The Acquisition of Word Order

Micro-cues, information structure, and economy

Marit Westergaard | University of Tromsø | CASTL

Hardbound – Available

ISBN 9789027255280 | EUR 99.00 | USD 149.00

e-Book –

ISBN 9789027289346 | EUR 99.00 | USD 149.00

Within a new model of language acquisition, this book discusses verb second (V2) word order in situations where there is variation in the input. While traditional generative accounts consider V2 to be a parameter, this study shows that, in many languages, this word order is dependent on fine distinctions in syntax and information structure. Thus, within a split-CP model of clause structure, a number of micro-cues are formulated, taking into account the specific context for V2 vs. non-V2 (clause type, subcategory of the elements involved, etc.). The micro-cues are produced in children’s I-language grammars on exposure to the relevant input. Focusing on a dialect of Norwegian, the book shows that children generally produce target-consistent V2 and non-V2 from early on, indicating that they are sensitive to the micro-cues. This includes contexts where word order is dependent on information structure. The children’s occasional non-target-consistent behavior is accounted for by economy principles.

[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today, 145] 2009. xii, 245 pp.

Publishing status: Available
Published online on 25 September 2009

https://doi.org/10.1075/la.145

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements | pp. xi–xii

Preliminaries | pp. 1–12

Word order variation and the structure of the target language | pp. 13–32

The of V2 and a of-cues | pp. 33–62

The input | pp. 63–76

The acquisition of word order in non-subject-initial declaratives | pp. 77–106

The acquisition of word order in subject-initial declaratives | pp. 107–132

The acquisition of word order in wh-questions | pp. 133–164

The acquisition of word order in yes/no-questions | pp. 165–182

The acquisition of word order in non-V2 contexts | pp. 183–198

Micro-cues, information structure, and economy | pp. 199–224

Appendix | pp. 237–242

Index | pp. 243–246

“I very much enjoyed reading the book and would strongly recommend it to acquisitionists and syntacticians alike. Overall, I found the model of micro-cues that Westergaard develops very appealing, and I hope that she will provide us with some of the answers of my remaining questions in her future work, which I look forward to reading.”

Bernadette Plunkett, in Journal of Linguistics 47: 746-753, 2011

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[no author supplied]

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