Original scientific paper
Word Order in Early Language Acquisition: the Syntax of Two-Word Utterances
Gordana Hržica
orcid.org/0000-0001-6067-9148
; Edukacijsko-rehabilitacijski fakultet, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Antonia Ordulj
orcid.org/0000-0002-1162-6223
; Filozofski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Hrvatska
Abstract
In early language development complexity of syntax increases with the chronological age. Various theoretical models attempt to describe the early development of syntax and the way in which a child from the earliest utterances becomes a competent adult speaker. Tomasello offered a description of the complexity of the syntax of utterances from single and multi word utterances (combinations of words, pivot-schemes, item-based constructions) to abstract constructions. Two categories of constructions are of special importance for the description of the early syntax development: pivot-schemes and item-based constructions. Pivot-schemes are defined as two-item constructions with a ‘constant’ element supplemented with additional elements. Item-based constructions are less limited in lexical choice than pivot-schemes. Moreover, they differ in their usage of syntactic marking (morphosyntax and word order), forming a category of increased level of abstraction in child language. The aim of this study was to test whether a common definition of pivot-constructions and item-based constructions matches the structures in the Croatian child language and what their word order is considering the typological characteristics (morphological richness and a relatively free word order) of the Croatian language. Two word verbal utterances in the Croatian Corpus of Child Language (CCCL – Kovačević 2002) were studied. Pivot-constructions were selected and described together with their path to more complex item-based constructions. The results of the analysis show an early usage of grammatical morphemes, which differs from previous research based on the English language. According to this, when interpreting the results for the Croatian language, interlanguage differences must be taken into account. Furthermore, the applicability of a common definition of pivot-constructions to the Croatian language is just partial. The Croatian pivot-constructions contain specific morphological and syntactic elements, different from the grammar system of adult language, but certainly with associated meanings. The research has shown that the typological features of a language influence the development of syntax in language acquisition and induce an early onset of complex grammatical elements.
Keywords
language acquisition; syntactic development; pivot-constructions; itembased constructions; abstract constructions
Hrčak ID:
117873
URI
Publication date:
18.3.2014.
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