Language Acquisition: The Lexicon and Syntax Eve V. Clark | INTRODUCTION Speakers ely on a large stock of words when they communicate, ‘The ‘Shunney of speakers spree ox the eating or meunngs meigaed 03 each ‘word form, For instance, speakers of English refer to bicycle with the ‘werd bye speakers of Dutch withthe word fs, and speaker of Pench ‘wih the word do. In each community of speakers, the relation between ‘werd form and word meaning is conventional on, secepted or agreed on by all the speakers in tit community. Speakere ofeach Language, then, tow on a common st of forms with agreed-on meanings when they lk in geneal words provide the bulking blocks for ger ons. They ony bbecombined a idioms, where the meanings of the parts donot add up eo fhe meaning of the whole asin Bll pb lap, ha the sack keep {akon o blu ons om mumpe. om ik these are ypialy restrict Insymtax, so some, for instance, may not appenin the passive (compare He ew hi oun mpl va. *His oom rime ata ln by hima). Words may bbecombined in shore phrases that ata if hey were single words, an by find lrg, shor, happy ky, oF once po tine Agatn hes ems are fed their word orders frocen, and many are wed only in restricted contexts. One upon a tine, for example, serves to introdce fairy tas and ‘arly occurs outside that context. Pnlly, words can combine, following04 Eve V. Chik the symactic rales of «language, ro form an indefinite number of noun (asc (este lne sie ef thre dhe) and verb a8 (© Faced dou te il, essed the rad lied ober the gt) i each ange. ‘Words, xed phrase and idioms, then, all contibute co the onstacton of ‘aus eb tn changed gear, ad pled the det, Sophie i pracing her “ue). Speakers bud the urterances (Both clases and combinations of ‘ntaes) trom words, fixed phrases, and idioms. And thse ae abo the Tenia unis denied by ltener as dey parse and interpect weerances heard from others Th short lexical tems “clothe” syntactic structure. They fe what exe ply relative clause (Danan pointed at he man who ws rnin), an aber ET dase (Dancer went outside hen he heard he ca, oF verb complement (They waned climb the hil). Without words, hee ino way Fr the syntax ET uiguage tee eelized. Equally, withoue word, there is no waY (0 kemplify the phonological sytem or dhe morphology of language, ini fection (eg im Jump i rat wating, Ao pf =~) dlenvaions (eg at lint coma ion, sve, gen, pal Se) or compound words (eg snowrplogh, kehole, pede, wring Ed) anny language, children reveal what they know about i, And Sr chien start to ally they start with words—word forms and word. reaming. Tange inthis chapter that lexical and syntactic development go hand in tnd Chileon leat the sytaci forms eat go with specific lexi tems, find gradually aceumalate te of words that ean ac he same way symtac- fay eis unclear when (or whether) young children lam rales of sym Ries, sugger, there growing evidence that hey lem syntactic prop {es specie to individual lexical tems. As they lar more excl tems ‘hey Become more likely to act contend in che syntactic patterns they produce (Whether this consistency is best described in terms of rules oF ‘fotopits remains an open queson.) The present chapter forse Sst on the sequstion of the lexicon and of individual lexical items, how children Dui eps wocabuliry (salting forme fom the stream of speech, constuct~ Tag hyphens about posible meanings, and mapping those meanings onto Forms) Chien must ls caborte semantic elds, inking words whose meanings ate related analyze word structures, s0 they ate able to identify ‘me and afees and thei eative conebutions to meaning; an coin new ‘Words to expres meanings where they lick the rlevane conventions Forms ‘Ae review of ealy Ixia development, Tram the aquisition of| synthe point when children begin fo combine words to convey mean ‘gs not comveyabl by single words on ther own. The is such combina ‘as may noe match the adult conventions on how to form elatve causes Sreomplement structure because they offen Tack crteal indications of 9 The Lexkom and Speer 308 sersctace (8 ho, tha, fr, a therefore eace how some syntactic Them are fst produced and then elaborated 3s children move fom two sword combinations to ater, more allie forms i thet spec. I partic- Tins | ews on relative clauses, adverbial causes, and complemen, 2nd {tac thee cenergence inthe speech of young children acquiring symtax “Throughout this chapter, tne recurring theme Is the extent t0 which hidtenSscquniion ofsynax s lexally based. Thats, how fr is produc: fons mute of ering which contractions cn occur with each lexical lem, for iutance, with each verb? This question sparcalarly important {De charting the couse of acauston,asesing where children lear item Dy teat anh at what point they make generalizations that can be applied Rew cnc end with a brig discussion ofthe process of acquisition, and ow dtcrcpanci between comprehension and production are wtf a¢- (tuntion sell. The picture of sequisition 1 present here i et against 2 ‘ixground of some’ consideration ofthe sheer sizeof the Jaring tsk egutel for the leneon, and hence fr the syatax, of one's Bist language THE LEXICON How many words do cilien have wo learn? Adult vocabulary size in En~ {la as Deen etioated a between 50,000 and 109,000 words. Andi che fevod fom about age 2 0 age 6 daldren ae imate fo aequte around Monn, x rate of some nine words +43 In school, from textbooks alone, CHhdres ace exponed 10 atleast 8000 new words 4 year up eo age 17, sie {fom words lett from reading 3¢ bom, from newspapes, fom Sports {orn television or radi shows, and fom other nonschoolsoures (Carey, 158, Nagy & Anderson, 1984; Templin, 1957. AIL this, of course, applies to cre learing » fist language Balingual children must erm close {fable these igure since they have words fom each language in many ‘Tomaing, snd so com talk equally cay abou evtain topics either Lan= ® ae. ‘What do hilren have to lean? For each wor, st phrase, or idiom, cdilren have to beable to segment out ee form from the stream of speech Sal asign some meming tof, On subsequent occasions, they must be able tCidensy the form spoken by 2 range of speakers den lok i up in tremory ad so rcscwethe iil meaning assigned to it As they Beat a ‘nord spoken in more contexts, they may also refine ther hypodhescs about J mclning and adjst any information stored in memory. tn tying ‘oavey 1 parila meaning, tie ako have recourse to memory and they the the meaning