Language Acquisition and the Functional Category System
1st Edition
Published on 6. December 2012
XII, 279 pages
978-3-11-021621-9 (ISBN)
Description
Research on spontaneous language acquisition both in children learning their mother tongue and in adults learning a second language has shown that language development proceeds in a stagewise manner. Learner utterances are accounted for in terms of so-called 'learner languages'. Learner languages of both children and adults are language systems that are initially rather simple. The present monograph shows how these learner languages develop both in child L1 and in adult L2 Dutch. At the initial stage of both L1 and L2 Dutch, learner systems are lexical systems. This means that utterance structure is determined by the lexical projection of a predicate-argument structure, while the functional properties of the target language are absent. At some point in acquisition, this lexical-semantic system develops into a target-like system. With this target-like system, learners have reached a stage at which their language system has the morpho-syntactic features to express the functional properties of finiteness and topicality. Evidence of this is word order variation and the use of linguistic elements such as auxiliaries, tense, and agreement markers and determiners. Looking at this process of language acquisition from a functional point of view, the author focuses on questions such as the following. What is the driving force behind the process that causes learners to give up a simple lexical-semantic system in favour of a functional-pragmatic one? What is the added value of linguistic features such as the morpho-syntactic properties of inflection, word order variation, and definiteness?
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Peter Jordens
Language Acquisition and the Functional Category System
Book
11/2012
1st Edition
De Gruyter Mouton
€189.95
Shipment within 7-9 days
Person
Peter Jordens, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Content
1 - Acknowledgements [Seite 7]
2 - 1 Introduction [Seite 13]
2.1 - 1.1 Language acquisition from a functional perspective [Seite 13]
2.2 - 1.2 Overview of the book [Seite 15]
3 - 2 Lexical vs. functional elements [Seite 21]
3.1 - 2.1 Structure in language [Seite 21]
3.2 - 2.2 Language structure in production [Seite 27]
3.2.1 - 2.2.1 Phrase structure [Seite 27]
3.2.1.1 - 2.2.1.1 Lexical selection [Seite 27]
3.2.1.2 - 2.2.1.2 Phrasal coherence [Seite 27]
3.2.2 - 2.2.2 Utterance structure [Seite 28]
3.2.2.1 - 2.2.2.1 Perspective taking [Seite 28]
3.2.2.2 - 2.2.2.2 Contextual embedding [Seite 31]
3.2.2.3 - 2.2.2.3 Lexical categories [Seite 33]
3.2.2.4 - 2.2.2.4 Functional categories [Seite 33]
3.2.3 - 2.2.3 Word formation [Seite 34]
3.2.3.1 - 2.2.3.1 Derivation, inherent and contextual inflection [Seite 36]
3.2.3.2 - 2.2.3.2 Lexical and functional categories of word formation [Seite 38]
3.3 - 2.3 Learner systems [Seite 42]
3.3.1 - 2.3.1 Utterance structure at the initial stage [Seite 43]
3.3.2 - 2.3.2 Word formation at the initial stage [Seite 45]
3.4 - 2.4 First and second language acquisition [Seite 46]
3.5 - 2.5 Research questions [Seite 49]
3.6 - 2.6 Data sources [Seite 50]
4 - 3 The Target System [Seite 53]
