YENI PURTI+A S. ,--LT,I .13/11'0.

1 LANGUAGE AC2UISITION

SUMMARY: CHAPTER 3-MORPHOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATION Childs innovations appear to adhere to constraints or morphological rules that govern the adult grammar. The following subtopics will explain the childs creativity in relation to word formation that proves the child grammars are constrained by principles that also govern word formation rules. 1. Types of Morp o!o"#$%! R&!es Morphological rules are divided into two types: derivational and inflectional. Derivational refers to rules for forming new words by adding affixes or by joining words together to form a compound word. hile inflectional rules refer to rules that do not create new words but regulate the form of the word according to the syntactic context. !or example: Derivational rules: *adding affixes: "er# coo$%&'( "er coo$er %)' *join another noun : rice( coo$er rice"coo$er %compound word' Inflectional rule *past morpheme: "ed# + cry%present' + cried %past' *plural morpheme: "s# one cat two cats '. A Morp o!o"#$%! Mo(e! The model derived in this subtopic is ,ipars$ys. -ccording to this model. a number of different types of morphological rule apply in a specified order. Therefore. when forming a word. all rules of a given type must apply before another type applies. These rules define levels in the models and refer as the /level"ordering model of morphology. Le)e! 1 R&!es * Properties %a' Derivational: unproductive. semantically unpredictable %b' +nflectional: irregular %c' 0honological effects on the base form in many cases Examples 1 ( /ity noun formation %creativity' +rregular plurals %/child. /children' +rregular past %/throw. /threw Le)e! ' R&!es Properties -Derivational# productive# semantically predictable Examples - /er agentive noun formation %/coo$er'# compounding

Le)e! 3R&!es -

Properties - +nflectional# regular Examples - /"s plural /"ed past

3. C #!(re34s +3o5!e("e of Le)e! Or(er#3" 2ased on the study conducted by 3ordon %4567b' about the creation of compound words. there are two cases about childrens $nowledge of level ordering. !irst. children used the singular form in producing compounds with regular plurals. Thus they produced forms such as /coo$ie"lover but not form such as /coo$ies"lover. 8econd. those children who $new the correct plural form for irregular words would involve the irregular form. for instance /chic$en"lover than /chic$"lover. -. R&!e Use %3( I33o)%6#o3 The most familiar examples of childrens innovative use of morphological rules are cases of inflectional forming. There is a stage se9uence of development often found where child extends a regular inflectional rule to form that is exceptional in the adult grammar. !irst. the child uses the irregular adult form. and then regulari:es it with the morphological rule that covers the majority of cases in the adult language. and then she reverts to correct use of the irregular forms. ;xample of /past tense inflection: 4st stage : do did nd < stage : regular form /"ed# do doed =rd stage : irregular: do did# regular: wor$wor$ed >n the other hand. one of examples of children innovative use in derivational forming is denominal verb rather than deverbal nouns %forming nouns from verbs'. Denominal verbs are verbs formed by using a noun as a verb. Mostly children will innovate these verbs to refer as instrument or locatum. Example: Instrument 8he broomed me %having hit by his sister with a broom' Locatum 0lease sugar my mil$? %putting some sugar to his mil$' -nother example of childrens innovation use is forming causatives. !or instance. the sentence li$e. @This is aching my handsA is created rather than @+t ma$es my hands acheA. 7. Pro8!e9s %3( U3:3o53s The exploration of ac9uisition of morphology raises more 9uestions. !irst. how and why a child may misconstrue a non"productive rule as a productive one is un$nown as in causative examples in the previous subtopics. The other problem is about the details of rules governing internal structure of words as in compound words. 8tudies show that young children 9uite fre9uently form /coo$er"rice than /rice"coo$er. The only possible explanation is because ;nglish applies the reverse order. with the head following the modifying material. -n early stage child applies the same %head"complimentBmodifier' as in /coo$ rice.

The other 9uestion is how much children $now about the relationship between phrasal syntax and morphological rules. !or example. whether a verb ta$es an object or not and its relation to the compound word. +t remains un$nown the children $now that the sentence li$e. @8he plants%transitive verb' an orangeA becoming orange"planter can be formed and sentence li$e @8he smiles %intransitive verb' an orangeA becoming /orange"smiler cannot be formed. /. A Cross-L#3"&#s6#$ Perspe$6#)e 8tudies of ac9uisition of languages. unli$e ;nglish. have a rich system of inflectional morphology indicate the pace at which children master inflections in ;nglish is comparatively slow compared to a 3reenlandic ;s$imo that can produce forty separate inflectional endings in half hour record. ;nglish spea$ing children may ta$e four or more years to master all of the relatively sparse inflections of ;nglish and therefore can be concluded that the regular inflections were not particularly early ac9uisitions.