they have ssigned to retrcwe the pertinent frm for pro Ulction. tn short. mastering cach word ipo small ask, Add to this the faancry of how each word used in combination with other words, and {ie tak becomes even more formible. Ye children appear co aire306 Eve ¥. Chk vocabulary readily and rapidly throughous eheir childhood yeas. Aer 2 {ew weeks or months of prodacing just one word 3 dae. they begin Combine words and within a fw months tart o produce then our, and five-wordatteranceson 4 Gequett bass In the section tht fllows, Ure ‘iow some of what we know about eaely word uss, about the mapping of Tneanings ont forms, about the building of 2 vocabulary in diferent se- Imante domains, nd about the pales observable seross anguagesin erty sopasiton, A. Early Word Uses in Production ‘When cilenatempe to produce th fist word, these ae not always Fen secognied bythe ypokers round thn, Io and 2-year have to ‘Souk hard to produce the nigh sounds, in the righ oder, bot in words Ini combinson of word, Lesrning hoo odo thin production kes eth time and extensie prac ce Ferguson, Meno, & Stoek-Gunmon 1992; Junca, Chap ths vlums. Cilten sly sre tempting Some word in roducon around the end of thc fist year. Some start {Sing cariyo 10 moma tere noc ni + mach Year Iter. Thre {irs sist rang in what chien produce i the fst few months of ttkng Soe produce js one words ine fr several sont ( oe sword sage) beer benning fo combine svorde ino Tonger tracy Urs st combe words within wecks of ee ise word produced {Clan , Drom 198) By age 2 dllen may produce anywhere fom So aound ei dstins words. And hey ypc understand many ‘more dha they produce “Tr fase un ofthe words donot scssiy mutch ad wage Some ima be produced mal nly ncn omen, exampl, bey sd ‘only when standing by a parla door the house, But sac contextually ‘nd ues ypc lat or only sore ne before dren extend he tinge of such words to something closer t ade we. Other words may be {sel appropcly buts at Be anderestended om he aul’ pt of ‘ew. For ample ld may sy she only pon acing thoes o some Soc er, bu not upon seing them ns lose or yng onthe Boor Resch, {516 And sal or, somtimes smovitng os uch a 4% of 4 3023 {ov-word sosbulry, ae is oveenende. ‘a they ae wed Fora truck age range of ferent thi al peta word tke dp may Be produced to pick out ot only dogs, tao eat, scp cows and eter Foarlgged mammals (Angin, 197; Cae, 1973; Resor, 198) Tis only sen mer rth tn th yin et ir weenteions, One cy produc for xa, femone at from the extension of to, and 50 oe Bare 188) Ocenia hildcons any er may Gl to wath sale urge ogee, with he rmimatch resaking in flre to communicate anything (¢.» Bloom, 193), Bue for most word se including over-spd underexensions)chil> An's ealy uses overlap wth dul’ and ate epically interpretable in con— tent even though the children do not yet know the fll sdlt meanings (Fatenlocher & Smiley, 1987) "What do such wses tll ws about children's knowledge of the lexicon? Fint ther stempes to produce word forms show that they focus on the Conventional terms used by ads. Children do not make up sound se (Gumecs wholeole and then asign meanings to them. They aim for the Mat targes, even i their arcicltory skill eases them to fll far shor in ‘ebat they actually produce. The word «pune, for example, may be pro= howd at ita [gal the words btn oe, and spoon alas [bal. and the Sword igh there an dg al a [ds Yer in compebension, chideen have ‘ry eprciente the target alt forns since they respond to them and do hot conftse thems, As ther aricultory sil improves, they differentiate ther own productions and change thet steadily nee detion ofthe adult targets. ‘Second, the fist meanings chldeen assign ovelap with adult meanings “Ths spate the ctldren ae able select potenal meanings in context “wah considerable success. Morcover, when they otereatend words, they pyea to do 50 for communicative seasons, boca they lack other more {Pproprine wonds in thee prodicoon repertaees That they eypically Uhuestand words appropeately when toy hear them, even When they ‘verextend them in production, For example, when asked to point to ine Stnces of dog they choowe ptres of dogs rather than of ether animals (euch as sep) to which they themlves have extended dog on other occa- Sons (Thomson & Chapman, 1977) This, suggest i because they are not yet able to proce the word sep, of afe unable to retive it when they ted it For the same reason, they may eely heavily on general purpose abs like do for large range of spec actions, eventhough they under= andthe relevant specific terms when they eae them, The result i that ‘leon understand verbs ike how orto, but in king about throw= ing ball or turning on light hey chemsclves produce do. Chilen’s ‘Stcess in easly word uses, then, can be steibued perhaps more to their Aly co asign relevant meanings than to thee sll a matching adule Prostncitions DB. Fist Meanings CCden’s assignments of posable meanings to their carly word forms ‘Suggest that chy deo heavily for thir iret Mypothess on thee ontlogial Eegore, They have, of course, had upto ayer or more form concep fal categoriee of ects an actions, relations and properties, based 60se Eve V, Chk their own observations of consistencies inthe word around them. For sew- ‘ral month before they bein ta speak themselves, hey have obrerved the ‘bjees and seve around chem, the elation they have to eachother, and the range ofenies tat make up thee everyday sueroundings. Tey ply ‘wth, manipulate, and mitch objects around them. They tt chem into ‘boxes, and empry them out; arrange them in heaps or rowers and knock them down they push ttn and throw ther. They watch and parciipate n sll kinds of activites fom clapping, exchanging objects, biding di ees, crawling, siting standing, walking, creying. opening and shusing con ‘ines snd door: pouring liquids and piling thems extn, wil oF without ‘tenis and drinking, Are above all, they wath ce events around them the kinds af actives and range of parscpunts ech snvolv and the re tions each bers tothe thers. The coneeptal categories children build pin {hes st year of ie provide the basis for thee Hist hypotheses about Word meaning "When children begin to isolate word forms and assign meanings them, they draw on the conceptraletegories they have abel represented in memory. They can use such eategones to create poten meanings for revly solsted word form. ln this way, they can daw on categories of ‘objects, elation, and stats, acivies and event. The consistency with which chidren appear to assga meaning types suggests that they take ‘erin asumpions about what words can mean. That i, they seem ®0 raw on cerain working assumptions as they make an inital mapping ‘berweensneming and form. For ample, where they have no bel et fr an objet, they act as ifa newly identified label must pick out the whole ‘Object and no just 2 pare of Yee later om, when the hea futher potent labels, they rexiy give up such an arsumption and instead aesgn nich meanings a ‘supeordinate term, subordinate tert “property of sate” ‘epending on the ccumstnces, Their notonsl categorie, them, play = ‘entra role in lexical acquisition by providing potential meanings when ‘hldren fre ey to create + meaning to map onto some newly identified form. How such a mapping is achieved sccm to depend on certain asamp= tions about what words can be used for, the kinds of categories they cn denoes ‘Some candidate assumpions in dhe mapping of poretal meanings to swords for objects and aceitier are sted in Table 1. Some ofthese amp ‘ions remain unaffected by developmental changes or aditons to the lex- fal repertoire. For instance, the fpe ssmypion holds as much for adult Speakers 2s for dhldren, Others may be given up early, fr inwance, dhe ‘thai assumption. Others may apply only 0 object or omy 0 3 ities. For instance, the ssxnamicasumption apis only to categories of ‘objects and hence to terms that denote objects since ir inconsistent with ‘hematare of categories oF stone. Stl other nesumpions may contione 1 9 The Lexicon and Sytem -TABLE 1 Some Anumtion inthe uly Maping of Meanings ‘oor cago ees than sami Speake wor 0k ob wl abe aot a 5) Atelere emptor Speakers we word pic ot cet In balee cago. 2 ei i et cy ed 5, enum mg Specs cd pik ou cb eg of oe Foe Gar 95) pty for alts, bat only a2 more resected domain, However, the invene tory of such working nsumptions, and thee interactions wich children's ‘ating lexicons and with more general pragmatic principles, has ye tobe filly established (Clark, 1995; Maskman, 1987, Meri, 1987) Children ofen appt assign some meaning right away to ane word, and 0 hen proce ve ith that meaning (Carey, 1978, Hebeck & Marke tman, 1987) Sach inital assignments of meaning have been called “ast Imupping.” As soon a+ ctldeen identity 1 porble meaning, 2 word an ‘inet their repertoire and be availabe fo ae” Bu it may eae them Years € {Ht to and adjust that iil meaning before i comesponds tothe conven- Sena! meaning in wee among adults. Reliance on fast mapping and will ingest to use newly aquired words mean that culdeen do not walt until they are sure of ee adule meaning before they try to use words. They simply cll on and use whatever seems appropete fiom thet repertoires Since there tno overt signal o inform chdren chat they have aquired the cowentional meshing, this strategy of immediate use helps culdren 0 bald an extensive vocabulary at pid re Pragmatic Principles Speakers of language rely on large numberof tai {agreements about which frm conventionally conveys which meaning (ce ‘Chr snd Bly, Chapter 1, this volume). That i, ll he speakers within + purclarspetch communiey agree, for ceample, chat bach designates Pardclar Kind of tee and tha designates» particular kind of mammalSo, in speaking to eachother, they observe the principle of conventionality (Chrk, 1993), namely “or certain meanings there a form that speakers expect to be used in the language community. Different communities may have diferent conventions. For example, speakers of French will use hte in lca of English beh, and chat i cw of tr nelle, cach language community has ws own set of conventions. The principle of eonventionality capes the general nature of the agreements ‘at hold among speakers over ime, so dey can count on consistency of we fiom one occasion to the next. ‘When speakers choose form to expres a paricla meaning, they do so because they mean something that they would noe have meant had they ‘hosen some other expresion. They rely. the, on he fact that different, forms have diferent meanings, Along with conventional. speakers as sme the principle of contsse Speakers tke every difference inform to mark a diference in meaning” In other words, speakers do not roleate any fll synonyms. But ehey do tolerate nltipl meanings being conventionally ead by ne form. These ‘seo principles, comventionalty and contat, allow speakers to maintain Langage a 4 system of communication overtime, and to maximize i ‘fulness by excluding ttl overlap in meaning (fll or tue synonym). Speaker chokes of forms, then, mesn what they doin pare because they ontrast wth other options inthe same semantic domain and in the l= tguag a lage (sce Clark, 1987, 1950) or speakers of any language, thee pragmatic principles hae the follow ing general consequences 1. Words contrast in meaning 2. Established words have port. 3. Innovative words ll lexical go. “That, when any new form is introdced into 2 conversation the meaning iecarcs ie atumned to contrast with all other forms already in se in the Innguage. Moreover, ifsome meaning is already conventionally tied by particule form, that form/mcaning combination wil ake precedence over ny lexical innovation that might be coined ro carry that very meaning. The presence, then, of conventional trm already inte lexicon preempt the oining of new erm with ust the sme meaning. Bue when speakers wish {e convey some meaning that his no convenionlexpresion, they en do soby coining sew word, provide they ine ste te addresses il be ble wo interpre sas ieee 9 The Lesion snd Syax 3 “The same consequences hold far children aeqiring a esicon, but ers ze isan aldol dimension, since dren are tarting om a point ‘Where neaely every word inthe lexicon i unfaar. As ares, dey do Int know, olen, theter theres conventional expression fr some mean~ {ng or no, But the assumption tht diferent forms fern meaning allows them ta Facus on how, not wheter, cach new word they encounter dies in insaning from cach of che words they already know. Contras, then, offers Censiderble economy of effort, since otherwise children would have (© ‘sablsh, foreach new expression dat t dered in meaning from al he tems alteady acquired. When children encounter terms neve them. unts- tar words, they can therefor assign them to lexical gaps. Equally, when {dey wish to talk about something for which they lack a conventional ‘apresson they can eon anew word, again fo fil lexis gap. This ust ‘eta alts do too, But the difeence i that daldeen may coin words for ‘Meanings that have conventional expressions Tris jut chat caldren have not jt eam ovat they ae. For children, then, conventonality and contrast ve the following consequences: 1. Words contrast n meaning. 