Language, Mind, and Brain by Ewa Dabrowska Chapter 9: Syntactic constructions, pt. 1

Is syntax like morphology? Q: What kinds of points is Dabrowska going to make that parallel morphology?

Is syntax like morphology? Q: What kinds of points is Dabrowska going to make that parallel morphology? A: –the same mental mechanism can account for both regular and irregular constructions –speakers extract patterns at varying degrees of abstraction –associative memory plays a prominent role

1. Ties between lexical and grammatical knowledge Q: How can we account for these facts? –Very strong statistical correlation between vocabulary size and grammatical complexity mastered by young children; age was not statistically a predictor –Equally strong correlation between lexicon and grammar in impairment

1. Ties between lexical and grammatical knowledge Q: How can we account for these facts? –Very strong statistical correlation between vocabulary size and grammatical complexity mastered by young children; age was not statistically a predictor –Equally strong correlation between lexicon and grammar in impairment A: People use “chunks” – form-meaning pairings that combine lexical items and grammatical constructions

2. Multi-word units in acquisition Q: What is “premature usage”?

2. Multi-word units in acquisition Q: What is “premature usage”? A: Children often use chunks containing grammatical morphemes long before they use the morphemes in novel utterances.

Q: What is a “developmental U-curve”?

A: Early limited correct usage of a form followed by absence or incorrect usage, later followed by reliable use in a range of situations. E.g. What’s this? (chunk!) > What this is? > What is this?

2.3 Inappropriate and ungrammatical usage Q: Is it true that children’s errors result from faulty abstract rules?

2.3 Inappropriate and ungrammatical usage Q: Is it true that children’s errors result from faulty abstract rules? A: Not necessarily. They can also arise from inappropriate combination of chunks.

2.4 Pronoun reversals Q: What is a “pronoun reversal”? What theories are there about them and what does the author suggest?

2.4 Pronoun reversals Q: What is a “pronoun reversal”? What theories are there about them and what does the author suggest? A: Children use “you” to refer to themselves. It is theorized that they don’t understand deixis. But maybe they are just echoing what they heard said to them!

2.5 Filler syllables Q: What are filler syllables, and what do they indicate?

2.5 Filler syllables Q: What are filler syllables, and what do they indicate? Filler syllables are underspecified unstressed syllables (schwa &/or nasal). They indicate that children are working with a phrase- level structure, not word- level, gradually filling in larger patterns.

2.6 Lexically based patterns Q: Tomasello is famous for the “verb-island hypothesis”. Can you guess what it is?

2.6 Lexically based patterns Q: Tomasello is famous for the “verb-island hypothesis”. Can you guess what it is? A: A theory that children don’t form rules for constructions of verbs, but rather use lexically specific chunks, like: X fall down, ride X, X gave Y Z

Michael Tomasello’s webpage:

2.6 Lexically based patterns Q: How much of children’s speech shows evidence of lexical patterning and when do children gain competence to produce syntactic patterns with novel verbs?

2.6 Lexically based patterns Q: How much of children’s speech shows evidence of lexical patterning and when do children gain competence to produce syntactic patterns with novel verbs? A: In children up to 3yrs 60% is lexical formulas and 30% is frozen phrases. Children don’t succeed in reliably forming new transitive constructions until age 8.

2.7 “Mosaic” acquisition Q: What is Chomsky’s claim about acquisition?

2.7 “Mosaic” acquisition Q: What is Chomsky’s claim about acquisition? A: That once a rule is learned, it is applied in all contexts. But is this true? This is not corroborated by research.

2.7 “Mosaic” acquisition Q: What is “mosaic” acquisition?

2.7 “Mosaic” acquisition Q: What is “mosaic” acquisition? A: Piecemeal, gradual, probabilistic (not rule-governed), often lexically-specific acquisition of grammatical features and the range of their application.