ERIC Number: ED375663
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1994
Pages: 47
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
The Structure of IP: Evidence from Acquisition Data.
Malamud Makowski, Monica
This study investigated the earliest manifestations of verb tense and agreement in English-speaking children, using longitudinal data on the language of four children aged 1:6 to 3:5 years, drawn from a child-language database. Analysis focused on one aspect of inflectional phrase (IP), the children's use of the verbs "be" and "do" forms to mark agreement, and the ending "-ed" and instances of "did" as tense markers. Results show that tense and agreement do not emerge simultaneously, and furthermore, that there is a specific sequence in order of acquisition across English-speaking children: namely, tense appears before agreement. Findings are considered in the context of several approaches to language acquisition and current theories of syntactic structure. It is concluded that: (1) results provide empirical support for the syntactic structure of the language and in particular, the split-inflectional hypothesis, and (2) among current approaches to language acquisition, the continuity hypotheses lend themselves best to interpretation of these results. (MSE)
Descriptors: Age Differences, Case Studies, Child Language, Comparative Analysis, English, Form Classes (Languages), Grammar, Language Acquisition, Language Patterns, Language Research, Linguistic Theory, Longitudinal Studies, Phrase Structure, Syntax, Tenses (Grammar), Time Factors (Learning), Toddlers, Verbs, Young Children
Publication Type: Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A