The Acquisition of Complex Sentences
The Acquisition of Complex Sentences

Author: Holger Diessel

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2004-09-02

Total Pages: 244

ISBN-13: 1139454080

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This book presents a comprehensive study of how children acquire complex sentences. Drawing on observational data from English-speaking children aged 2 to 5, Holger Diessel investigates the acquisition of infinitival and participial complement clauses, finite complement clauses, finite and nonfinite relative clauses, adverbial clauses, and coordinate clauses. His investigation shows that the development of complex sentences originates from simple non-embedded sentences and that two different developmental pathways can be distinguished: complex sentences including complement and relative clauses evolve from simple sentences that are gradually expanded to multiple-clause constructions, and complex sentences including adverbial and coordinate clauses develop from simple sentences that are integrated in a specific biclausal unit. He argues that the acquisition process is determined by a variety of factors: the frequency of the various complex sentences in the ambient language, the semantic and syntactic complexity of the emerging constructions, the communicative functions of complex sentences, and the social-cognitive development of the child.

The Acquisition of Relative Clauses
The Acquisition of Relative Clauses

Author: Evan Kidd

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 253

ISBN-13: 9027234787

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Explaining the acquisition and processing of relative clauses has long challenged psycholinguistics researchers. The current volume presents a collection of chapters that consider the acquisition of relative clauses with a particular focus on function, typology, and language processing. A diverse range of theoretical approaches and languages are bought to bear on the acquisition of this construction type, making the volume unique in its coverage. The volume will appeal to students and scholars whose interest lies in the acquisition and processing of syntax with a particular focus on complex sentences in crosslinguistic and functionalist perspective.

Complex Sentences in Grammar and Discourse
Complex Sentences in Grammar and Discourse

Author: Joan L. Bybee

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2002-01-01

Total Pages: 378

ISBN-13: 9789027225856

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The papers in this volume in honor of Sandra Annear Thompson deal with complex sentences, an important topic in Thompson's career. The focus of the contributions is on the ways in which the grammatical properties of complex sentences are shaped by the communicative context in which they are produced, an approach to grammatical analysis that Thompson pioneered and developed in the course of her distinguished career.

Information Structure and Reference Tracking in Complex Sentences
Information Structure and Reference Tracking in Complex Sentences

Author: Rik van Gijn

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company

Published: 2014-03-15

Total Pages: 417

ISBN-13: 9027270759

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This volume is dedicated to exploring the crossroads where complex sentences and information management – more specifically information structure and reference tracking – come together. Complex sentences are a highly relevant but understudied domain for studying notions of IS and RT. On the one hand, a complex sentence can be studied as a mini-unit of discourse consisting of two or more elements describing events, situations, or processes, with its own internal information-structural and referential organization. On the other hand, complex sentences can be studied as parts of larger discourse structures, such as narratives or conversations, in terms of how their information-structural characteristics relate to this wider context. The book offers new perspectives for the study of the interaction between complex sentences and information management, and moreover adds typological breadth by focusing on lesser studied languages from several parts of the world.

Children with Specific Language Impairment
Children with Specific Language Impairment

Author: Laurence B. Leonard

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 358

ISBN-13: 9780262621366

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Children with Specific Language Impairment covers all aspects of SLI, including its history, possible genetic and neurobiological origins, and clinical and educational practice.

Child Language Acquisition
Child Language Acquisition

Author: Ben Ambridge

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2011-03-17

Total Pages: 465

ISBN-13: 1139500511

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Is children's language acquisition based on innate linguistic structures or built from cognitive and communicative skills? This book summarises the major theoretical debates in all of the core domains of child language acquisition research (phonology, word-learning, inflectional morphology, syntax and binding) and includes a complete introduction to the two major contrasting theoretical approaches: generativist and constructivist. For each debate, the predictions of the competing accounts are closely and even-handedly evaluated against the empirical data. The result is an evidence-based review of the central issues in language acquisition research that will constitute a valuable resource for students, teachers, course-builders and researchers alike.

The Handbook of Child Language
The Handbook of Child Language

Author: Paul Fletcher

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Published: 1996-12-23

Total Pages: 800

ISBN-13: 9780631203124

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This volume, in its 25 definitive chapters on normal and nonnormal language development, represents the authoritative and up-to-date complete sourcebook on child language development. All aspects of child language development are addressed, including phonetics, phonology, grammar, and lexical development. Connectionism and government-binding theory, as applied to language development, are fully represented. The relevance of input, cognition, and social factors to language development is explored. Chapters on methodology, particularly using computer databases, are provided for both normal and nonnormal acquisition.

The Acquisition of Complex Sentences
The Acquisition of Complex Sentences

Author: Holger Diessel

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2004-09-02

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 9780521831932

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This comprehensive account of how children acquire complex sentences investigates spontaneous speech in English-speaking children between ages two and five. After examining the acquisition of numerous types of clauses, Holger Diessel argues that the acquisition process is determined by a variety of factors: the frequency of the various complex sentences in the language, the complexity of the emerging constructions, the communicative functions of complex sentences, and the child's social-cognitive development.

A Grammar of Nungon
A Grammar of Nungon

Author: Hannah Sarvasy

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2017-03-13

Total Pages: 659

ISBN-13: 9004340106

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A Grammar of Nungon is the most comprehensive modern reference grammar of a language of northeast Papua New Guinea. Nungon is a previously-undescribed Finisterre-Huon Papuan language spoken by about 1,000 people in the Saruwaged Mountains, Morobe Province. Hannah Sarvasy provides a rich description of the language in its cultural context, based on original immersion fieldwork. The exposition is extraordinarily thorough, covering phonetics, phonology, word classes, morphology, grammatical relations, switch-reference, valency, complex predicates, clause combining, possession, information structure, and the pragmatics of communication. Four complete interlinearized Nungon monologues and dialogues supplement the copious textual examples. A Grammar of Nungon sets a new standard of thoroughness for reference works on languages of this region.

Child Language
Child Language

Author: Barbara C. Lust

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2006-09-21

Total Pages: 411

ISBN-13: 1139459279

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The remarkable way in which young children acquire language has long fascinated linguists and developmental psychologists alike. Language is a skill that we have essentially mastered by the age of three, and with incredible ease and speed, despite the complexity of the task. This accessible textbook introduces the field of child language acquisition, exploring language development from birth. Setting out the key theoretical debates, it considers questions such as what characteristics of the human mind make it possible to acquire language; how far acquisition is biologically programmed and how far it is influenced by our environment; what makes second language learning (in adulthood) different from first language acquisition; and whether the specific stages in language development are universal across languages. Clear and comprehensive, it is set to become a key text for all courses in child language acquisition, within linguistics, developmental psychology and cognitive science.