Continuity and development in the acquisition of inversion in yes/no questions

Dissociating movement and inflection

Dados Bibliográficos

ID20366246
AutoresLYNN SANTELMANN (0000-0001-9649-2342, Portland State University), STEPHANIE BERK (Center for Applied Linguistics), Jennifer Austin (0000-0001-5193-4792, Williams College), SHAMITHA SOMASHEKAR, Barbara Lust (0000-0002-7923-7937, Cornell University)
Ano2002
Volume29
Fascículo4
Páginas813-842
Data de publicação2002-11-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Child Language (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0305-0009 • E-ISSN: 1469-7602
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0305000902005299
PMID12471974
OpenAlexW2033558519
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas18

This paper examines two- to five-year-old children's knowledge of inversion in English yes/no questions through a new experimental study. It challenges the view that the syntax for inversion develops slowly in child English and tests the hypothesis that grammatical competence for inversion is present from the earliest testable ages of the child's sentence production. The experimental design is based on the premise that a valid test of this hypothesis must dissociate from inversion various language-specific aspects of English grammar, including its inflectional system. An elicited imitation method was used to test parallel, lexically-matched declarative and question structures across several different verb types in a design which dissociated subject-auxiliary inversion from the English-specific realization of the inflectional/auxiliary system. Using this design, the results showed no significant difference in amount or type of children's errors between declarative (non-inverted) and question (inverted) sentences with modals or auxiliary be , but a significant difference for sentences with main verbs (requiring reconstruction of inflection through do -support) and copula be . The results from sentences with auxiliary be and those with modals indicate that knowledge of inversion is present throughout our very young sample and does not develop during this time. We argue that these results indicate that the grammar of inversion is present from the youngest ages tested. Our results also provide evidence of development relevant to the English-specific inflectional system. We conclude with a new developmental hypothesis: development in question formation occurs in integrating language-specific knowledge related to inflection with the principles of Universal Grammar which allow grammatical inversion

Grammar · Inflection · Linguistics · Modal verb · Natural language processing · Premise · Sentence · Verb · Computer Science · EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning · Language Development and Disorders · Philosophy · Psychology · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation · Artificial Intelligence