Four comprehension experiments tested the development of negative barriers in complex embedded WH questions in 40 typically developing female and male 3–6 to 7–0 (year-month) year-old Standard American English speaking children. The purpose was to test acquisition assumptions derived from linguistic theory of barriers to long distance WH movement. Syntactic theories of Relativized Minimality and scope marking or partial WH movement helped to account for negative and WH barriers in child language. Further, evidence of Universal Grammar appeared when negation prevented both long distance WH movement (e.g., “Why did the girl not tell her mom she went to the zoo? =/=> Why-went”) and medial WH answers (e.g., “When did the girl not tell her mom how she broke her bike? =/=> How-[tell]-broke”). Negative barriers to children's non-English medial answers supported the use of underlying structures observed cross-linguistically. Such structures are part of universal defaults, or non-specific rules, in child grammar. Before the target grammar is fully set for the specific adult rules, a child uses multiple grammars, some of which are universal defaults which get eliminated in the target adult grammar throughout the course of language development. Measures of Theory of Mind and production of complex embedded clauses predicted the development of aspects of embedded WH questions and negative barriers. Results indicated the interrelatedness of the development of complex sentences.
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机译:四个理解性实验测试了40位典型的3-6岁至7-0岁(年-月)成年美国标准英语儿童的发育状况,研究了复杂的嵌入式WH问题中否定障碍的发展。目的是测试从长距离WH运动障碍的语言学理论得出的获取假设。相对最小化和范围标记或部分WH运动的句法理论有助于解决儿童语言中的消极障碍和WH障碍。此外,当否定阻止长距离WH运动时(例如,“为什么女孩 not italic>告诉妈妈,她去动物园了吗?= / =>为什么去”),通用语法的证据就出现了内侧的WH答案(例如,“女孩 not italic>何时告诉妈妈如何骑自行车?= / =>怎样讲?”)。儿童非英语中级答案的消极障碍支持使用跨语言观察的基础结构。这样的结构是子语法中通用默认值或非特定规则的一部分。在为特定的成人规则完全设置目标语法之前,孩子会使用多种语法,其中一些是通用默认值,这些默认值会在语言开发的整个过程中在目标成人语法中消除。心理理论的测量和复杂嵌入条款的产生预示了嵌入WH问题和负面障碍方面的发展。结果表明复杂句子发展的相互关系。
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