4.1 - 3.1 Introduction [Seite 53]
4.2 - 3.2 Utterance structure [Seite 54]
4.2.1 - 3.2.1 Basic word order [Seite 54]
4.2.2 - 3.2.2 Word order variation [Seite 58]
4.2.3 - 3.2.3 Information structure and lexical meaning [Seite 62]
4.2.3.1 - 3.2.3.1 VP structure [Seite 64]
4.2.3.2 - 3.2.3.2 FP structure [Seite 64]
4.2.3.3 - 3.2.3.3 The function of F [Seite 65]
4.2.3.4 - 3.2.3.4 Movement [Seite 67]
4.2.4 - 3.2.4 Summary [Seite 68]
4.3 - 3.3 Utterance production [Seite 68]
4.3.1 - 3.3.1 Conceptualization, lexicalization and predication [Seite 69]
4.3.1.1 - 3.3.1.1 Conceptualization [Seite 69]
4.3.1.2 - 3.3.1.2 Lexicalization [Seite 70]
4.3.1.3 - 3.3.1.3 Predication [Seite 74]
4.3.2 - 3.3.2 Expressing finiteness and contextual embedding [Seite 78]
4.3.2.1 - 3.3.2.1 The semantic function of finiteness [Seite 78]
4.3.2.2 - 3.3.2.1.1 Truth value [Seite 78]
4.3.2.3 - 3.3.2.2 Anchoring [Seite 82]
4.3.2.4 - 3.3.2.2.1 Temporal anchoring [Seite 83]
4.3.2.5 - 3.3.2.2.2 Spatial anchoring [Seite 84]
4.3.2.6 - 3.3.2.3 The function of SpecFP [Seite 86]
4.3.3 - 3.3.3 Summary [Seite 89]
4.4 - 3.4 Hypotheses on language development [Seite 90]
5 - 4 The initial state [Seite 91]
5.1 - 4.1 Finiteness at the initial state [Seite 91]
5.2 - 4.2 Theoretical accounts [Seite 92]
5.2.1 - 4.2.1 Morpho-syntactic systems [Seite 94]
5.2.1.1 - 4.2.1.1 Poeppel and Wexler (1993), Wexler (1998) [Seite 94]
5.2.1.2 - 4.2.1.2 Discussion [Seite 96]
5.2.2 - 4.2.2 Semantic systems [Seite 99]
5.2.2.1 - 4.2.2.1 Clahsen (1986) [Seite 99]
5.2.2.2 - 4.2.2.2 Discussion [Seite 100]
5.2.2.3 - 4.2.2.3 Ingram and Thompson (1996) [Seite 102]
5.2.2.4 - 4.2.2.4 Discussion [Seite 104]
5.2.3 - 4.2.3 Summary [Seite 107]
5.3 - 4.3 The alternative [Seite 111]
5.4 - 4.4 Summary [Seite 121]
6 - 5 The lexical stage [Seite 123]
6.1 - 5.1 Basic languages, research questions [Seite 123]
6.2 - 5.2 The analysis of early learner data [Seite 127]
6.3 - 5.3 Utterance structure at the lexical stage [Seite 136]
6.3.1 - 5.3.1 Lexical projections [Seite 136]
6.3.2 - 5.3.2 Testing the model: ergatives and particle verbs [Seite 141]
6.3.2.1 - 5.3.2.1 Ergatives [Seite 142]
6.3.2.2 - 5.3.2.2 Particle verbs [Seite 143]
6.3.3 - 5.3.3 Word order [Seite 146]
6.3.3.1 - 5.3.3.1 Subject first [Seite 147]
6.3.3.2 - 5.3.3.2 Topic first [Seite 148]
6.3.3.3 - 5.3.3.3 Head-initial [Seite 150]
6.3.4 - 5.3.4 Summary [Seite 153]
6.4 - 5.4 Conflicting constraints [Seite 157]
6.5 - 5.5 Conclusion [Seite 162]
6.6 - 5.6 From the lexical stage to the functional stage [Seite 165]
7 - 6 The functional stage [Seite 167]
7.1 - 6.1 The acquisition of the projection of F [Seite 167]
7.1.1 - 6.1.1 Utterance structure at the lexical stage [Seite 167]
7.1.2 - 6.1.2 Towards a functional topic position [Seite 169]
7.1.3 - 6.1.3 Towards a grammatical subject position [Seite 174]
7.2 - 6.2 Evidence of the projection of F [Seite 176]
7.2.1 - 6.2.1 The functional topic position [Seite 176]
7.2.2 - 6.2.2 The functional category F [Seite 180]
7.2.2.1 - 6.2.2.1 Analysis of the modal expressions 'ulle', 'mag-ikke' and 'nee' [Seite 180]
7.2.2.2 - 6.2.2.2 Analysis of the unanalysed modal expressions [Seite 181]
7.2.2.3 - 6.2.2.3 Epistemic modals [Seite 182]
7.2.2.4 - 6.2.2.4 The auxiliary verbs 'heb, heeft' and 'ben, is' [Seite 184]