2. Established words have poor. 5. New (anfimar) words il lexical gaps. “& nnovative words fil Teil gaps CConventionalty and contrast guide the process of acquisition inthe sense ‘Oat they guide cidre’s uses of words, They ako constrain the inferences ‘kien make about unfamiliar words and about lexi innovations (CI 1193), tn doing this, these principles ako interact with other assumpeions clildren make about potential meanings for word forms uring acquisition, nc unlike many of these sunnptions,comvensonaity and cones contine tet play 4 rteal role for dale speakers too. Other assumprions may be {Geen up altogether or become restricted in thei application as children fen more abou the structure of specific domains inthe lexicon, Bat in oder to find he limitations on the assumptions they stare out ‘sith, chfdten must ocx things: hey ms lean which terms Belong Specie semantic domains and what setanticreladons lnk the senses of these words I sum next, therfore, to the elaboration of semantie domains, D, Elaborating Semantic Domains By the time they can produce 50 distinct words, cilren can tlk about Sevcel diferent domains. They have afew words for people, mam. {ay baby [sein sl-rcferencl), animal dg, at, bid oys (all, Blok, ‘Din ousehold objects ig, clock, llphon) and wren op, p06 bo Face ets (ap down, on of thr eompleing a0 ation oF32 Eve ¥ Chak ‘tansfring an objet); ands number of routines so invelvingacivies of ome Kind (righenigt,uprydaty, peckectoy) (eg Cla, 1978, 197%, Drom, 1987; Nelson, 1973) Children rapidly add new words ro these cay domains, extending spd elaborating the dstincone they ean make. Each nly domain i essentially expanded and subdivided a children ad more ‘words. “The typicl course of elaboration within 4 domain (here, terms for aie ‘mals it illastested for one cin Table 2. Inthe fist six months of production, children may accumlte several term for domestic animals, 2 ‘word ike bind, duck, o hice, eypicaly applied to beds in general nd one ‘ro terms for wild animale. Over the next 12-18 months, they may 24d ‘many more terms for both domestic and wild animals: they add 4 good ‘many terms forbids and for reptiles, and some terms for insets. BY a2 the domain for animals can Be organized into several subdomains (sce Chek, 1995) E. Lexical Innovations ‘Children ako expand thei lexicon quite readily by coining new words. But far this, they need to analyze the antral structure of words they already know ‘They ned to be able to iden the roots present sn compound ‘TABLE 2 Avimal Tem in Ove Chil’ Specht “The fe ont of pesos 2-14 ede 8 ptr. 13.23 Sane torn in he cond yer adc 2-80) Tan ie pil ny Toh yo 9 the Lexicon and Syntax 318 un ke heaigh opus, fr example and the roots combina= ‘lens words ke walker oly) or moving (moe, ing a). Tn a, ‘hitler make spoutancous analyses of complex words {fom an exly age, Stu eam pick out roots ise such words, shown sn Table 3. Once they ite a repertoire afoot and lite, and some knowlege of how these are Combine in conventions lexical ems, children ae in» postion eo coin few words whch the need ass “They coin new nouns, new verbs, and new adjectives. The ealiest nouns they comm in English appear aroun age 2nd are compound in frm, usually ‘Setecucted from wo noun rut, sin cuw-bid (pita oF bid, 17), 0 Soom (epoon for cod-ver of, lI), aecham (coffe grinder, 20), or merapohoe CE-sire with buerfice on i 25,18) Berween age 2 and 3. they also begin to produce a few dervatonal suffixes in new nouns 38 in ave the wordy (cole ncn play, 28) or That lhe ais the wll, (aladder, 2520). Their new verbs ae all Tormed trough conversion ot TABLE 3 Some Spontaneous Arles of Word oem? 1 Mr ping wa pr fy: Wis a? Dies idea alg! Tari dy cB Shae, omc arm (9 Bony ca ase at al i et ld ie (9 BG ng with yaa: Ma oh sal he te et 1) B aim yh er F eto te wa amp Ac 121 yl fg wt aly me of yb 1) D2. karma eo (6) QE as ce hing ine ge op 2 pin eh i at oie (i D Gwe den) oe oy dps OVER he be eran Mie (2) wn ng ak wal ndSM Eve V. Chirk ro derivation (with no sis) generally fom nouns, 359 Dow hair me (don' brash my ait. 2). awning (mowing te an, 29, oF Mak Bet (make the bell ing, 3:0). And ther sew adjectives reformed with the suffix, sin Toodampy (00 damp, wet, 2:2), 1s hanpy (describing 3 door banging. 26) or Tha lots grawiy, doen? escibng a dinosaur dew ing. 3:5)- Some typical examples of carly coinages from Englishspeaking we ke {ty Dah mF dnd he rk mes ne way Mowe by he wid) Uh Dis cating Ma ok ig Pd T= ede U0 Daze Seg meeps Tepe Um BGA sheen (een = ma " (22 Wb ng Me mon» abi mA, pay te po 23 DIESN Sheng» mdi a my, = wth cs {24 D Gaining 3 http ooh bu ts oh Pa be hr ‘cre fie i = ie et oe Cat (8 wpa ty Say ‘eee ep eredieby hot popethe base word oF an analytic language like Mandarin Chines, with no Infleesons, only distinct words, to mark puticulie modulations of mean. ings. How chldeen analyze existing words and build paradigms of forms r= lard in meaning depends eri om thee Being able ro dently andi ‘words This in tun depends on thie Becoming sensitive tothe character Se structures a words and sentence-evel in ther guage. Evidence tha they begin ro ake acount of typological features ac an early age (around 2 ‘onwards comes fom their use oF novel word formation. Chillen sppest to be semsive both to general sertural fates sch a pofixing worse "fixing and tothe elative productivity of options for new word forma tion. This sensitivity to distributional properties shows up i thee propen- sity to pick up the mote widespread and more Frequent options fst ‘word formation, sn their ere coinage, children consistently 80" p= ‘ions that are among the most productive and hence the mos request dul speech, This apparent, for instance in eileen’ rlaeeinitally on Single Suffixes to express such meanings as agentvity (eg. Polish a2), State (eg. Russian vo), or activity (English zero dentin of verb fom nouns) (eg, Chmeri-Klekorowa, 1971; Clark, 1993, MacWhinney, 1976) Moreover, dhldrenscquring lnguages such 3 French or Hebrew, ‘where compounding i not productive, donot ws taal neatly coinage ‘This