Usage-based, constructivist approaches to first language acquisition
assume that children’s linguistic abilities emerge in a piecemeal fashion through
interaction with mature language users (Tomasello 2003). In spite of the fact
that both formal and functional characteristics of the linguistic constructions involved
are thought to be of importance in this process, most previous studies have
focused exclusively on form.
The current study aims at exploring the contribution of functional factors in
the learning of a subset of yes-no questions: providing an in-depth analysis of the
emergence of Can -person-process?-constructions in a high-density Childescorpus
of a boy learning English (Lieven et al. 2009), it is shown that functional
factors need to be considered in order to be able to account for the developmental
path. It is suggested that we need to re-evaluate the relationship between (formal
as well as functional) frequency, salience, and entrenchment and the ways in
which these aspects interact during the language learning process. This has important
implications for future research on language development as well as for
claims about the mental organization of linguistic knowledge within CxG and
Cognitive Linguistics more generally.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:80266 |
| Date | 01 August 2022 |
| Creators | Kania, Ursula |
| Publisher | De Gruyter Mouton |
| Source Sets | Hochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion, doc-type:article, info:eu-repo/semantics/article, doc-type:Text |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | 7 |
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