7.2.2.5 - 6.2.2.5 The auxiliary verbs 'doe, doet' and 'ga, gaat' [Seite 190]
7.2.3 - 6.2.3 Topicalization [Seite 191]
7.3 - 6.3 The topic position [Seite 194]
7.3.1 - 6.3.1 The affix in F as a topicalization device [Seite 194]
7.3.2 - 6.3.2 Yes/no- and wh-questions [Seite 196]
7.3.3 - 6.3.3 Verb-third in adult L2 [Seite 199]
7.4 - 6.4 Finiteness [Seite 203]
7.4.1 - 6.4.1 Auxiliary verbs [Seite 203]
7.4.1.1 - 6.4.1.1 Verb placement [Seite 203]
7.4.1.2 - 6.4.1.2 'Light verbs' [Seite 205]
7.4.1.3 - 6.4.1.3 Morphological properties of finiteness in L2 Dutch [Seite 209]
7.4.2 - 6.4.2 Grammatical aspect [Seite 211]
7.4.3 - 6.4.3 Tense [Seite 220]
7.4.4 - 6.4.4 Agreement [Seite 220]
7.5 - 6.5 Summary [Seite 221]
8 - 7 Finiteness in language acquisition research [Seite 223]
8.1 - 7.1 Finiteness in first language research [Seite 223]
8.1.1 - 7.1.1 L1 Dutch: Gillis (2003) [Seite 223]
8.1.2 - 7.1.2 L1 German: Bittner (2003) [Seite 227]
8.1.3 - 7.1.3 Summary [Seite 234]
8.2 - 7.2 Finiteness in second language research [Seite 235]
8.2.1 - 7.2.1 Verb placement and inflectional morphology [Seite 235]
8.2.1.1 - 7.2.1.1 The contingency between verb placement and morphology [Seite 235]
8.2.1.2 - 7.2.1.2 Methodological questions [Seite 236]
8.2.1.3 - 7.2.1.3 Verb placement and inflectional morphology in second language research [Seite 238]
8.2.2 - 7.2.2 Restrictions on the contingency between verb placement and inflection [Seite 238]
8.2.2.1 - 7.2.2.1 Parodi (1998, 2000) [Seite 238]
8.2.3 - 7.2.3 The dissociation of verb placement and inflection: The Impaired Representation Hypothesis [Seite 241]
8.2.3.1 - 7.2.3.1 Meisel (1997) [Seite 241]
8.2.4 - 7.2.4 The separation of verb placement and inflection: The Missing Surface Inflection Hypothesis [Seite 243]
8.2.4.1 - 7.2.4.1 Prévost and White (2000) [Seite 243]
8.2.5 - 7.2.5 The acquisition of auxiliaries as a prerequisite for verb movement [Seite 246]
8.2.6 - 7.2.6 The stagewise acquisition of the functional category system [Seite 249]
8.2.6.1 - 7.2.6.1 Rule and Marsden (2006) [Seite 249]
8.2.6.2 - 7.2.6.2 Vainikka and Young-Scholten (1996, 2011): The Organic Grammar approach [Seite 251]
8.2.6.3 - 7.2.6.3 Becker (2005) [Seite 254]
8.2.7 - 7.2.7 Summary [Seite 260]
8.2.7.1 - 7.2.7.1 The contingency between verb placement and morphology [Seite 261]
8.2.7.2 - 7.2.7.2 The acquisition of the auxiliary as a carrier of finiteness [Seite 262]
9 - 8 Conclusion [Seite 265]
9.1 - 8.1 Basic languages [Seite 265]
9.2 - 8.2 The lexical stage [Seite 265]
9.3 - 8.3 The functional stage [Seite 274]
9.4 - 8.4 Driving forces [Seite 279]
10 - References [Seite 283]
11 - Index [Seite 289]
2 - 1 Introduction [Seite 13]
2.1 - 1.1 Language acquisition from a functional perspective [Seite 13]
2.2 - 1.2 Overview of the book [Seite 15]
3 - 2 Lexical vs. functional elements [Seite 21]
3.1 - 2.1 Structure in language [Seite 21]
3.2 - 2.2 Language structure in production [Seite 27]
3.2.1 - 2.2.1 Phrase structure [Seite 27]
3.2.1.1 - 2.2.1.1 Lexical selection [Seite 27]
3.2.1.2 - 2.2.1.2 Phrasal coherence [Seite 27]
3.2.2 - 2.2.2 Utterance structure [Seite 28]
3.2.2.1 - 2.2.2.1 Perspective taking [Seite 28]
3.2.2.2 - 2.2.2.2 Contextual embedding [Seite 31]
3.2.2.3 - 2.2.2.3 Lexical categories [Seite 33]