is im marked contrast to chideen acquieing English oF German for example, who produce novel compound nouns from age 2 oF younger (Chak, 1993) ‘Other Fctors alo play sn emportant rol a children iden and beg to construct word forms to convey new meanings. For example, in the calict, Stages of aquivng a language, cidren attend to dhe simplicity of dhe form required and prefer forms tha requite few or no changes over forms that, fequire more extensive adjustments. They areas attentive ta transparency ff meaning in that they depend only on those resources that are already known to them, and hence wansparent Where only stems are wansparent bbutnot yer any suffixes, they wll rely ony om rem, provided the language in question bas compounding as an option. Once children seq the mesn= ings of some affixes, chey Wl begin to aie those too. But mapping the sanings of afixes takes time, so fr languages that depend on derivation "athe than compounding, childeen may only begin to construct new words many numbers ftom age 3 204 onwards (Chak, 1993). Thee ctor, together with productivity, conventional ad contrat, plays major roe in children’s seqison and use of word formation G. Input and Lexical Acquisition In attending tothe typology ofthe Language they ate learn, chikdren neces attend t thei major source af information, eh language input 9 The Lesion and Syntax 347 they receive fom the adults around them. This input not only provides Tipologisl information, but also information about contexte Of se fOr ‘Ateent forms: For example, evens that involve motion may receive rather ‘ferent packaging in diferent languages. In English, verbs of motion tften include information about manner or cause (ain walk ol, ‘an and add information about pth by means of particles and prepositional hrsey (eg, on anay, wel np the hl sll asthe road) Spanish, ‘motion verbs elude path information (as im sali gomout, bir "gonup, ‘rer patron. juno pt-ogetier or meter “putin) and ad information {out manner chrough adverbs, adverbial phrases, or putpey nl ala ents ean fltando the bottle went-ins the eave Boating the tote ome int ce eve (Talmy, 1985) English and Spanish exhib the sme typological pattems in both tans ad intransite actions, that, ‘hed motion and spontancous motion. Some languages do make» dine fon here. Korean, for example. combines motion and path within one ‘word, jut 1 Spanish docs, for eaused mation (randive verte), but for Spontaneous mation (intranscive verbs, teles on separate elements for ‘otion, path, and manner Tn tling sbout motion ceens, children appear to be sensitive ro iter exces across lnguages in whether path combined with motion ae not, Sdako, to whether» motion x ested or spontaneous Thats im English, ‘len aged 14-28 months make extensive use of paris and prepost- ‘onal phrases to mark the pa of caused motion, when Korean, children the same age tely on verbs alone. In English children rely on the same ferns for spontancous motion too, whe in Korean, they wae diferent ‘bs for spontaneous versus caused motion. As re, Korean children stings linguists. from an eely age, between transitive and intanst tive motion events (Choi & Bowerman. 1991, ‘Some research has suggested that chldeen ean nouns Before verbs. That Js in thei carly prodcoom vocabularies, they often have more nouns chan ‘verbs (Genter, 1982). The explanation offered stat the relational mature verbs sn thse inkage to one or more nouns makes them more complex Tor aequistion. But when other rltona terms (eg English parties ike 4 oF off) and words for routines (eg, pek-b0,apseisy or wha) ate ‘Gunted slong with lexical verbs, the asymmetry becomes lee skin (exes Bloom, Tinker, & Margulis, 193) In fick, the proportions probably pend largely on the input children heat. For ample, Koren-speaking Cldren may acquire proportionately more ver at an cay fe than Englsh-speakers (Cho! & Gopnik, 1993), bur stil arm more nouns than verbs early on (Au, Dupre, & Song. 1998, Tnpucaso plays role with respect to the argument strate and com Hemet types fis exemplified by childen for specific verbs. De Vile {(988) found high correlations Beeween the range of constructions wed with verbs hein and the ange each child produced burt lowe eoreltionsaie ve V-Chk acros the thecechidsen she studied. That is individ parental input ‘iiyed important ole in exposing ec child othe posible constructions Petested with difrene vers. I verbs and their associated constructions eo only linked in aequisition, this would suggest hat the ine Between har teuedl and whot i symtactic or constructional is not abvaysan easy She eo draw Moreover, iis smportant to remember that what eilsen ‘Gncreind and therefore have stored is memory often far surpasses what they penduce, both in the calcr stages of acquisition (cf, Goldin- Mcidowr Seligman, & Gelinan, 1976 and later, even in adulthood (eg Clark & Hecht, 1983), incammmary, bung up a reperiite of words is ctl ro the eask of acquinng 2 langage. Childe produce thie fst words at 12-18 months Tad ino haves vocabulary of upto 60 words bythe age of 2. Dut what ‘Bey cok produce may lag fr behind seh they understand, especially dur- She the cater sages of aequision. Children rely both on ther oncologist ‘Migories am om puta they assign meanings to new words, Conceptual ctegorcs and organization offer base onto eich they can map words, ‘Sit the inp that they hear shapes and constrains he precise mapping made Tr each word. But words ae rarely sed by adults sm lation, om their ‘Sha They are combined wth her words express ational meanings, meanings tht, togetier, ate more than che sum ofthe pats IIL, EARLY SYNTAX, When do children tart to combine words in production? The answer vais svt the ci. Some appear go Uorough a diner one-word stage lasting, veral mont, while oxbers begin to combine words within weeks of Prodocing thei st ingle word utterance (Clark, 199% Drom, 1987; Pe= Boa & Mmm, 1993). This variation across chien, along with marked tnuisadaldiirences in ariultory sil inthe Gist yea of taking, gees {hat motor sill in producing words may be a major factor determining ‘Whos shudgen start to proce more than one word ata time, Sonte chi Uren also go trough a distinc: ewo-wWord stage before tempting longer “SSonbiatons: Once children combine words, though, we ca ateibate (0 ‘hom some Ragwledge of syntactic structure, and hence ofthe meanings Cnuributed by specie patterns of combination, It is