Cross-linguistic patterns in the acquisition of quantifiers.

Learners of most languages are faced with the task of acquiring words to talk about number and quantity. Much is known about the order of acquisition of number words as well as the cognitive and perceptual systems and cultural practices that shape it. Substantially less is known about the acquisition of quantifiers. Here, we consider the extent to which systems and practices that support number word acquisition can be applied to quantifier acquisition and conclude that the two domains are largely distinct in this respect. Consequently, we hypothesize that the acquisition of quantifiers is constrained by a set of factors related to each quantifier's specific meaning. We investigate competence with the expressions for "all," "none," "some," "some…not," and "most" in 31 languages, representing 11 language types, by testing 768 5-y-old children and 536 adults. We found a cross-linguistically similar order of acquisition of quantifiers, explicable in terms of four factors relating to their meaning and use. In addition, exploratory analyses reveal that language- and learner-specific factors, such as negative concord and gender, are significant predictors of variation.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the National Academy of Sciences via http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.160134111

A crosslinguistic study of symmetrical judgments

A longstanding puzzle in developmental linguistics is why children are more permissive than adults in assigning distributive interpretations to sentences with the universal quantifiers each, every, and all under certain experimental conditions. One well-known controversial issue in this area is children’s symmetrical judgments of universally quantified sentences. Symmetrical judgments are elicited when a child is asked to judge if a sentence including a universal quantifier describes a visual context depicting an incomplete distributive relation. The following three judgment types have been included in the set of symmetrical judgment types in the literature (examples from Kang, 2001).peer-reviewe

"Nee nee motorbike there": a case study into bilingualism effects in the simultaneous acquisition of English and Dutch negation

Cross-linguistic influence in simultaneous bilingual children has been a matter of debate. There are linguists who believe the stronger language affects the weaker one (Tomasello, 2003) and there are those who claim cross-linguistic influence happens both ways, regardless of language strength (Döpke, 1999). This thesis investigated cross-linguistic influence in the negation development of an English-Dutch bilingual child (1;06-2;03). English and Dutch negation is comparable, yet there are differences which the child may overgeneralise from one language to another. Two methods were adopted to examine any cross-linguistic influence. The negator frequency in the input and the child’s speech was compared to determine whether the emergence of the negators in the child imitated the input (Cameron-Faulkner et al., 2007). The child indeed started with the negators that were most frequent in the input, which supports a usage-based theory of negation acquisition. A syntactic comparison of the negated utterances showed that the child used some non-target patterns which were not attested in the input. The second method compared monolingual (Hoekstra and Jordens, 1994) and bilingual negation development (Schelleter, 2000). The bilingual child’s development largely conformed to his English and Dutch monolingual peers. Nevertheless, some non-target structures indicated that the child transferred English patterns to Dutch. The findings thus support a language strength hypothesis.

Does a second language develop like a tree: Fractal growth in second language development

A Zipf’s distribution in use of verbs has been found for locative and ditransitive constructions used by natives speakers and second language learners. The current study investigated second language learners’ texts on the basis of sentence constructions (copula, intransitive, monotransitive, ditransitive and complex-transitive), verb variety in these constructions, use of be and have, and use of tenses. It was found that at each level there is fractal growth in sentence constructions, verb variety, use of be and have and use of tenses. In other words, the second language learners’ language systems underwent a similar type of change at each level. It is concluded that these aspects develop simultaneously.

Explaining individual differences in young English language learners’ vocabulary knowledge: The role of Extramural English Exposure and motivation

The role of motivation and extramural English exposure in explaining individual differences in young English language learners’ (YELLs’) English performance is unclear. In this study, we hypothesized that different types of extramural English exposure predict YELLs’ (Dutch, N = 262, 10 years old, grade 4) oral and written English receptive vocabulary knowledge, and that motivational factors act as mediators. A distinction was made between YELLs learning English only informally through extramural English exposure and YELLs learning English also formally at school. A path analysis showed that the total impact of familial extramural English exposure and extramural English exposure through entertaining media was greater for the YELLs learning English informally, compared to YELLs learning English also formally. While the sources of extramural English exposure were directly predictive of performance with regard to both oral and written English receptive vocabulary tests for YELLs’ learning English informally, linguistic self-confidence fully mediated these relationships for YELLs learning English formally. Our findings call for further development of theoretical frameworks explaining the relationship between YELLs’ motivation and exposure

Explaining individual differences in young English language learners’ vocabulary knowledge: The role of Extramural English Exposure and motivation

The role of motivation and extramural English exposure in explaining individual differences in young English language learners’ (YELLs’) English performance is unclear. In this study, we hypothesized that different types of extramural English exposure predict YELLs’ (Dutch, N = 262, 10 years old, grade 4) oral and written English receptive vocabulary knowledge, and that motivational factors act as mediators. A distinction was made between YELLs learning English only informally through extramural English exposure and YELLs learning English also formally at school. A path analysis showed that the total impact of familial extramural English exposure and extramural English exposure through entertaining media was greater for the YELLs learning English informally, compared to YELLs learning English also formally. While the sources of extramural English exposure were directly predictive of performance with regard to both oral and written English receptive vocabulary tests for YELLs’ learning English informally, linguistic self-confidence fully mediated these relationships for YELLs learning English formally. Our findings call for further development of theoretical frameworks explaining the relationship between YELLs’ motivation and exposure