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This thesis discusses the first language acquisition of three morphosyntactic mechanisms of transitivity alternation in arctic Quebec Inuktitut. Data derive from naturalistic longitudinal spontaneous speech samples collected over a nine-month period from four Inuit children aged 2;0 through 2;10 at outset. Both basic and advanced forms of passive structures are shown to be used productively by Inuktitut-speaking children at an early age relative to English-speaking children, but consistent in age with speakers of non-Indo-European languages reported on in the literature; potential explanations of this difference include frequency of caregiver input and details of language structure. Morphological causatives appear slightly later in the acquisition sequence, and their first instances reflect use of unanalyzed routines. Lexical causatives are present from the earliest ages studied. Evidence of a period of overgeneralization of lexical causatives in one subject at the same time as the morphological causative shows signs of being productively acquired suggests that the seeming overgeneralization may reflect nothing more than as yet unstable use of the morphological causative. Noun incorporation structures are shown to be used productively by Inuktitut-speaking children at an early age relative to Mohawk-speaking children; potential explanations of this difference include details of language structure and relative language use in the environments of the learners. Findings are considered in light of current debates in the literature concerning continuity versus maturation of grammatical structure, and concerning the functional categories available to the child at early stages of acquisition. Data presented argue against maturation, and suggest that all functional categories can be accessed by the Inuktitut-speaking child early in the acquisition process.

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Les pratiques de l’écriture à Iqaluit, la capitale du Nunavut, et à Igloolik, une plus petite communauté au nord de la région de Baffin, mettent en scène la gestion quotidienne du bilinguisme chez les locuteurs du nouveau territoire. Depuis l’apprentissage du syllabique jusqu’aux sites de socialisation sur Internet, des expériences individuelles sont présentées et explicitent le contexte et les attitudes linguistiques qui gouvernent les choix de langue en fonction du mode d’expression. Le caractère marginal de l’écriture en langue inuit ressort nettement dans ce portrait des pratiques, quelle que soit la vitalité de la langue à l’oral. Cette restriction sur l’épanouissement de l’inuktitut dans tous les domaines possibles d’utilisation fragilise l’équilibre d’une nécessaire relation de complémentarité avec l’anglais. Une étude de la situation linguistique au Groenland laisse entrevoir une autre réalité, ce qui suscite plusieurs questionnements. La diversité dialectale, l’expérience d’urbanisation, les dynamiques économiques et les mobilisations identitaires influencent les pratiques de l’écriture. Les conséquences quant à l’effort de promotion de la langue inuit en sont tirées. Mots clés : écriture syllabique, Nunavut, langue inuit. / Literacy practices in Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut, and Igloolik, a smaller community located in the northern Baffin region, illustrate the daily management of bilingualism by the speakers of the new territory. From the learning of syllabics to social networking sites, a large range of individual experiences is discussed. They contextualize linguistic attitudes, which determine language choice according to the mode of expression. The marginality of Inuit language literacy is readily perceived in this portrait of practices, regardless of the vitality that the language may show orally. These limitations on the expansion of Inuktitut, in all possible domains of use, weaken the balance of an unavoidable complementary relationship with English. A study of the linguistic situation in Greenland shows a different reality, which raises several questions. Dialect diversity, lived experiences of urbanization, economical dynamics and identity mobilizations all have an influence on literacy practices. Conclusions are then drawn about the promotion of the Inuit language. Keywords: syllabic literacy, Nunavut, Inuit language.

Several current studies in language acquisition have focussed on the emergence of functional categories in first and second languages. The properties of functional categories can be exhibited through movement, inflections, case marking and the use of functional elements such as determiners and complementizers. / This pilot study investigated the English second language of two groups of Inuktitut speaking schoolchildren at the beginning of the school year to see whether the properties of functional categories in English emerged in the same way as they do for first language speakers. While some of the Kindergarten children showed no access to these properties, others showed partial or complete access to them. Those children who had been in school one year demonstrated access to all of the properties under investigation. The results are discussed with respect to future research methodologies and studies of acquisition.