only with de emer~ Ginee ot systematic word combinations, together wich reliance on such itor a word onder and morphological marking of exe and agreement for foro and mamlet that they canbe eredied with some mastery of the Ejmtctic constructions of thee Best language “Chdren’s cathe word combinations eypily consist of two words hough mone quickly mone onto predic lmger sequences 25 well Some AO PEike time to build up asepertone of two-word combination, ying at seston a smal urbe of fined patterns. For example, they may combine 2 sei oe terns with mor, asin Moremi glsable ay ike some mil {RTT kc some more mk). More shoe (dee's another shoe), More read frend te another book}, and 0 on, Many hiren appear to ron crevice patterns sac a thi alongside combinations that appear much FES Mhorf steking though, i tat the Kinds of rlatons expressed Er cnintons appear ery smiatin meaing cross languages. Chi Se Ginine English, Finish, Hebrew, and Samoan appear to express the are ds ef meanings with their acs word combinations (se Brains, 1, Slobin, 1970), Some typical arly commbinaton types ar illustrated for Enulahm Table 5 From these ican be aen tho len tak about the rare places for objects, abou possessor, about properties, about rane, and about what they do and do not want Be dy analysis oer combinations mast depend heavily on the coo rentofercburncance. An trance ike Mommy see maybe sede indicate ‘SOversion om one orcasum (That's Mommy's sock and agency om anoth= Peony’ puting ona/my sock) (ee Bloom, 1971), Ina language ike Eaglahs carly Combations lack al grammatical information i the shape area maarking (ep Tvs: me) oF agecemene between subject and verb Cee ean bs They nn Moreover, word order 8 offen determined se satclly rather than gamma Te often mark information 3s en verses “new” and so depends on what as just bon talked about by te prceding sper fe, Dusen, 1976). Word order and nections to pack spree epialy emerge in English only after children have begun Taeoutinc onda and iis only thon that one can with certainty ieney force noum phrases a» the subjects or objects of verbs (Bowerman, 1573) Te English, chien begin ad noun and ver infections berween 16 ard 20 olehough thee general se may #0t met ada eiteria fOr many ihontie (Brown, 1973) adding sections, chikren appear attentive {Be nherene meaning of the sevane ems, whether nouns (és, Mervis “TABLES Common Ealy Word-Combination Te ecm yt ar Doe eee Poa: eet Ue it uty, etmao Eve ¥ Clk Johnson, 199) or verbs fe, Bloom, Lifter, & Hate, 198; Clark, 193), ‘Their paters of acquisition offer farther evidence that chidten begin with certain amount of Word-bj-word lerning betore they generalize to Whole fyntactc classes and hence to unfamiliar members of the syntactic cas ‘noun’ or “proper noun, say. But in the course of laring. children aso sske certain generalizations, and, 352 rst, make consent errr on tereglar forms. They prodace man: for plural men, ft or fos for pra Jet and past tense forms lke omed, Binge, sed, and ied i place of roula) came, bought, se, and how (Ruts), 1977, 1978). Inshor., as children claborae their utterances by combining words, they also aborst thm by adding icons to their nouns and verbs, and by inserting other grammatial morphemes suchas rides and preponiions. Some children may go through 2 dient two-word rage,* hile other quickly move fom ane word aa time t longer combinations A. Semantic Bootstrapping ‘Aing the appropriate inflections, though, requites that children have al ready idennified the ymtasc category ofthe word in question, 3: noun oF 2 verb for example. Children presumably do this well before they begin £0 produce infections. And they do it thas been suggested, through semantic bootstespping- That i, aldtough grammatial categories like "noun aed "verb are not defined remanticly, nouns and verbs typically oer to dis tine semantic types in parental speech. People and objets ae picked ou by nouns scutes and changes of stat by verbs; and properties of abc by jecives. And adults ak about objects, actions and properties when they {ako small children: When they uses ver, therefore, dey do so wath the relevant elements that belong with that word class. Verbs are accompanied by verb ineccons (ee ins, they ae cb, you clined) and nouns by noun inflections (gy ite, the tes, the tion's ai), Ade inp therefore consistent witha corcation of conceptual catezory (objet 2 tion, propery) and word dats (noun. vev, adjective), and thereby oes thulien 2 way n tothe syntax oftheir Rist lngags If cldren issue diferent word classe on the busi of thes maning= to-form mappings of ontological types, they should be able 9 boos their way neo the syntactic categories need for organizing words athe level ofthe clause. Once they have = baste Framework of meaning-bsted information shout posible word clase and the words that Belong eo ehem they ean earn moze sbout what ele belongs in cach class by observing the Uistibation and density other properties. Sach semantic bootstrapping, its been argued ciel co che aquisition of syntax (Grimshaw, 1981; “Macnamata, 1972: Maatsos, 1990; Pinker, 1988, 1989) “To deny all he properties of syntactic category may take ime, With 9 The Lesion and Symtar 32 ves, for example, eileen need 0 Tear which infections mark distin ons of aspect ferns, amber, person and pender as wollte any markers fer such fore a tasty Hnteness, and specicy. The number of Sch dtcintions varies with deren Languages With nouns, cilen wil fed to tent inflection for such etegoic at cse, number, and gender ‘Chien appear to atend to and expli clas to word cas quite eats ‘Before age 2. English-speaking children attend tothe ference betwee mnon and proper nouns (e 8, Gelman & Taylor, 1984 Kav, Baker. & Macnamara, 1974), Ali around 2, shey distinguish nouns and adjecuves (Caylor & Gelman, 198), and begin to atend tothe diference between ‘ne snd mass nouns (Gordon, 1985, Soja, Care, 8 Speke, 1991). They Ie abo able to distingwish verbs and nouns. Here, thei Knowledge of {pectic infections and slleconal paradigms presumably phys 2 role in ‘Song unfamiliar terms tthe categories of ‘noun’ ot ver,” thereby fadowing them with some inital meaning (ee Brown, 1957; Dockrell & ‘MeShane, 1950; Cleeman, 193). In summary, once children discover the correlation betwen their con- ‘epua eategoie of objets, actions, and categories, andthe relevant {ute word clases, they can we properties of dose word