TY - JOUR
T1 - The acquisition of phonology based on input
T2 - A closer look at the relation of cross-linguistic and child language data
AU - Zamuner, Tania S.
AU - Gerken, Lou Ann
AU - Hammond, Michael
N1 - Funding Information:
$ This research was supported by NSERC PGSB awarded to T.S. Zamuner, by NSF grant #SBR969607 awarded to LouAnn Gerken, and by NWO grant 360-70-100 awarded to Paula Fikkert and Rene Kager. We are thankful for the assistance and comments from Paula Fikkert, Diane Ohala, Maryam Sadrzadeh, Joseph Stemberger, Erik Jan van der Torre, and an anonymous reviewer. * Corresponding author. Tel.: +31 24 361 29 89; fax: +31 24 361 19 72. E-mail address: [email protected] (T.S. Zamuner).
PY - 2005/10
Y1 - 2005/10
N2 - Parallels between cross-linguistic and child language data have been used to support a theory of language development in which acquisition is mediated by universal grammar (Universal Grammar Hypothesis-UGH). However, structures that are frequent across languages are also typically the most frequent within a specific language. This confounding of cross-linguistic and language-specific data is consistent with the hypothesis that children acquire the grammar of the specific languages to which they are exposed, based on a less constrained acquisition mechanism (Specific Language Grammar Hypothesis-SLGH). These two theories of acquisition are contrasted in an examination of English-speaking children's acquisition of codas. Predictions for the UGH were based on cross-linguistic patterns and on frequency analyses of codas from 35 languages. Results showed that languages prefer coronal and sonorant codas; however, children's productions did not favor these codas. Predictions for the SLGH were established on the frequency of English codas, and significant correlations were found between children's coda productions and the frequency of English codas. Using this approach, children's coda production is best characterized with respect to frequently occurring properties of the input, which serve to organize children's linguistic representations.
AB - Parallels between cross-linguistic and child language data have been used to support a theory of language development in which acquisition is mediated by universal grammar (Universal Grammar Hypothesis-UGH). However, structures that are frequent across languages are also typically the most frequent within a specific language. This confounding of cross-linguistic and language-specific data is consistent with the hypothesis that children acquire the grammar of the specific languages to which they are exposed, based on a less constrained acquisition mechanism (Specific Language Grammar Hypothesis-SLGH). These two theories of acquisition are contrasted in an examination of English-speaking children's acquisition of codas. Predictions for the UGH were based on cross-linguistic patterns and on frequency analyses of codas from 35 languages. Results showed that languages prefer coronal and sonorant codas; however, children's productions did not favor these codas. Predictions for the SLGH were established on the frequency of English codas, and significant correlations were found between children's coda productions and the frequency of English codas. Using this approach, children's coda production is best characterized with respect to frequently occurring properties of the input, which serve to organize children's linguistic representations.
KW - Acquisition
KW - Input
KW - Phonology
KW - Universal grammar
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=13844292617&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=13844292617&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.lingua.2004.06.005
DO - 10.1016/j.lingua.2004.06.005
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:13844292617
SN - 0024-3841
VL - 115
SP - 1403
EP - 1426
JO - Lingua
JF - Lingua
IS - 10
ER -