Grammatical development

1. Grammatical development

2. Get doggy. Get milk. Get him. Get Billy. Get something to eat. Lexically-specific constructions

3. Emergence of schematic constructions VERB __ Get __ Get doggy Get milk Get him Get Billy

4. Features of grammatical development • The earliest grammatical patterns are formally simplified. • The earliest utterances tend to be lexically specific. • Young children often memorize grammatical patterns. • ‚Input frequency‘ seems to be an important determinant of language acquisition. • Children do not just memorize the patterns they hear, they also analyze and organize the input data.

5. Complex sentences

6. Complex sentences coordination subordination relative complement adverbial finite non-fi. finite non-fi. finite non-fi.

7. Data

8. Proportion of complex sentences

9. Complement clauses

10. Complement clauses • Semantic types: • 1. communicative verbs of saying (e.g. say, tell) • 2. perception verbs (e.g. see, hear) • 3. mental verbs (e.g. know, think) • Formal types: • 1. I know (that) she will come. S-complement • 2. I don’t know if she will come. IF-complement • 3. I don’t know when she will come WH-complement

11. Early complement clauses I think it’s a cow. (Adam 2,3) See this is empty. (Peter 2,4) I know you are here. (Peter 2,5) Think he’s gone. (Nina 2,5) I guess I’ve one. (Nina 2;6)

12. Think-clauses I think I'm go in here. 3;1 And I think... we need dishes. 3;2 Think some toys over here too. 3;3 I think I play jingle bells… with the record player. 3;5 I think he's gone. 3;5 Oh... I think it's a ball. 3;5 It's a crazy bone... I think. 3;5 I think it's in here. 3;5 I think it's in here… Mommy. 2;7 Think it's in there. 2;8

13. Features of early think clauses • The subject is always I. • The matrix verb appears always in present tense. • There is no auxiliary, modal, or PP in the matrix clause. • The complement clause is longer and more diverse. • There is no that-complementizer. • In some sentences I think follows the complement clause.

14. 3;0 3,6 4;0 4;6 I think__ Do you think__ I thought__ I’m thinking__ They think__ What do you think__ Development of think clauses

15. guess clauses I guess I better come…. 3;5 Guess I'll write some more white. 3;9 Guess I lay it down. 3;10 I guess saw me break them. 3;10 I guess I have one more. 4;4 That goes right here but it don't fit… I guess. 4;4 Now… I guess that goes right there… doesn't it? 4;4 Because it have both lines… I guess. 4;5 I guess this is a hill… like this. 4;9 I guess this is… 5;0

16. wish clauses I wish I could play with dis [= a Christmas present]. 3;5 I wish I can keep it (pause) for writing on. 3;5 I wish I can keep dat so I can tick (pause) tick it. 3;5 I wish we can eat... 3;8 I wish we could eat that. 3;8 I wish I could have a tractor to drive in them. 3;8 I wish ... could ... make some more just like dat. 3;8 I wish you could color all dese. 3;9 I wish I could have a picnic. 3;11 Momma ... I wish I could come back here. 3;11

17. know clauses I know this piece go. 2;6 I know ... soldier marching. 2;8 How do you know it going eat supper? 3;0 How do you know dat a duck?. 3;0 How do you know dat convertible? 3;0 How do you know ... I saw ducks 3;0 How do you know ... put my cup up? 3;0 How do you know ... doesn’t hurt me? 3;1 Mommy ... How do you know dat’s Harvard Square bus? 3;1 Do you know de lights went off? 3;1

18. see clauses Got to make them bigger… see? 2;3 See this is empty. 2;3 Let’s see we fix them. 2;3 See these are stamps. 2;4 See Daddy’s on the grass. 2;5 See boat has sails on it. 2;5 See the peoples going. 2;6 Mommy write it… see? 2;6 See I’m writing 2;6 See you do it? 2;7

19. remember clauses Remember we played with Samantha? 3;0 Remember you reading de puzzle… 3;2 Remember I broke my window? 4;0 You have to put it in the barn… remember? 4;0 Remember it was Halloween and… 4;2 I remember the bee bite me in the belly…. 4;5 Remember I don’t had to go to the doctors? 4;5 Remember last year I knew how to make a two? 4;11 Hey ... remember that I hanged them on like that? 5;0