REVIE;: CHAPTER --THE AC2UISITION O< SYNTA= 8yntactic ac9uisition is the area of child language ac9uisition that has been most studied from the perspective of linguistic theory. The following subtopic will discuss some basic findings about the nature of syntactic system. and the result from language ac9uisition studies. -.1 Sy36%$6#$ S6r&$6&res %3( U3#)ers%! Gr%99%r -.1.1 ,%s#$ Sy36%> There are several basic syntax concepts. such as categori:ation of word into noun. verb. adjective. preposition and words head or /project phrases %noun phrase. verb phrase. etc'. Canguages differ in the nature if their basic syntax. whether right-branching %the head of the phrase is generally on the left and modifying material is built up to the right' or left-branching %building up a modification structure to the left of the head'. Canguages are also classified as configurational%the organi:ation of the linear string of words into hierarchical structures of some complexity' and nonconfigurational %flatter structures and free variation of order within sentence units' -.1.' Le)e!s of Represe36%6#o3 Choms$y proposes the abstract level of representation. %a' deep structure %D" structure' is the basic order of phrases represented# %b' surface structure %8" structure' is the actual linear order of phrases observed# %c' logical form %C!' represents aspects of the meaning of a sentence that depend on its syntactic structure which are not represented on D"structure or 8"structure.
0hrase structure 8pecifications D"8TDECTED; Movement 8"8TDECTED; Movement and rules of interpretation C>3+C-C !>DM lexicon

-.1.3 U3#)ers%! Gr%99%r: Pr#3$#p!es %3( P%r%9e6ers The organi:ation of the grammar in Choms$ys 45F7 boo$ and later wor$s is different in some aspects. >ne. semantic interpretation is based on deep structure. whereas in later models it is based on surface structure. Two. there is a change in emphasis from the formulation of individual rules of grammar to the formulation

of general principles from which the properties of particular grammatical phenomena will follow. The form and nature of these principles and the range of variation in their execution is a matter or the theory of universal grammar. !or example. the theory of phrase structure allow both head"first and head"final type languages and also for free word order languages. These are the broad parameters of difference in phase structure. This general approach to universal grammar is called the /principles and parameters approach. -.1.- Mo(&!es of Go)er39e36 ,#3(#3" T eory /3overnment 2inding Theory is aimed to identify principles that constrain the levels of representation and their connections one to another. The major subtheories related to the ac9uisition are supplied below: a. G"bar %G4' theory is the theory governing phrase structure configurations and hence controlling the level of D"structure b. Theta theory governs the assignment of thematic roles. c. Case theory is concerned with the conditions on assignment of case. d. 2inding theory deals with restrictions in co"reference of anaphoric elements. including definite and reflexive pronouns and the trace left by movement. e. 2ounding theory deals with structural restrictions on the operation of movement. f. Control theory is the theory determining the referential possibilities for the empty %0D>' subject of the clauses -.1.7 Go)er39e36 ,#3(#3" T eory %3( 6 e A$?&#s#6#o3 of Sy36%> Children must set the general configurational parameters of his language. then ta$e some time to sort out of the details of the system within the separate modules. +t can be said that syntax development is started with basics and later following by details and interactions. -.' T e O&6er Co&rse of De)e!op9e36 3eneral age guidelines that we can use to indicate the outer course of development %what $ind of utterances a child tends to produce at what ages' is explained as follows. -t first year. child starts to produce one"word utterance %mostly recogni:able'. 2y twenty months. the child has a vocabulary of fifty words and enters a /two"word stage. Then. child proceeds into a /telegraphic speech stage where child utters multi"word and tend to omit the sorts of words %determiners'. -t the end of =. child may produce a range of complex sentence types %complements to verbs and relative clauses' and a four"year old child is fluent spea$er of language. -.3 E%r!y Sy36%>

