2004 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Experimental Studies on First Language Acquisition in the Framework of Generative Grammar
| Project/Area Number |
14510634
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
言語学・音声学
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| Research Institution | Kinjo Gakuin University |
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Principal Investigator |
HARADA Kazuko Kinjo Gakuin University, Faculty of Literature, Professor, 文学部, 教授 (60156502)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2002 – 2004
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| Keywords | generative grammar / language acquisition / syntax development / movement / Merge |
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| Research Abstract |
1. The results of the experimental studies on the acquisition of Japanese and English relative clauses are examined. The examination together with the analysis of the errors that Japanese children made reveals that Japanese relative clauses do not involve movement but contain the empty category pro.
2. The results of the experimental studies on the acquisition of Japanese and English relative clauses and wh-questions are examined concentrating on movement to clarify the nature of the 'cost' of derivation. The examination leads us to the two things : (1) The child acquires a language without movement earlier than a language with movement with other things being equal and (2) In the case of a language with movement, the child acquires a structure where movement of a minimal element is involved earlier than a structure where movement of a larger element is required ceteris paribus.
3. A new picture of the early stages of syntax development is presented with the view that the formal properties of Merge ('concatenation,' 'projection,' and 'recursiveness') are separately taken into consideration. The study first reanalyzes the acquisition corpora of two-word utterances in Braine (1963) and demonstrates that most of the data fail to exhibit endocentricity in structure. Then it is suggested that the operation Merge should undergo the maturational process.
4. The data of 84 sessions were collected from two Japanese girls during the period May 1997 to January 2001. 56 sessions of the data were transcribed and 52 sessions were inputted into a computer.
5. The new data collection started in November 2002. The data were collected from one Japanese boy once or twice a
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Research Products
(8 results)