dasies to increase thei repertoies, New verbs will hive the same inflectional properties a= familiar ones, and new nouns the infecsonal properties of familiar nouns ‘Gnce children have bootstappod thir way into the sytem, they can use bath semantic and symtacti formation to advance further along the road to mastering ya B. Clause Structure Children must go beyond identifying word a nouns or verbs if they are earn the syntax of thelr language. They tnast lar which verbs ecu with, hich configurations ofagments: whether a vee requtsa subject and an ject (ean ont te ball bu not "Jo itor * Te bal hit) onl Asubjee(€ ssp, sn fon sipped, but Mf skipped he oad). They mast Team whic kind of argument Belongs in each slot (an agent, instoment ce, et). And they must ean the meaning conveyed by each verb Fame { constrdcton, that Is BY the sce Of argument types In ft, children ‘peat to monitor de pater of use assocated wth sdvidal vers in the spt they hear. Matemal variety of se, the range of constructions wsed ‘ith each verb, i dhe best predictor of young children's own verb uses (de Vilers, 195), "Thi im turn suggest that chien lear verbs one BY ‘he, pethaps in relative Holation fom each other That iy they do nt inially make generalizations about structure ov argument conigustions, ‘au eather gradually a othe structure sociated ith each separate ter (omasell, 1992; tee also Kucra). 198, Marssos, 185),sm Bee ¥ Clk -Atsome point, though, citrcn mat beable to make certain generaien- tions about posible argument sractre. Fist, even where they have ro ceived lle oF no dice information abou argument suet, chile 3 willing t0 use 2 nesely head ver wih an intransitive oe tans fae, Aepending onthe prior dacourse context (Brine, Brody. Fch, ‘Weisberger, & Blum. 199). Second, children cin new verbs fm uns and ajetives from 25 young 262 vo 24 yeas. And doings, they aig ‘rgumene frames consistent withthe meaning intded (Bowerman, 1774, Clark, 1982; Marstos, Guerin, Gerard-Ngo, & Dellart, 187) To do this, they must have Sc up some presentation ofthe relevant verb fames for the expression of specie meaning types ‘Some verbs are used with eo diasnc fumes or configurations of argu iments They erat, depending on which perspective the speaker chooses inrepreseting an event. Compare the uses of web ke lai They lode the ot with hay and They loaded hay inthe ot. While this lative ver alkernaes, others allow only one pespecive. Children take some time 10 lear, foreach verb, which configuration of argument isthe conventional foe, and whether cach vet ca altrate They make such eeors aI going Yo cover a seen ovr me (, for ‘cover myself with scree), Cal Somes int the bea? (a best-shaped sle-saker, 50, foil the bear with S31, and Fee ou hand tha (610, fo el thst with your hand?) (Bower ‘man, 1982, 1988, Gropen, Pinker, Hllndr, & Goldberg, 1; se aso Brinkmann, 1993), Masteting such alterations takes a ong cme an, or some verbs. is only complete a around age 10 co 12 ‘Other verbs can appear in citer active or passive form, agin offering alkenative perspectives on the same event. Compare Ke lit the ea The Jr us le by Ke. Nota verbs alow the passive altsmatin, Caden arn the passive frst for physical action verbs, ike hold snd omy ler for mntal etiiey vers, like ike. When they proce passives, dhcy construct them with and with eas in He gr hi om his iter, fem around age 26 530, bur they may tke some te to learn how to mark the Agent of the tection, with by (eg, Budwig, 199%; Clark Carpenter, 198%, 18: Horgan, 197%; Maratsos, Fox, Becker, & Challe, 1985) Again, fll mas tery ofthe passive and where it can be used takes tne, and depends he father stages, on knowledge about the meaning af specific webs. “To produce more caborateuterance,cidren must nara vate of devies and constuction eypes inorder fo express diferent meanings shin 2 clase: For example, ro express negation or dagreement, they Ned se forms ike nt, never, no one, ating, and nowhr. Task questions, they need wh-words ike what, hr, who, when, and why. Bat hee lena items alone are not enough. Children must aso lear how tse thet, How to Choose both the form that conveys the elevane meaning andthe conse tiom tha hac form demands. In Engle, for example the construction of negative ad itertogativeuterances depends citically om he sequen a 9 The Lexicon and Syatac 328 uniliary verbs, Negatives depend on auxiiaric (har in sinha ined lnc) 36 do questions (edd in Whee dd Red go?) fe oho, TRS, Klima & Balls, 196) (Children ako sar to ase adjuncts to mask present versus nonpreent tine quite caly on. For cxample, many 2-yeolds adopt term like tenon or ysterlay 10 eter fo onprescn times, bat donot ye distinguish pt from future with adverbs. For sequence in tie, 2-and Syearol ely ‘rand and and th, or bare adverbs like itor bf Later om they stat © {ks conjunctions like ker, while, when, and afer with full ase (Clark, 1970, 1971; Coker, 1978, Decroly & Degand, 1913, Harner, 1975, 1976) “These forms complement children’s emerging mastery of tense marking on ‘ert (Brown, 1973, se also Gerhard, 18H) ‘Children also claboratsehe noun phrases they use, They begin to ditin= sus definite fom indefinite (with the, ths, oF tha, vs. a) (Warden, 1976). They ese quantifiers like al, sme, and ewery (Donaldson & Lloyd, 1974 Hanlon, 198); and they ad ushfying actives the Big dag, thet ‘at and prepositional phrase (the mon with ha) to dstnguih parce lavindividsals Tage Flasberg, 1982) Tn shor, once chien begin to combine words, they steadily chborste on dhe meanings they expres And {hey do dhs by aig words and consrtons to their nil repertoires C. Embedding (Children also begin very carly to combine what for adults would be separate ‘nes. Such clase combinations may be har o detect prior to production ‘ofthe relevan conjunctions or complementizess. Take an uterance Hke Cat ‘down, cart (138.12). This was produced on an occasion when the child ‘wanted to clini down fom his highchair inorder to go and fetch is toy ‘at fiom the next room. Had he sai, I'm geting du to fk my at, we ‘would have no hesitation in crediting him witha complete uterance con sisting of main elanse 'm geting down’) and an embedded complement (Co get my cat), But without the pertinent grammatical marker, comple= ‘mentzrs (1, tha), reltve pronouns wh, tha, whith). oe conjunctions (hen, ere, if beau, may Be hard to discern the antecedents fo such outrction in children’s early