scholarly journals The Layered Syntactic Structure of the Complementizer System: Functional Heads and Multiple Movements in the Early Left-Periphery. A Corpus Study on Italian

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincenzo Moscati ◽  
Luigi Rizzi
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Developmental Trajectory ◽  
Left Periphery ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Complex Sentences ◽  
Landing Sites ◽  
Wh Questions ◽  
Simultaneous Activation ◽  
Why Questions

In this paper we document the developmental trajectory of the complementizer system (CP-system) in Italian by looking at the earliest spontaneous production of eleven young children, whose transcriptions are available on CHILDES. We conducted a novel corpus analysis, tracking down a number of constructions in which the clausal left-periphery is activated. First, we considered the appearance of the different complementizer particles in the CP-system, which overtly realize the three distinct functional projections ForceP, IntP, and FinP. The analysis revealed that children acquiring Italian correctly use these complementizer particles already in the third year of life. Second, we looked for the simultaneous activation of different functional projections within the CP-system. We went through our corpus searching for complex sentences in which more than one constituent was moved to the left periphery. This option is allowed by the adult grammar of Italian and, as our search revealed, it is also attested in the grammar of young children. Soon after their second birthday, sequences in which a left-dislocated Topic and a Wh- element co-occur are attested, directly supporting the existence of a (high) Topic position above FocusP. Moreover, movement in general conforms to the constraints of the adult grammar, with no attested violation of obligatory inversion (a consequence of the Q-Criterion). Importantly, “why-questions” did not require inversion, much as in the adult grammar of Italian. Taken together, children's use of complementizer particles and their activation of multiple landing sites for movement show that 2-year-olds already possess a richly articulated functional structure of the CP-system, aligned to the layered adult structure. In concluding the paper, we also discuss some temporal differences between constructions activating high and low portions of the CP-system. In particular, we detect a temporal precedence for wh-questions over why-questions. Since the former activate a lower projection, this is consistent with the recently proposed Growing Trees hypothesis, according to which the development of the CP-system proceeds stepwise.

scholarly journals Growing trees: The acquisition of the left periphery

2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Naama Friedmann ◽  
Adriana Belletti ◽  
Luigi Rizzi
Keyword(s):  
Left Periphery ◽  
Syntactic Structures ◽  
Adjunct Questions ◽  
Third Stage ◽  
Subject And Object ◽  
Wh Questions ◽  
Transitive Verbs ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Interrogative Clauses ◽  
Why Questions

We suggest here a Growing Trees approach for the description of the acquisition of various syntactic structures in Hebrew, based on the main results reported in Friedmann and Reznick (this volume) and on our own research on a corpus of natural productions. The heart of our account is that stages of acquisition follow the geometry of the syntactic tree, along the lines of the cartographic analysis of the clause, with early stages of acquisition corresponding to small portions of the adult syntactic tree, which keeps growing with the growth of the child. The lower parts of the tree are acquired first, and higher parts are acquired later. We propose three stages of acquisition connected to the development of functional layers of the syntactic tree. In the first stage, the IP is acquired, including the lexical and inflectional layers. This allows for the appearance of A-movement structures, including SV/VS alternations with unaccusative verbs, alongside SV sentences with unergative/transitive verbs. The second stage involves the acquisition of the lower part of the left periphery, up to QP, which allows for the acquisition of subject and object Wh questions, some adjunct questions, yes/no questions, and sentence-initial adverbs. In the third stage, the rich structure of the left periphery is completely acquired, including the higher CP field. This is the stage in which sentential embedding (of finite declarative and interrogative clauses), subject and object relative clauses, why questions, and topicalization appear. A further, different type of stage, which occurs on the already-grown tree and which is independent of structure building, is the acquisition of intervention configurations, allowing for the mastery of structures involving movement of a lexically-restricted object across an intervening lexically-restricted subject. The paper illustrates the fruitful dialogue between the science of syntax acquisition and the cartography of syntactic structures.

