ERIC Number: EJ932537
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2011
Pages: 37
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1048-9223
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Available Date: N/A
Acquisition of Multiple Questions in English, Russian, and Malayalam
Grebenyova, Lydia
Language Acquisition: A Journal of Developmental Linguistics, v18 n3 p139-175 2011
This article presents the results of four studies exploring the acquisition of the language-specific syntactic and semantic properties of multiple interrogatives in English, Russian, and Malayalam, languages that behave differently with respect to the syntax and semantics of multiple interrogatives. A corpus analysis investigated the frequency of occurrence of multiple interrogatives in parental speech, demonstrating that children face quite limited evidence in the input. It was followed with studies where multiple interrogatives were elicited from children and adults in specific contexts in English, Russian, and Malayalam. Children acquiring English and Malayalam demonstrated perfect knowledge of the properties of multiple questions, while Russian-acquiring children exhibited some difficulties with the language-specific syntax of these expressions. The learning process of multiple interrogatives is explored, considering several sources of evidence children are getting in the input. (Contains 10 figures, 6 tables and 18 footnotes.)
Descriptors: English, Semantics, Verbs, Syntax, Russian, Dravidian Languages, Language Acquisition, Computational Linguistics, Children, Linguistic Input, Parent Child Relationship, Learning Processes
Psychology Press. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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