The acquisition of syntactic categories in Jakarta Indonesian

This paper presents empirical evidence for a theory of syntactic categories in the tradition of categorial grammar, in which more complex categories are derived from simpler ones by means of category formation operators. In Jakarta Indonesian, almost all words and larger expressions belong to a single open syntactic category, S(entence), while a small residue of semantically heterogeneous items belong to a single closed syntactic category S/S. The theory predicts that in first-language acquisition, simpler categories are acquired before more complex ones. Thus, for Jakarta Indonesian, it predicts that the category S is be acquired before the category S/S. Examination of a naturalistic corpus of almost one million utterances provides support for this prediction, deriving from errors of overgeneralization, in which members of S/S exhibit the distributional properties of members of S.

Download Full-text

Acquiring “Knowledge”—An Alternative Model

10.1093/oso/9780198801887.003.0007 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Avner Baz

Keyword(s):

Language Acquisition ◽

Empirical Evidence ◽

Alternative Model ◽

Empirical Studies ◽

First Language ◽

Analytic Philosophy ◽

Empirical Science ◽

First Language Acquisition ◽

Method Of Cases ◽

Striking Fact

The chapter argues that empirical studies of first-language acquisition lend support to the Wittgensteinian-Merleau-Pontian conception of language as against the prevailing conception that underwrites the method of cases in either its armchair or experimental version. It offers a non-representationalist model, inspired by the work of Michael Tomasello, for the acquisition of “knowledge,” with the aim of showing that we could fully account for the acquisition of this and other philosophically troublesome words without positing independently existing “items” to which these words refer. The chapter also aims at bringing out and underscoring the striking fact that, whereas many in contemporary analytic philosophy regard and present themselves as open and attentive to empirical science, they have often relied on a conception of language that has been supported by no empirical evidence.

Download Full-text

Negation and First Language Acquisition

The Oxford Handbook of Negation ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198830528.013.36 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 598-614

Author(s):

Rosalind Thornton

Keyword(s):

Language Acquisition ◽

First Language ◽

Standard English ◽

First Language Acquisition ◽

Syntactic Category ◽

Negative Concord ◽

Double Negation ◽

Hierarchical Position ◽

Semantics And Pragmatics ◽

Negative Marker

This chapter investigates children’s acquisition of negation from a cross-linguistic perspective. The chapter reviews topics in the syntax, semantics, and pragmatics of negation in children’s grammars. Discussion of the syntax of negation in early grammars includes the hierarchical position of negation in children’s early structures, internal versus external negation, and the syntactic category of the negative marker. Topics relevant to 3- to 5-year-old grammars include children’s access to double negation, whether or not children acquiring Standard English permit negative concord as part of their core grammar, and children’s negative question structures. Children’s acquisition of the semantics of negation is covered in a discussion of negation as a licensor of any and of disjunction. The investigations underline the importance of providing appropriate pragmatic contexts in experiments targeting children’s production and comprehension of negation.

Download Full-text

First Language Acquisition

10.1017/cbo9781316534175 ◽

2016 ◽

Cited By ~ 27

Author(s):

Eve V. Clark

Keyword(s):

Language Acquisition ◽

First Language ◽

First Language Acquisition

Download Full-text

Procedural and Structural Self-Similarity in First Language Acquisition

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e537862010-001 ◽

2003 ◽

Author(s):

A. Hohenbergre

Keyword(s):

Language Acquisition ◽

First Language ◽

First Language Acquisition ◽

Self Similarity

Download Full-text

Infant-Directed Speech Effects in Adult Artificial Grammar Learning

10.31234/osf.io/zkdhw ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Krisztina Sára Lukics ◽

Ágnes Lukács

Keyword(s):

Language Acquisition ◽

Natural Language ◽

First Language ◽

Higher Learning ◽

Artificial Grammar ◽

Combined Effect ◽

First Language Acquisition ◽

Relative Contribution ◽

Grammar Learning ◽

Learning Rates

First language acquisition is facilitated by several characteristics of infant-directed speech, but we know little about their relative contribution to learning different aspects of language. We investigated infant-directed speech effects on the acquisition of a linear artificial grammar in two experiments. We examined the effect of incremental presentation of strings (starting small) and prosody (comparing monotonous, arbitrary and phrase prosody). Presenting shorter strings before longer ones led to higher learning rates compared to random presentation. Prosody marking phrases had a similar effect, yet, prosody without marking syntactic units did not facilitate learning. These studies were the first to test the starting small effect with a linear artificial grammar, and also the first to investigate the combined effect of starting small and prosody. Our results suggest that starting small and prosody facilitate the extraction of regularities from artificial linguistic stimuli, indicating they may play an important role in natural language acquisition.

Download Full-text