Children have a system that conforms in basic ways to syntactic pattern of the language learnt and its proven by two areas of grammar: phrase structure organi:ation and subjectless sentence. -.3.1 E%r!y P r%se S6r&$6&re Childrens telegraphic speech is fre9uently characteri:ed as /pivot"open patterns. Children tend to place certain words in either initial or final position in the utterance. These words are called /pivots and it is said as open for its freer distribution in combination with a pivot or another open word. !or example. the words /all usually used in initial position and /there in final position. The distribution of pivots and opens suggests that the childs system becomes very 9uic$ly tuned to the particular language type he is ac9uiring. +nitial pivots were more fre9uent than final pivots. as one would expect if pivots represent a head position. and the child has already tuned in to the fact ;nglish is right" branching. -.3.' S&8@e$6!ess Se36e3$e +n early child speech. the sentences are produced with or without subject. 8ome languages may permit subjectless sentence. for example +talian. but not ;nglish %though there is a hidden subject'. Children learning ;nglish may have some awareness that subjects are re9uired. in the contrast of +talian children. There may be two explanations of these findings. !irst. there is no statistical relation between using subjects with other grammatical features and second. it is the matter of fre9uency that ;nglish children uses more subject than the +talian. However. it proves that children 9uic$ly develop the syntactic system that reflects the patterns of adult language. -.Sy36%> #3 6 e Pre-S$ oo! Ye%rs -.-.1 C #!(re34s +3o5!e("e of 6 e ,#3(#3" T eory ;xperimental studies of childrens $nowledge of the binding theory argue that pre"school children have a fairly firm grasp on the principles of the theory. although some errors are made in definite pronoun reference. 8ince the principles are formed in hierarchical syntactic structure. children are imposing an adult"li$e structure on the sentences they hear and produce. The binding theory is simplified in three principles: 0D+)C+0C; - -n anaphor must be bound in its local domain 0D+)C+0C; 2 - pronominal must be free in its local domain 0D+)C+0C; C -n D"expression must be free -n anaphor is a pronoun of the type of reflexives such as / himself. for which there must always be a co"referential )0 in the sentence. pronominal is a pronoun of the type of definite pronouns. which may or may not refer to an )0 in the same sentence. -expression is an abbreviation for /refering-expression %)oun 0hrase'. -n element is bound when it is co"indexed to another element that is the same height or higher. and free when it isnt.

-.-.' ,o&3(#3" T eory %3( 6 e De)e!op9e36 of Mo)e9e36 Movement is an operation that applies to the D"structure of ;nglish sentences to move a phrase to a presentential position or to subject position. +t is a central grammatical operation and the child who uses movement has introduced to the grammar a formal operation subject to its own particular constraints. +t is not used across constructions in the adult grammar and introduced in childrens grammar at different times for different constructions %!h-movement and "P-movement' -.-.3 C #!(re34s Gr%99%r of Co36ro! Control theory regulates the reference of 0D> %an unpronounced element' and there are some generali:ations to provide the evaluation of childrens $nowledge. #irst. a control may be obligatory or optional. !or the first sentence 0D> is obligatorily interpreted as co"referent with an )0 inside the sentence. hile in second sentence. the 0D> may refer to some entities not mentioned in sentence. Example: Iim too$ -nn J0D> to dinnerK J0D> to help -nnK is a very nice of him. $econd% control for complements in the &0. is semantically determined by ma$ing. reference to the thematic structure to a main clause with the role of theme or goal. -s the result. children aged four and older shows that they can do well in their comprehension of the missing subject of complements in verb phrase and correctly ma$ing the main clause object. Childrens performance is also various in the case of temporal and non"adverbial clauses. Sy36%$6#$ De)e!op9e36 %f6er A"e S#> There is some indication that the middle childhood years are a period in which the syntactic system continues to develop. with refinement of existing $nowledge and the introduction of some new structuresBrules. The late development after age six is related to lexical restrictions on rules and constructions. Example: 2ob is e%"er to please. 2ob is e%sy to please. Children will fre9uently thin$ these sentences are the same. -fter the age ten or more then. the children may recogni:e there is the difference in the adjectives. This $ind of condition is a complex construction %including movement and lexical restrictions on its applications' and may be mastered in the school years.

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Sy36%$6#$ De)e!op9e36: So9e Pop&!%r I(e%s Re$o3s#(ere( -./.1 ASe9%36#$s <#rs64 %3( ASy36%> #s !%6e4 Children clearly do have same syntactic categories from an early age. The evidence of research argues that the categories children use are at least partially independent of perceptualBsemantic categories at young age. hether at very earliest stages there is an isomorphic or near"isomorphic relation between syntactic and semantic categories or whether there is a stage in which child has some but not all syntactic categories are unsolved problems at present. However this idea only has little support. -./.' ASy36%> #s L%6e4 Though this idea is popular by the evidence of Choms$ys test about the rule for interpreting the missing %0D>' subject of a complement clause %/promisevs.tell' and the distribution of missing object constructions %/easyBeager'. this idea cannot be said as correct hypothesis. +t is proven by many studies that by three or four years children have ac9uired basics of complex syntax %phrase structure configurations' and interpret sentences using structurally"based principles.