20. say clauses The cowboy say (pause) “I'm angry at you”. 2;9 He sayed he has something to play with for me. 2;9 That means peoples say “put the kitty down”. 2;10 She gonna say I have a pretty dress on. 2;10 The kitty says he wants to come in. 2;10 He say the alligator's gonna bite him up. 2;10 You make a rabbit and a bear I said. 2;10 He said yes he will give you a cow. 2;11 She said she is gonna give me a pillow… 2;11 Dolly said “yes she (pause) she’s a witch. 2;11

21. tell clauses She telled me she for get the doll carriage for me. 2;10 He telled me… me don’t scream again. 3;0 Tell me… I would like to come to your house again. 3;0 I’m gonna tell him I wanna go to his house. 3;3 I tell her… “no… no… baby that’s my stuff”. 3;3 I told you I could make a carrot. 4;2 I told you you’re cuckoo. 4;6 I wanna tell the kids ‘do you heard of this kind of water?’4;9 Tell Daddy I’m sick. 4;10 I told you I need the (…) to do it. 4;11

22. IF-complements … and see if I’m tall. 2;10 Now let’s see if it fits on this little boy. 3;1 Let me see if there’s something else in her bag. 3;3 I want to see if you… 3;8 Let me see if I can touch you. 4;2 See if I can make a kite. 4;8 See if I can make you wink. 4;9 See if I can pour it like this. 4;9 See if it smells. 4;11 Let me see if you get anymore. 5;1

23. WH-complements I wonder what a whale fish is. 3;8 I wonder what skinned means. 3;8 I wonder what dat is. 3;8 I wonder what dat noise is. 3;8 I wonder what it is. 3;8 Mommy… I wonder what dat is. 3;8 I wonder what dey are. 3;8 I wonder what dis is. 3;8 I wonder where the door is. 3;8 I wonder where the rest of it is. 3;8

24. WH-complements Guess what it is? 3;5 Guess who we spun? 4;1 Guess what that is? 4;5 Guess what I can make still? 4;6 Guess what that is? 4;6 Guess what this is? 4;10 Guess what it is? 4;10 Guess what dis is? 4;11 Guess what dis is going to be, Mommy? 5;2 Guess how old I am? 5;2

25. IF + WH-complements Early clauses: Let (me/us) see if __ I wonder wh __ Guess __ ? See if __ Later clauses: (1) He doesn’t know where he’s driving. [4;0] (2) Paul knows where it is, doesn’t he? [4;3] (3) This airplane doesn’t know where it’s going. [4;4] (4) She didn’t know where it was. [5;0]

26. Emergence of schematic constructions I think __ Remember __

27. Emergence of schematic constructions I think __ Remember __

28. Emergence of schematic constructions NP VERB __ NP think __ I think __ He thinks __ I am thinking __ Remember __

29. Relative clauses

30. Structure of relative clauses (1) The manwho we saw was reading a book. SUBJ (2) He noticed the manwho was reading a book. OBJ (3) The man who we saw was reading a book. OBJ (4) He noticed the man who was reading a book. SUBJ

31. Children’s spontaneous relative clauses (1) That’s the rabbit that fall off. [Nina 2;7] (2) Look at dat train Ursula bought. [Adam 2;10] (3) This is the sugar that goes in there. [Nina 3;0] (4) That’s a picture I made. [Adam 3;0] (5) Here’s a tiger that’s gonna scare him. [Nina 3;1] (6) It’s a song that we dance to. [Nina 3;2]

32. Semantic complexity (1) Here’s the tiger that’s gonna scare him. > The tiger is gonna scare him. (2) This is the sugar that goes in there. > The sugar goes in there. (3) It’s a song that we dance to. > We dance to a song.

33. Data

34. Head of the relative clause (1) The manwho we saw was reading a book. SUBJ (2) He noticed the manwho was reading a book. OBJ (3) He saw to the manwho was reading a book. OBL (4) The manwho was reading a book. NP (5) That’s the manwho was reading a book. PN

35. Head of relative clause (total)

36. Head of relative clause (earliest)

37. Head of relative clause (development) PN OBJ PN NP OBJ NP OBL OBL OBL SUBJ

38. Motivating factors • Semantic complexity. • Input frequency. • Information structure. • Pragmtic function.

39. Conclusion PN-relatives are the earliest relative clauses that children learn because: (1) they suit the communicative needs of young children (2) they are semantically similar to simple sentences.