Previous research (van Hout, 1998) has shown that children have difficulty understanding whether a verb phrase (VP) is to be interpreted as telic (with a logical end point) or atelic (with no logical end point). To determine a VP's telicity, both nominal and verbal features of the VP must be taken into account. This dissertation examined the interpretation of VP telicity by expanding the linguistic variables examined. Four verb types and 2 determiner types were used. The verb types were (a) non-partitive, quantity-sensitive verbs (build-type); (b) partitive, quantity-sensitive verbs (eat-type); (c) quantity-insensitive verbs (push-type); and (d) the latter two with resultative particles (eat up-type and push over-type). The determiner types in the object determiner phrase (DP) were (a) the definite determiner the and (b) the cardinal number two. Study I examined how adults interpret telicity in VPs with different verb types and determiner types. Study II examined how 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-year-old children interpret VP telicity under the same conditions. Both studies used a modified truth-value judgment task.;Study 1 hypothesized that, for adults, verb-type and determiner-type would interact to produce different response patterns to questions about non-culminating events. VPs with build-type verbs with a cardinal number in the object DP, were predicted to induce the most telic interpretations, followed by build-type verbs with a definite determiner, eat-type verbs with a cardinal number, and finally, eat-type verbs with a definite determiner. This ranking was predicted by two linguistic factors: (a) the potential partitivity of eat-type verbs, and (b) the possible variability due to discourse-based interpretation of the definite determiner vs. a specific amount indicated by the cardinal number. Another hypothesis was that resultative particles serve somewhat different functions with push-type verbs than with eat-type verbs. Overall, the results of Study I supported the predictions.;The hypotheses and predictions for Study II were similar, with two added dimensions: (a) older children should demonstrate greater sensitivity to verb-type and determiner-type with regard to telicity than younger children and (b) because resultative particles are thought to be unambiguous indicators of telicity, children should be most sensitive to resultative particles for interpreting VPs as telic. There were group differences between the 3-year-olds and the 5- and 6-year-olds. There were no significant differences for VPs with eat-type vs. build-type verbs. There were more telis interpretations for VPs with the cardinal number than with the definite determiner. Although the particle was found to contribute to a telic interpretation when the object determiner was the definite determiner, its contribution to a telic interpretation was no greater than the cardinal number's contribution without the particle. The results suggest that even by age 6, children may not have a complete adult-like understanding of the definite determiner and of the finer distinctions between verb-types as they contribute to VP telicity.
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