3.2.2.4 - 2.2.2.4 Functional categories [Seite 33]
3.2.3 - 2.2.3 Word formation [Seite 34]
3.2.3.1 - 2.2.3.1 Derivation, inherent and contextual inflection [Seite 36]
3.2.3.2 - 2.2.3.2 Lexical and functional categories of word formation [Seite 38]
3.3 - 2.3 Learner systems [Seite 42]
3.3.1 - 2.3.1 Utterance structure at the initial stage [Seite 43]
3.3.2 - 2.3.2 Word formation at the initial stage [Seite 45]
3.4 - 2.4 First and second language acquisition [Seite 46]
3.5 - 2.5 Research questions [Seite 49]
3.6 - 2.6 Data sources [Seite 50]
4 - 3 The Target System [Seite 53]
4.1 - 3.1 Introduction [Seite 53]
4.2 - 3.2 Utterance structure [Seite 54]
4.2.1 - 3.2.1 Basic word order [Seite 54]
4.2.2 - 3.2.2 Word order variation [Seite 58]
4.2.3 - 3.2.3 Information structure and lexical meaning [Seite 62]
4.2.3.1 - 3.2.3.1 VP structure [Seite 64]
4.2.3.2 - 3.2.3.2 FP structure [Seite 64]
4.2.3.3 - 3.2.3.3 The function of F [Seite 65]
4.2.3.4 - 3.2.3.4 Movement [Seite 67]
4.2.4 - 3.2.4 Summary [Seite 68]
4.3 - 3.3 Utterance production [Seite 68]
4.3.1 - 3.3.1 Conceptualization, lexicalization and predication [Seite 69]
4.3.1.1 - 3.3.1.1 Conceptualization [Seite 69]
4.3.1.2 - 3.3.1.2 Lexicalization [Seite 70]
4.3.1.3 - 3.3.1.3 Predication [Seite 74]
4.3.2 - 3.3.2 Expressing finiteness and contextual embedding [Seite 78]
4.3.2.1 - 3.3.2.1 The semantic function of finiteness [Seite 78]
4.3.2.2 - 3.3.2.1.1 Truth value [Seite 78]
4.3.2.3 - 3.3.2.2 Anchoring [Seite 82]
4.3.2.4 - 3.3.2.2.1 Temporal anchoring [Seite 83]
4.3.2.5 - 3.3.2.2.2 Spatial anchoring [Seite 84]
4.3.2.6 - 3.3.2.3 The function of SpecFP [Seite 86]
4.3.3 - 3.3.3 Summary [Seite 89]
4.4 - 3.4 Hypotheses on language development [Seite 90]
5 - 4 The initial state [Seite 91]
5.1 - 4.1 Finiteness at the initial state [Seite 91]
5.2 - 4.2 Theoretical accounts [Seite 92]
5.2.1 - 4.2.1 Morpho-syntactic systems [Seite 94]
5.2.1.1 - 4.2.1.1 Poeppel and Wexler (1993), Wexler (1998) [Seite 94]
5.2.1.2 - 4.2.1.2 Discussion [Seite 96]
5.2.2 - 4.2.2 Semantic systems [Seite 99]
5.2.2.1 - 4.2.2.1 Clahsen (1986) [Seite 99]
5.2.2.2 - 4.2.2.2 Discussion [Seite 100]
5.2.2.3 - 4.2.2.3 Ingram and Thompson (1996) [Seite 102]
5.2.2.4 - 4.2.2.4 Discussion [Seite 104]
5.2.3 - 4.2.3 Summary [Seite 107]
5.3 - 4.3 The alternative [Seite 111]
5.4 - 4.4 Summary [Seite 121]
6 - 5 The lexical stage [Seite 123]
6.1 - 5.1 Basic languages, research questions [Seite 123]
6.2 - 5.2 The analysis of early learner data [Seite 127]
6.3 - 5.3 Utterance structure at the lexical stage [Seite 136]
6.3.1 - 5.3.1 Lexical projections [Seite 136]
6.3.2 - 5.3.2 Testing the model: ergatives and particle verbs [Seite 141]
6.3.2.1 - 5.3.2.1 Ergatives [Seite 142]
6.3.2.2 - 5.3.2.2 Particle verbs [Seite 143]
6.3.3 - 5.3.3 Word order [Seite 146]
6.3.3.1 - 5.3.3.1 Subject first [Seite 147]
6.3.3.2 - 5.3.3.2 Topic first [Seite 148]
6.3.3.3 - 5.3.3.3 Head-initial [Seite 150]
6.3.4 - 5.3.4 Summary [Seite 153]
6.4 - 5.4 Conflicting constraints [Seite 157]
6.5 - 5.5 Conclusion [Seite 162]
6.6 - 5.6 From the lexical stage to the functional stage [Seite 165]
7 - 6 The functional stage [Seite 167]
7.1 - 6.1 The acquisition of the projection of F [Seite 167]
7.1.1 - 6.1.1 Utterance structure at the lexical stage [Seite 167]