From a molar to a molecular approach to the developmental trajectory of syntax comprehension by persons with intellectual disability

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno Facon
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Trajectories ◽  
Developmental Trajectory ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Cognitive Level ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Test Items ◽  
Complex Sentences ◽  
Regression Curves ◽  
Cognitive Measure ◽  
Syntactic Skills

The aim was to investigate whether a progressive dissociation between the cognitive level and syntax comprehension occurs during the development of persons with intellectual disabilities (ID). Two cross-sectional developmental trajectory analyses were successively conducted. Study 1 comprised 615 typically developing participants and 615 participants with ID. Their total scores on a syntax comprehension test were regressed on a nonverbal cognitive measure and the slopes of the two groups’ regression lines were compared. In Study 2, logistic regression curves of the two groups for each of the 92 test items were compared. Results showed only negligible between-groups differences of developmental trajectories, whatever the level of analysis. The idea of a progressive dissociation between cognitive level and receptive syntactic skills of people with ID is not confirmed. However, a syntax test evaluating more complex sentences than those used in this study might show such a dissociation.

scholarly journals Coconuts and curtain cakes: The production of wh-questions in ASD

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 239694152098295
Author(s):  
Nufar Sukenik ◽  
Eléonore Morin ◽  
Naama Friedmann ◽  
Philippe Prevost ◽  
Laurice Tuller
Keyword(s):  
Error Analysis ◽  
Language Disorder ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Production Rates ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Wh Questions ◽  
Analysis Of Error ◽  
Error Types

Background and aims Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have been found to exhibit difficulties in wh-question production. It is unclear whether these difficulties are pragmatic or syntactic in nature. The current study used a question elicitation task to assess the production of subject and object wh-questions of children with ASD in two different languages (Hebrew and French) wherein the syntactic structure of wh-questions is different, a fact that may contribute to better understanding of the underlying deficits affecting wh-question production. Crucially, beyond the general correct/error rate we also performed an in-depth analysis of error types, comparing syntactic to pragmatic errors and comparing the distribution of errors in the ASD group to that of children with typical development (TD) and children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). Results Correct production rates were found to be similar for the ASD and DLD groups, but error analysis revealed important differences between the ASD groups in the two languages and the DLD group. The Hebrew- and French ASD groups were found to produce pragmatic errors, which were not found in children with DLD. The pragmatic errors were similar in the two ASD groups. Syntactic errors were affected by the structure of each language. Conclusions Our results have shown that although the two ASD groups come from different countries and speak different languages, the correct production rates and more importantly, the error types were very similar in the two ASD groups, and very different compared to TD children and children with DLD. Implications: Our results highlight the importance of creating research tasks that test different linguistic functions independently and strengthen the need for conducting fine-grained error analysis to differentiate between groups and gain insights into the deficits underlying each of them.

scholarly journals Moving in small steps towards verb second: A case study

2011 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 331-359 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Waldmann
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Verb Second ◽  
Important Data ◽  
Rule Based ◽  
Frequent Word

This paper examines rule-based learning and item-based learning in relation to a Swedish child's acquisition of verb second in main clauses. While rule-based accounts assert that young children have access to syntactic structure and acquire a rule of generalized verb second, item-based accounts claim that young children are reproducing frequent word combinations in the input. The paper provides new and important data from one Swedish child, concluding that the acquisition of verb second is the result of rule-based learning.

Some remarks on subject positions and the architecture of the left periphery in Spanish

2010 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 359-385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernhard Pöll
Keyword(s):  
Simple Rule ◽  
Left Periphery ◽  
Subject Field ◽  
Subject Positions ◽  
Null Subject ◽  
Landing Sites ◽  
The Subject

AbstractThis article reexamines the puzzling issue of where subjects, lexical and null, are located in Spanish and offers a novel explanation for the incompatibility of preverbal lexical subjects with fronted focussed constituents. Both SpecIP and the left periphery appear to be potential landing sites for subjects, according to discourse-pragmatic factors. Assuming that pro is a clitic, it is argued that the aforementioned incompatibility can be captured by a simple rule: SpecIP must be empty for focus fronting to occur. This is the case with pro, which adjoins to Infl, or with postverbal subjects since they remain in SpecVP. From this analysis it follows that: 1) the subject field in Spanish is less articulated than is generally assumed, 2) the differences between Spanish and other null subject languages with respect to the availability of preverbal subjets can be reduced to this rule and a different ordering of focus and topic phrases, and 3) it is unnecessary to posit two different topic positions.

The partial productivity of schematic idioms in Chinese

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-116
Author(s):  
Li Liu ◽  
Hin Tat Cheung
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Current Literature ◽  
Structural Complexity ◽  
Semantic Relation ◽  
Developmental Trajectory ◽  
Interactive Process ◽  
Token Frequency ◽  
Idiomatic Expressions ◽  
Actual Use ◽  
Acceptability Judgment

Abstract Idiomatic expressions are generally manifested as lexically fixed. Yet some expressions allow lexical variations in their open slots and thus show certain degree of productivity in actual use. How young children acquire the productive use of idiomatic expressions, however, has rarely been addressed in current literature. The present study explores the developmental trajectory in learning idiom productivity by targeting the quadra-syllabic schematic idioms in Chinese. Results of two Graded Acceptability Judgment tests showed that acquisition of the selective productivity of schematic idioms may undergo an interactive process shaped by its token frequency, structural complexity, inherent semantic relation and the chunk effect of its open morphemes at different age levels. Findings in the studies are further discussed in relation to the emergentist model in idiom learning.

