuses on the historical evolution of participles in Greek, out of which gerunds emerged. The syntax and semantics of wh-clauses in DP positions and of the non-volitional verb ?elo are the focus of two articles situated in the syntaxsemantics interface. The DP domain is approached by two theoretical articles, one on a Greek possessive adjective and another on determiner heads. The final contribution studies the acquisition of the Greek definite article.
Download or read book Second Language Phonology written by John Archibald and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 1998-01-01 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume explores a variety of aspects of second language speech, with special focus on contributions to the field made by (primarely) generative linguists looking at the sounds and sound systems of second language learners. "Second Language Phonology" starts off with an overview of second language acquisition research in order to place the study of L2 speech in context. This introductory chapter is followed by an outline of traditional approaches to investigating interlanguage phonology. The third chapter consists of a discussion of relevant aspects of a learning theory that must be included in a treatment of how people learn sound systems. The next three chapters focus on particular aspects of the mental represenation of phonological competence; segments, syllables, and stress, respectively. The penultimate chapter deals with issues related to the mechanisms that govern the changing of interlanguage grammars over time. The volume ends with a summary of the issues raised throughout the text.
Download or read book Fossilized Second Language Grammars written by Florencia Franceschina and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 2005-01-01 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This monograph is a theoretical and empirical investigation into the mechanisms and causes of successful and unsuccessful adult second language acquisition. Couched within a generative framework, the study explores how a learner's first language and the age at which they acquire their second language may contribute to the L2 knowledge that they can ultimately attain. The empirical study focuses on a group of very advanced L2 speakers, and through a series of tests aims to discover what underpins their near mastery of grammatical gender and other grammatical properties. The book explores an account of persistent selective divergence based on the idea that child and adult learners are fundamentally similar, except that in adults the L1 plays the role of a fairly rigid filter of the linguistic input. The impossibility of representing the new target language other than by using the building blocks of the previously established L1 is argued to be the main reason why near but not totally native like language representations are formed and become established in adult L2 learners.
Download or read book Learnability and the Lexicon written by Alan Juffs and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 1996-08-23 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a critical review of recent theories of semantics-syntax correspondences and makes new proposals for constraints on semantic structure relevant to syntax. Data from several languages are presented which suggest that semantic structure in root morphemes is subject to parametric variation which has effect across a variety of verb classes, including locatives, unaccusatives, and psych verbs.The implications for first and second language acquisition are discussed. In particular, it is suggested that different parametric settings may lead to a learnability problem if adult learners do not retain access to sensitivity to underlying semantic organization and morphological differences between languages provided by Universal Grammar. An experiment with Chinese-speaking learners of English is presented which shows that learners initially transfer L1 semantic organization to the L2, but are able to retreat from overgeneralisations and achieve native-like grammars in this area. Suggestions for further research in this rapidly developing area of theory and acquisition research are also made.
Download or read book Representational Deficits in SLA written by Neal Snape and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 2009 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The main focus of this collection is to explore the question of representational deficits in second language acquisition, currently a much-debated topic. The volume is intended as a tribute to Roger Hawkins, a leading scholar in generative second language acquisition, whose research has been devoted to explaining lack of native-like success in terms of representational deficits. The papers in this volume feature a range of studies, all undertaken within a generative linguistic framework, which investigate various properties of L2 grammar bearing on the question of whether or not there are representational deficits in the post-critical-period L2 learners' grammar. The significance of such deficits, if their existence can be confirmed, is that they provide support for the claim, at least for the type of L2 learner under investigation, that there are insurmountable obstacles to ultimate attainment.
Download or read book Paths of Development in L1 and L2 Acquisition written by Bonnie D. Schwartz and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 2006 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The main focus of generative language development research in recent decades has been the logical problem of language acquisition - how learners go beyond the input to acquire complex linguistic knowledge. This collection deals with the complementary issue of the developmental problem of language acquisition: How do learners move from one developmental stage to another and how and why do grammars develop in a certain fashion? Building on considerable previous research, the authors address both general and specific issues related to paths of development. These issues are tackled through considering studies of L1 and L2 children and L2 adults learning a range of languages including Dutch, English, French, German, Greek and Japanese.
Download or read book Developmental Psycholinguistics written by Irina A. Sekerina and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 2008 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How do infants and young children coordinate information in real time to arrive at sentence meaning from the words and structure of the sentence and from the nonlinguistic context? This volume introduces readers to an emerging field of research, experimental developmental psycholinguistics, and to the four predominant methodologies used to study on-line language processing in children. Authored by key figures in psycholinguistics, neuroscience and developmental psychology, the chapters cover event-related brain potentials, free-viewing eyetracking, looking-while-listening, and reaction-time techniques, also providing a historical backdrop for this line of research. Multiple aspects of experimental design, data collection and data analysis are addressed in detail, alongside surveys of recent important findings about how infants and children process sounds, words, and sentences. Indispensable for students and researchers working in the areas of language acquisition, developmental psychology and developmental neuroscience of language, this volume will also appeal to speech language pathologists and early childhood educators.
