Chapter 3
Beyond the English passive
What we can learn from syntactic priming about L1 acquisition by exploring other structures and languages
Research on syntactic priming in typically-developing monolingual children has focused on when abstract
syntactic representations first emerge and on which mechanisms can explain syntactic priming effects in acquisition. Much of
this work has focused on the English passive (but also dative structures). In this chapter, I explore how syntactic priming
data can provide more fine-grained information about children’s syntactic representations, what we can learn about the role
and representation of interfaces, and how syntactic priming can be used to systematically explore frequency effects in L1
acquisition. In each case, I emphasize how research with different structures and languages can make important contributions
in these areas.
Article outline
- Introduction
- The nature of abstract syntactic representations
- Interfaces
- Input frequency effects in first language acquisition
- Conclusion
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Acknowledgements
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References