Scope Marking at the Syntax-Semantics Interface

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veneeta Dayal ◽  
Deepak Alok
Keyword(s):  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Semantic Interpretation ◽  
Matrix Clause ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Wh Questions ◽  
Embedded Clauses ◽  
Embedded Clause ◽  
Semantic Properties

Natural language allows questioning into embedded clauses. One strategy for doing so involves structures like the following: [CP-1 whi [TP DP V [CP-2 … ti …]]], where a wh-phrase that thematically belongs to the embedded clause appears in the matrix scope position. A possible answer to such a question must specify values for the fronted wh-phrase. This is the extraction strategy seen in languages like English. An alternative strategy involves a structure in which there is a distinct wh-phrase in the matrix clause. It is manifested in two types of structures. One is a close analog of extraction, but for the extra wh-phrase: [CP-1 whi [TP DP V [CP-2 whj [TP…t­j­…]]]]. The other simply juxtaposes two questions, rather than syntactically subordinating the second one: [CP-3 [CP-1 whi [TP…]] [CP-2 whj [TP…]]]. In both versions of the second strategy, the wh-phrase in CP-1 is invariant, typically corresponding to the wh-phrase used to question propositional arguments. There is no restriction on the type or number of wh-phrases in CP-2. Possible answers must specify values for all the wh-phrases in CP-2. This strategy is variously known as scope marking, partial wh movement or expletive wh questions. Both strategies can occur in the same language. German, for example, instantiates all three possibilities: extraction, subordinated, as well as sequential scope marking. The scope marking strategy is also manifested in in-situ languages. Scope marking has been subjected to 30 years of research and much is known at this time about its syntactic and semantic properties. Its pragmatics properties, however, are relatively under-studied. The acquisition of scope marking, in relation to extraction, is another area of ongoing research. One of the reasons why scope marking has intrigued linguists is because it seems to defy central tenets about the nature of wh scope taking. For example, it presents an apparent mismatch between the number of wh expressions in the question and the number of expressions whose values are specified in the answer. It poses a challenge for our understanding of how syntactic structure feeds semantic interpretation and how alternative strategies with similar functions relate to each other.

Wh-Questions are understood before polar-questions: Evidence from English, German, and Chinese

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Sara MORADLOU ◽  
Xiaobei ZHENG ◽  
Ye TIAN ◽  
Jonathan GINZBURG
Keyword(s):  
Interactive Learning ◽  
The Other ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Wh Questions ◽  
Elicitation Studies

Abstract In this paper we consider the order of emergence of comprehension of wh-questions and polar-questions. We argue that considerations of complexity and input favour the earlier emergence of polar questions; on the other hand, if one assumes that question understanding emerges as a consequence of interactive learning this favours (certain) wh-questions, as well as a small subclass of polar questions. We offer corpus evidence from the Providence corpus that (a certain class of) wh-questions are in fact understood earlier than the polar-questions. We test this observation using elicitation studies on German and Chinese speaking children. Our results confirm the finding from the corpus study and are in line with an interactive learning perspective for the emergence of understanding of questions.

Punctuation and syntactic structure in obwohl and weil clauses in nonstandard written German

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 212-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roland Schäfer ◽  
Ulrike Sayatz
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Second Order ◽  
Corpus Analysis ◽  
Verb Second ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Corpus Studies ◽  
Constituent Order ◽  
Insight Into

In this paper, we analyze written sentences containing the German particles obwohl (“although”) and weil (“because”). In standard written German, these particles embed clauses in verb-last constituent order, which is characteristic of subordinated clauses. In spoken and – as we show – nonstandard written German, they embed clauses in verb-second constituent order, which is characteristic of independent sentences. Our usage-based approach to the syntax – graphemics interface includes a large-scale corpus analysis of the patterns of punctuation in the nonstandard variants that provides clues to the syntactic structure and degree of sentential independence of the nonstandard variants. Our corpus study confirms and refines hypotheses from existing theoretical approaches by clearly showing that writers mark obwohl clauses with verb-second order systematically as independent sentences, whereas weil clauses with verb-second order are much less strongly marked as independent. This work suggests that similar corpus studies could provide deeper insight into the interplay between syntax and graphemics.

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