This study examines knowledge of grammar by receptive bilinguals (RBs) - heritage speakers who describe themselves as capable of fluent comprehension in Labrador Inuttitut (an endangered dialect of Inuktitut), but of little or no speech production in it. Despite the growing research on incomplete acquisition, RBs have yet to be studied as a specific population. Participants (8 fluent bilinguals, 17 RBs, 3 low-proficiency RBs) performed a morpheme comprehension task and a grammaticality judgment task. General measures of their comprehension and production abilities included a story retelling task as an overall assessment of comprehension, a vocabulary test, an elicited imitation task, and a production task. This data was complemented by language behaviour interviews. The results showed that RBs have good, though not perfect, comprehension and basic vocabulary, but speech production is very difficult for them. They have grammatical knowledge, but it is incomplete: Knowledge of some structures is robust, and their comprehension is fluent (past vs. future contrast, aspectual morphemes); others are missing (temporal remoteness degrees); and yet for others (case and agreement), RBs have the category and know its position in the word structure, but have difficulty connecting the features with the morphemes expressing them. These findings explain the significant asymmetry between comprehension and production in RBs: In comprehension, incomplete knowledge may result in loss of some aspects of meaning, but in many cases it can be compensated for by pragmatic knowledge and extralinguistic context, while in production, it can result in the selection of an incorrect morpheme or inability to select a morpheme. Low-proficiency RBs have partial comprehension, small vocabulary, and almost no production. They do not understand most functional morphemes; however, they show knowledge of the basic properties such as the position of the obligatory agreement marker on the verb. This study provides data on an understudied language and an understudied population at the extreme end of unbalanced bilingualism. The findings have implications both for the psycholinguistics of bilingualism and for language revitalization, especially in the context of a language shift in indigenous language communities, where RBs are often the last generation to have competence in the indigenous language.

This study examines knowledge of grammar by receptive bilinguals (RBs) - heritage speakers who describe themselves as capable of fluent comprehension in Labrador Inuttitut (an endangered dialect of Inuktitut), but of little or no speech production in it. Despite the growing research on incomplete acquisition, RBs have yet to be studied as a specific population. Participants (8 fluent bilinguals, 17 RBs, 3 low-proficiency RBs) performed a morpheme comprehension task and a grammaticality judgment task. General measures of their comprehension and production abilities included a story retelling task as an overall assessment of comprehension, a vocabulary test, an elicited imitation task, and a production task. This data was complemented by language behaviour interviews. The results showed that RBs have good, though not perfect, comprehension and basic vocabulary, but speech production is very difficult for them. They have grammatical knowledge, but it is incomplete: Knowledge of some structures is robust, and their comprehension is fluent (past vs. future contrast, aspectual morphemes); others are missing (temporal remoteness degrees); and yet for others (case and agreement), RBs have the category and know its position in the word structure, but have difficulty connecting the features with the morphemes expressing them. These findings explain the significant asymmetry between comprehension and production in RBs: In comprehension, incomplete knowledge may result in loss of some aspects of meaning, but in many cases it can be compensated for by pragmatic knowledge and extralinguistic context, while in production, it can result in the selection of an incorrect morpheme or inability to select a morpheme. Low-proficiency RBs have partial comprehension, small vocabulary, and almost no production. They do not understand most functional morphemes; however, they show knowledge of the basic properties such as the position of the obligatory agreement marker on the verb. This study provides data on an understudied language and an understudied population at the extreme end of unbalanced bilingualism. The findings have implications both for the psycholinguistics of bilingualism and for language revitalization, especially in the context of a language shift in indigenous language communities, where RBs are often the last generation to have competence in the indigenous language.

Thèse (Ph. D.) -- Université Laval, 2003. / Bibliogr.: f. 306-330. Publié aussi en version électronique.

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