I propose that the HKSL phrase structure has a head-initial vP, but a head-final TP and NegP given the word order and syntactic positions of various functional elements, modals, auxiliary-like elements and negators. Previous discussion on Continuity-Maturation debate largely focuses on the presence/absence of functional projections in child phrase structure. The fact that functional projections are available at an early age in HKSL suggests that the early phrase structure is not just VP (as suggested by the Small Clause Hypothesis). The data show further that syntactic movement like V-to-v movement, object shift and subject raising in the adult grammar take time to develop. The findings support the Continuity view. / The grammatical category VERB in HKSL can be in various forms: lexical verbs and classifier predicates. Lexical verbs have three subtypes: agreement verbs, spatial verbs and plain verbs. These three types of lexical verbs have different properties. Agreement verbs can be marked overtly for verb agreement. Spatial verbs may encode locations of the entities. Plain verbs contrast with agreement verbs in that they are not marked for any agreement morphology or spatial locations. Classifier predicates usually consist of a verb root and classifier handshapes which may refer to the arguments. Given different properties of these different forms, the HKSL verbs are regrouped as plain verbs and non-plain verbs (i.e. agreement verbs, spatial verbs and verb roots of classifier predicates). A development from morphologically simpler verbs to morphologically complex verbs is observed while other factors like knowledge of signing space and input ambiguity also influence the developmental pattern of various kinds of verbs. / This thesis examines different forms of VERB and functional elements in a set of longitudinal data of a deaf child named CC in order to address the Continuity-Maturation debate. In particular, I explore the development of various forms of VERB, which lays the foundation of the study of early HKSL phrase structure. The Continuity-Maturation debate is addressed on the basis of presence/absence of a light verb phrase (vP), Tense Phrase (TP) and Negation Phrase (NegP) and syntactic movements like V-to-v movement, object shift and subject raising in early HKSL. / Lam, Wai Sze. / Adviser: Wai Lan Gladys Tang. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 71-01, Section: A, page: 0164. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 269-279). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:cuhk.edu.hk/oai:cuhk-dr:cuhk_344393 |
| Date | January 2009 |
| Contributors | Lam, Wai Sze., Chinese University of Hong Kong Graduate School. Division of Linguistics. |
| Source Sets | The Chinese University of Hong Kong |
| Language | English, Chinese |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, theses |
| Format | electronic resource, microform, microfiche, 1 online resource (xiv, 279 leaves : ill.) |
| Rights | Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons “Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International” License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) |
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