Overview

other aspects of developing grammars. And this is, indeed, what the contributions to this volume do. Parameterization of functional categories may, however, be understood in different ways, even if one shares the dual assumptions that substantive elements (verbs, nouns, etc. ) are present in all grammars and that X-bar principles are part of the grammatical knowledge available to the child prior to language-specific learning processes. From these assumptions it follows that the child should, from early on, be able to construct projections on the basis of these elements. The role of functional categories, however, may still be interpreted differently. One possibility, first suggested by Radford (1986, 1990) and by Guilfoyle and Noonan (1988), is that children must discover which functional categories (FC) need to be implemented in the grammar of the language they are acquiring. Another possibility, first explored by Hyams (1986), is that a specific category is present in developing grammars but that parameter values are set in a way deviating from the target adult grammar, corresponding, however, to options realized in other adult systems. A third option would be that these categories might be specified differently in developing as opposed to mature grammars. All three are explored in the papers collected in this volume. Before outlining the various hypotheses in more detail, however, I would like briefly to sketch the grammatical context in which the following debate is situated. 2.

Full Product Details

Author:   J. Meisel
Publisher:   Springer
Imprint:   Springer
Edition:   Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1992
Volume:   16
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 22.30cm
Weight:   0.674kg
ISBN:  

9789401052450

ISBN 10:   940105245
Pages:   455
Publication Date:   29 October 2012
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
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Table of Contents

Introduction: Functional Categories and Verb Placement in Language Development.- The Acquisition of the Morphosyntax of Finite Verbs in English.- Functional Categories and Early Swedish.- Accessing Functional Categories in Sesotho: Interactions at the Morpho-Syntax Interface.- Finiteness and Verb Placement in Early Child Grammars: Evidence from Simultaneous Acquisition of French and German in Bilinguals.- Language Acquisition and Competing Linguistic Representations: the Child as Arbiter.- The Acquisition of Agreement Morphology and its Syntactic Consequences: New Evidence on German Child Language from the Simone-Corpus.- Verb Movement, Agreement, and Tense in L2 Acquisition.- The Ban on Parameter Resetting, Default Mechanisms, and the Acquisition of V2 in Bernese Swiss German.- Routes to Verb Placement in Early German and French: The Independence of Finiteness and Agreement.- From the Initial State to V2: Acquisition Principles in Action.- The Genesis of Clausal Structure.- Categories of First Syntax: Be, Be+ing, and Nothingness.- On the Acquisition of Functional Categories: A General Commentary.

Reviews

'In sum, the book is an important contribution to the field of language acquisition and is a must for anyone with a serious interest in the role of Universal Grammar in language development.' Studies in Second Language Acquisition 16:3 1994

'In sum, the book is an important contribution to the field of language acquisition and is a must for anyone with a serious interest in the role of Universal Grammar in language development.' Studies in Second Language Acquisition 16:3 1994

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