The role of performance limitations in the acquisition of verb-argument structure: An alternative account

Anna L. Theakston, Elena V M Lieven, Julian M. Pine, Caroline F. Rowland

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    This study investigates the role of performance limitations in children's early acquisition of verb-argument structure. Valian (1991) claims that intransitive frames are easier for children to produce early in development than transitive frames because they do not require a direct object argument. Children who understand this distinction are expected to produce a lower proportion of transitive verb utterances early in development in comparison with later stages of development and to omit direct objects much more frequently with mixed verbs (where direct objects are optional) than with transitive verbs. To test these claims, data from nine children aged between 1;10.7 and 2;0.25 matched with Valian's subjects on MLU were examined. When analysed in terms of abstract syntactic structures Valian's findings are supported. However, a detailed lexical analysis of the data suggests that the children were not selecting argument structure on the basis of syntactic complexity.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)127-152
    Number of pages25
    JournalJournal of Child Language
    Volume28
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Feb 2001

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