Download or read book New Directions in the Acquisition of Romance Languages written by João Costa and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2014-10-21 with total page 405 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book puts together a selection of papers presented at The Romance Turn V Workshop, held in Lisbon in 2012. The papers presented at the workshop discussed general problems in the field of Language Acquisition, with a special focus on data from several Romance varieties. The papers in the volume cover a wide array of topics and subfields of acquisition studies, including L1 and L2 acquisition, typical and atypical development, acquisition of syntax, semantics, and phonology.
Download or read book The Acquisition of Syntax in Romance Languages written by Vincent Torrens and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume includes a selection of papers that address a wide range of acquisition phenomena from different Romance languages and all share a common theoretical approach based on the Principles and Parameters theory. They favour, discuss and sometimes challenge traditional explanations of first and second language acquisition in terms of maturation of general principles universal to all languages. They all depart from the view that language acquisition can be explained in terms of learning language specific rules, constraints or structures. The different parts into which this volume is organized reflect different approaches that current research has offered, which deal with issues of development of reflexive pronouns, determiners, clitics, verbs, auxiliaries, Inflection, wh-movement, rssumptive pronouns, topic and focus, mood, the syntax/discourse interface, topic and focus, and null arguments.
Download or read book The Acquisition of French written by Philippe Prévost and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 2009 with total page 481 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents a thorough description of morphosyntactic knowledge developed by learners of French in four different learning situations first language (L1) acquisition, second (L2) language acquisition, bilingualism, and acquisition by children with Specific Language Impairment within the theoretical framework of generative grammar. This approach allows for multiple comparisons across acquisition contexts, which provides the reader with invaluable insights into the nature of the acquisition process. The book is divided into four parts each dealing with a major morphosyntactic domain of acquisition: the verbal domain, the pronominal domain, the nominal domain, and the CP domain. Each part contains four chapters, the first one presenting an overview of the basic facts and analyses of the relevant properties of French, and the next three focusing on the different acquisition contexts. This book will be useful to anyone interested in the acquisition of French and in language development in general. It is also meant to stimulate cross-linguistic research from a theoretical perspective."
Download or read book The Acquisition of Diminutives written by Ineta Savickien? and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 2007-01-01 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This cross-linguistic volume innovates research of the acquisition of diminutives in the inflecting-fusional languages Lithuanian, Russian, Croatian, Greek, Italian, Spanish, German and Dutch, the agglutinating languages Turkish, Hungarian and Finnish and in the introflecting Hebrew. These languages differ in various aspects relevant for the acquisition of diminutives and the development of pragmatics in early child language. Diminutive formation often tends to be the first pattern of word formation to emerge. The main reason for this seems to lie in the pragmatic functions of endearment, empathy, and sympathy, which make diminutives particularly appropriate for child-centred communication. A main topic of this book is the relation of emergence and early development between diminutives and other categories of word formation and inflection. The greater degree of morphological productivity and transparency, as well as phonological saliency, favors the use of diminutives. In this case diminutives may facilitate the acquisition of inflection.
Download or read book Nominal Determination written by Elisabeth Stark and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 2007-08-23 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The following theoretical-empirical points on the DP are discussed: Article and its referential-anaphoric properties by Abraham (Determiners in Centering Theory); Bartra (On bare NPs in Old Spanish and Catalan); identification of all functional nominal categories by Stvan (Bare singular count nouns); Kupisch & Koops (Specificity and negation); Jäger (History of German indefinite determiners); typological comparison of the interaction of nominal and verbal determination by Abraham (Discourse-functional crystallization of the original demonstrative); Leiss (Covert (in)definiteness and aspect in Old Icelandic, Gothic, Old High German); Lohndal (Double definiteness during Old Norse); emergence of DP in ontogeny/phylogeny by Osawa (DP, TP and aspect in Old English and L1 acquisition); Bittner (Early functions of definites in L1 acquisition); Wood (Demonstratives and possessives emergent from Old English); Bauer ((in)definite articles in Indo-European) and Stark (Variation in nominal indefiniteness in Romance).
Download or read book Current Trends in Child Second Language Acquisition written by Belma Haznedar and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 2008-07-09 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume presents recent generative research on the nature of grammars of child second language (L2) acquirers -- a learner population whose exposure to an L2 occurs between the ages of 4 to 8. The main goal is to define child L2 acquisition in relation to other types of acquisition such as child monolingual and bilingual acquisition, adult L2 acquisition, and specific language impairment. This comparative perspective opens up new angles for the discussion of currently debated issues such as the role of Universal Grammar in constraining development, developmental sequences in L2, maturational influences on the 'growth' of grammar, critical period effects for different linguistic domains, initial state and ultimate attainment in relation to length of exposure, and L1-transfer in relation to age of onset. These issues are explored using longitudinal, cross-sectional, and experimental data from L2 children acquiring a range of languages, including Dutch, English, French, and Greek.
Download or read book The Development of Grammar written by Esther Rinke and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 2011-05-25 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume focuses on different aspects of language development. The contributions are concerned with similarities and differences between first and second language acquisition, the acquisition of sentence structure and functional categories, cross-linguistic influence in bilingual first language acquisition as well as the relation between language acquisition, language contact and diachronic change. The recurrent topic of the volume is the link between linguistic variation and the limitation of structural variability in the framework of a well-defined theory of language. In this respect, the volume opens up new perspectives for future research.
