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Acquiring Recursive Structures through Distributional Learning
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Li, Daoxin; Schuler, Kathryn D. – Language Acquisition: A Journal of Developmental Linguistics, 2023
Languages differ regarding the depth, structure, and syntactic domains of recursive structures. Even within a single language, some structures allow infinite self-embedding while others are more restricted. For example, when expressing ownership relation, English allows infinite embedding of the prenominal genitive "-s," whereas the…
Descriptors: Language Acquisition, Linguistic Input, Artificial Languages, Learning Processes
Input Factors in the Acquisition of Evidentiality by Turkish Heritage Language Children and Adults in the United States
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Aylin Coskun Kunduz; Silvina Montrul – Language Acquisition: A Journal of Developmental Linguistics, 2025
Aspectual and mood morphology are vulnerable domains in adult heritage speakers. This paper investigates the root of such vulnerability within the domain of Turkish evidentiality system by comparing 20 second-generation adult and 20 school-age child Turkish heritage speakers to 20 first-generation immigrants (main input providers for child…
Descriptors: Linguistic Input, Story Telling, Turkish, Immigrants
The Effects of Language Input on Word Order in German as a Heritage and Majority Language
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Sopata, Aldona; Dlugosz, Kamil – Language Acquisition: A Journal of Developmental Linguistics, 2022
This study addresses the question of how the main factors related to input--including the environment in which children are exposed to both languages, the relative timing of the onset of the exposure to them and the amount of input--affect bilingual language acquisition at primary-school age. We examined the data of 42 German Polish bilinguals who…
Descriptors: Linguistic Input, German, Word Order, Bilingualism
An Inductive Learning Bias toward Phonetically Driven Tonal Phonotactics
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Chen, Tsung-Ying – Language Acquisition: A Journal of Developmental Linguistics, 2020
In two artificial grammar learning experiments, we tested the learnability of tonal phonotactics forbidding non-domain-final rising tones (*NonFinalR) against the phonotactics banning non-domain-final high-level tones (*NonFinalH). We propose that a firm phonetic ground drives a presumably innate inductive bias favoring *NonFinalR and against…
Descriptors: Grammar, Artificial Languages, Intonation, Phonology
Children's Interpretation of Disjunction in Negative Sentences: A Comparison of Turkish and German
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Geçkin, Vasfiye; Thornton, Rosalind; Crain, Stephen – Language Acquisition: A Journal of Developmental Linguistics, 2018
This study investigates the interpretation of disjunction words (English or) in negative sentences by Turkish- and German-speaking children. Both children and adults were asked to judge Turkish/German sentences corresponding to the English sentence "This animal did not eat the carrot or the pepper." Children acquiring both languages…
Descriptors: Contrastive Linguistics, Turkish, Language Acquisition, German
A Large-Scale Cross-Linguistic Investigation of the Acquisition of Passive
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Armon-Lotem, Sharon; Haman, Ewa; de López, Kristine Jensen; Smoczynska, Magdalena; Yatsushiro, Kazuko; Szczerbinski, Marcin; van Hout, Angeliek; Dabašinskiene, Ineta; Gavarró, Anna; Hobbs, Erin; Kamandulyte-Merfeldiene, Laura; Katsos, Napoleon; Kunnari, Sari; Nitsiou, Chrisa; Olsen, Lone Sundahl; Parramon, Xavier; Sauerland, Uli; Torn-Leesik, Reeli; van der Lely, Heather – Language Acquisition: A Journal of Developmental Linguistics, 2016
This cross-linguistic study evaluates children's understanding of passives in 11 typologically different languages: Catalan, Cypriot Greek, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, German, Hebrew, Lithuanian, and Polish. The study intends to determine whether the reported gaps between the comprehension of active and passive and between short and…
Descriptors: Language Research, Form Classes (Languages), Language Processing, Language Acquisition