On the acquisition of object pronominal clitics in Spanish.
Item
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Title
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On the acquisition of object pronominal clitics in Spanish.
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Identifier
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AAI3063805
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identifier
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3063805
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Creator
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Blasco, Maria Vicenta.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Janet Dean Fodor
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Date
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2002
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Language, Linguistics | Literature, Romance
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Abstract
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This dissertation investigates the development of clitics in early Spanish child language with two main objectives in mind: (i) to find out whether the developmental patterns observed in other languages apply also to Spanish (e.g., flawless distribution but persistent omissions) and (ii) to explore the relative ease of acquisition of more complex constructions with clitic clusters, doubling, dislocation, and climbing.;The theoretical framework adopted is the highly constrained approach of Kayne (1991, 1994). Since Kayne's theory treats all clitic contexts uniformly, it was predicted that children will do so too, except for differences pertaining to the acquisition of other aspects of the various contexts concerned. This prediction was confirmed.;Three Elicited Imitation experiments were conducted with children from 1;9 to 2;10, the youngest it is feasible to test. Examination of a longitudinal record of one child and her parents provided converging data.;Results showed that clitics started to emerge as soon as the verbal contexts that host them were available, generally at 1;9--1;10 in simple clausal contexts (finite and non-finite respectively), clusters slightly later, and at 2;1 in two-clause climbing-type structures. Incidence was low in the first months and usage was not consistent. The results are in accord with observations by Guasti (1994) on Italian showing the greatest progress between 1;11 to 2;1, with essentially adult knowledge in place by 2;1--2;2 when the contexts have become productive.;Findings not previously documented for other languages include a high preference for clitic climbing where it is admissible. Parallel results were found in child-directed speech, but not in other adult language.;Knowledge of clitic doubling and dislocation constructions was basically in place by 2;2--2;3 (with just a few utterances before that). These findings are compatible with Kayne's (1994) analysis of these as closely related constructions.;The relatively few errors that occurred involved incorrect marking of phi-features and Case, overgeneralization of pronominal verbs, some clitic copying, and overextension of doubling (though the latter may have been due to the variant of Spanish---leismo---spoken by the parents).
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