7.1.2 - 6.1.2 Towards a functional topic position [Seite 169]
7.1.3 - 6.1.3 Towards a grammatical subject position [Seite 174]
7.2 - 6.2 Evidence of the projection of F [Seite 176]
7.2.1 - 6.2.1 The functional topic position [Seite 176]
7.2.2 - 6.2.2 The functional category F [Seite 180]
7.2.2.1 - 6.2.2.1 Analysis of the modal expressions 'ulle', 'mag-ikke' and 'nee' [Seite 180]
7.2.2.2 - 6.2.2.2 Analysis of the unanalysed modal expressions [Seite 181]
7.2.2.3 - 6.2.2.3 Epistemic modals [Seite 182]
7.2.2.4 - 6.2.2.4 The auxiliary verbs 'heb, heeft' and 'ben, is' [Seite 184]
7.2.2.5 - 6.2.2.5 The auxiliary verbs 'doe, doet' and 'ga, gaat' [Seite 190]
7.2.3 - 6.2.3 Topicalization [Seite 191]
7.3 - 6.3 The topic position [Seite 194]
7.3.1 - 6.3.1 The affix in F as a topicalization device [Seite 194]
7.3.2 - 6.3.2 Yes/no- and wh-questions [Seite 196]
7.3.3 - 6.3.3 Verb-third in adult L2 [Seite 199]
7.4 - 6.4 Finiteness [Seite 203]
7.4.1 - 6.4.1 Auxiliary verbs [Seite 203]
7.4.1.1 - 6.4.1.1 Verb placement [Seite 203]
7.4.1.2 - 6.4.1.2 'Light verbs' [Seite 205]
7.4.1.3 - 6.4.1.3 Morphological properties of finiteness in L2 Dutch [Seite 209]
7.4.2 - 6.4.2 Grammatical aspect [Seite 211]
7.4.3 - 6.4.3 Tense [Seite 220]
7.4.4 - 6.4.4 Agreement [Seite 220]
7.5 - 6.5 Summary [Seite 221]
8 - 7 Finiteness in language acquisition research [Seite 223]
8.1 - 7.1 Finiteness in first language research [Seite 223]
8.1.1 - 7.1.1 L1 Dutch: Gillis (2003) [Seite 223]
8.1.2 - 7.1.2 L1 German: Bittner (2003) [Seite 227]
8.1.3 - 7.1.3 Summary [Seite 234]
8.2 - 7.2 Finiteness in second language research [Seite 235]
8.2.1 - 7.2.1 Verb placement and inflectional morphology [Seite 235]
8.2.1.1 - 7.2.1.1 The contingency between verb placement and morphology [Seite 235]
8.2.1.2 - 7.2.1.2 Methodological questions [Seite 236]
8.2.1.3 - 7.2.1.3 Verb placement and inflectional morphology in second language research [Seite 238]
8.2.2 - 7.2.2 Restrictions on the contingency between verb placement and inflection [Seite 238]
8.2.2.1 - 7.2.2.1 Parodi (1998, 2000) [Seite 238]
8.2.3 - 7.2.3 The dissociation of verb placement and inflection: The Impaired Representation Hypothesis [Seite 241]
8.2.3.1 - 7.2.3.1 Meisel (1997) [Seite 241]
8.2.4 - 7.2.4 The separation of verb placement and inflection: The Missing Surface Inflection Hypothesis [Seite 243]
8.2.4.1 - 7.2.4.1 Prévost and White (2000) [Seite 243]
8.2.5 - 7.2.5 The acquisition of auxiliaries as a prerequisite for verb movement [Seite 246]
8.2.6 - 7.2.6 The stagewise acquisition of the functional category system [Seite 249]
8.2.6.1 - 7.2.6.1 Rule and Marsden (2006) [Seite 249]
8.2.6.2 - 7.2.6.2 Vainikka and Young-Scholten (1996, 2011): The Organic Grammar approach [Seite 251]
8.2.6.3 - 7.2.6.3 Becker (2005) [Seite 254]
8.2.7 - 7.2.7 Summary [Seite 260]
8.2.7.1 - 7.2.7.1 The contingency between verb placement and morphology [Seite 261]
8.2.7.2 - 7.2.7.2 The acquisition of the auxiliary as a carrier of finiteness [Seite 262]
9 - 8 Conclusion [Seite 265]
9.1 - 8.1 Basic languages [Seite 265]
9.2 - 8.2 The lexical stage [Seite 265]
9.3 - 8.3 The functional stage [Seite 274]
9.4 - 8.4 Driving forces [Seite 279]
10 - References [Seite 283]
11 - Index [Seite 289]
