Development of possessive forms in English-speaking children

Functional approach

Bibliographic Data

ID19276977
AuthorsYuriko Oshima-Takane (McGill University), Yuriko Oshima‐Takane (corresponding author)
Year1995
Volume37
Issue2
Pages59-69
Publication date1995-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJapanese Psychological Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-5368 • E-ISSN: 1468-5884
PublisherThe Japanese Psychological Association (PUBLISHER • JP)
DOI10.4992/psycholres1954.37.59
OpenAlexW2509556127
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited7

The present study examines the development of linguistic forms which children use to refer to others or themselves as possessor. Language data on 65 English-speaking children between 15 and 29 months of age were collected from two sources:(1) a 50-minute speech sample on audiotape, and (2) a parent interview on the spontaneous use of possessive forms in daily speech. The data indicate that children begin to express the relationship between possessor and possession with linguistic forms at about the same time as they begin to combine two words in utterances. To designate others as possessor, many children used only nominal forms (e. g., “Mommy's” or “Mommy's shoe”). Only children whose language development level was relatively high used pronominal forms (e. g., “Yours” or “Your shoe”). On the other hand, to designate themselves as possessor many children used both nominal forms (e. g., “Jacob's” or “Jacob shoe”) and pronominal forms (e. g. “Mine” or “My milk”) These results are discussed with regard to Deutsch and Budwig's claim that the nominal and the pronominal possessive forms in children's language different functions of possession

Linguistics · Possession (linguistics) · Possessive · Language Development and Disorders · Philosophy · Psychology · Reading and Literacy Development · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation

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