combinations of two or more proiaes, Relative clauses appear Sex with no rcv pronoun, nd nay be used Sit only with empty nouns such thing, dns or Hind 8 n Look the net Many g2(29)- Only after this, accord to Limbor (1973), do chikren produce flative causes attached ofall nouns ke fo o alan ere the ful that 1 gor 211) [see abo Hamburger & Crain, 1982). Bat cen the cathest spontaneous relative elaaes may be attached ¢9 nouns with sone onfent ain the early examples shown in Table & Relative promos Hk ‘ha, who, or which, dhough, rarely appear before age 24 or even 3 ‘Cikren also begin to alk about sequcnces of evens, offen wel bereBA Eve V. Chek TABLE 6 Some Ely lative Chane (0) D(A wing of cook Ben Ls (2) Bah wr tag te {8B aa, pkg ph dh at Sal ge Dame. (Ba ting Joey Zabol the age th pi: Tht mile. {5 Bano: Ho ot 9 liga a (6) Basut loing spe stk) Ta 2 odie 3 a © sts ty eb i Sh (er aetna ik, Bagh op sorting en he rng ‘io fn gett hae © 0285 a tn wna se eo (00) DEB king ie be ii {12 Dzst echng wr to ee oe omg). Ta paper ha Bee ey ae Fim DV Ga (pad ay age 2, At fist, they indicate sequence lingisially by order af mention tone. That is they desenbe suceaive ations with no explicit links be theeen them. Then, Beewsen age 2 and 3, after staring tous rms ke ad tind and then to link sequences of events, they begin tose 3 variety of sf mark the rlevane sequential relations. These include whe, se if and. bce. (Conjunctions marking simoleanety, such a hile ora, end to emerge only later) In prodicing 2 conjunction to mark temporal sequence, children must take acount ofthe acts sequence iam, the meaning of he conto, nd dhe prior discourse: Chien and ads alike end to efect acta tie ‘order in thee descriptions of sequence, and vhe meaning ofthe conjunction Swill dhe affect plcement, whether # stroduces the Fist oF second Shas ofthe uiterane. The strature ofthe preceding dcoure determines ‘which event te talked about fist dependent of 1 actual pee the tequence (Clark, 17. The fis temporal conjuncton to be produced 3 ‘Gt Te ean indicate general location in tine (time a which) or sequsnce (Cvhen/aftercventl), and is offen indeterminate between the two. Some typical example of early utcranccs that mark sequence sm ime, mostly ‘With whem ae sted jn Table 7 Notice tht altough the conjunction i ‘mited i trance (1}(6) of Tale 7, the cil’ ged of mention ree ‘he actual order ofthe event. Sequences ca also be indicated by terms ke fone, 319 (1), it then, or next “Young chide also elk from carly om about evens that are contingent ‘on cich other, inked not only im dene but abo by causality oF cond 9 The Lesion and Syatse 35 VTABLE7 Some Esly Toporl Chan (FB 36 dig wh aig do fa Danio ano ajo ten pk pi he) Fae ot or 8 Bat Tie ane (6 Dan, asin Yo ty ya er, ry you a hae (e Dlaam ven, tof) Ta sates et pe (7B etan glpng thh hh wch tJor f eoe hen pt ‘hb be eo. (peas ae wna pr down fr mp no de dh ae ‘Sin Nob | 0 ald a hah (09D (aes pring hk Hy shoo en 9 a (0 cpg akong Tp (DR pg gp fe ofr am ea (63 D2 Yn es hn syne ‘onal. And the relevan conjunctions, bus and if emerge at about the Same time as the various temporal connectives Just for temporal flor tos, chien st mpl coningency by simp jastaposicion, a8 when K (23) as chimbing ing her crib: Climb in. Be ju She then toppled i Tbuphing. The same child, on tap of the jangle pym with sheet draped ‘overt pointed othe sheet and sai Sit hr all dawn (2: Clr then begin t© mark sequence with subordinate clases, and in paral to se reictive when clauses, a when L235) ssid When Igo Grammy TL eat ‘sth my Jogos. They soon go om Yo produce an cay form of generic tterance sis the generalization in (0). () Ada: What are umbres f? LQ: Wh van comes, se put an umbrella on tp of ws ‘This s followed shortly by production of a in (2 and (3) Adu Lauri, what if your baby cris? Qi, puting dol in cade) Wits Mommy if her ey Adule What sweets? L Gre. Hint Mamma (eo tae ae) Her ay fer wat me(0) K (0, has hare he ey) ‘Allal: Flow docs your eye fel? 1 (wth er finger im het eye): IF ou iti ars ‘Only after this do chidten produce hypothetical conditions, 36 in the Following utterance: (6) R 2:10): 1 Bulecer man (6) Adule: Molly, what i you ate thre choclate eakes? 1M (3): You would have a any ache fir, he won ll the re depr- [And by this point too, children appest tobe aware that but not whey, i the appropriate choice for hypothetical situations, a indicated by the fist, repaitin G's uterance (3:0): When ve

of as ger, Foul {ook pa repair popcors (Rell, 1986). English-speaking children produce Faure predictves with wh before those with ff The choice between the tseo conjunctions depends on the crtty af the antecedent event certs ‘events tke when, uncertain nes i In an analysis of tee chen’ uss, ‘Bowerman (1986) noted that English-speaking children appear appreciate the elevance of eerainty to conjunction choice from thet fst Wes on Where they hive no basis for projecting how certain the even they always choose fa inthe following uterance from D: (© DQ, sting in dhe bath) 1/1 get mp gra cracker the a te algal 0p (Children go through several stages inte production of conditional aus, 2s they lean where whe and ido and do no overlap, and as they come lundertand hypothetical conditional (Bowerman, 1986, Reilly, 1986) CCuldren also begin ous infin complement sacar betwen ag 2 and 3. When they lar in such constructions as He wots foo, hey {do not lean it a0 4 general snfiniive marker for go out, the serb the complement Rather, dey Ieam that an go ith certain main oF mats ‘verbs such as want go. The carkese mats verbs aequied fe wan, £6, g/g, and have. Children typically omit he to slogether tit and dhen ‘ogi to use [] (he neuel Wowel, Schwa) asa plaerholer fo ia nan sorter ike She wot 9g The cho is gradually eepaced by with ‘the fest mattx verbs acquired, wt and go. From the on 1s sed from the stare wth ach newly acquire mate vrb, ke, espposd, need, sta ‘how how, and so on (Bloom, Tackelf & Lahey, 1984). Her, then, each Specie lexical item ing lesen the matt verb, becomes associated in {im with thet tae intecuce he complement Finally, complements genealy eke a her subject the nents preceding noun phase ln Red waned Kattoread he ook, Kate the sect fread 8 9 The Lescom and Syne 327 dou ke 1 athe bok, Rods the subject freed But he nearest no plese tsnot always the subject ofthe verb inthe complement. Consider the {ero prom uti promied Ned tu omental the person ening the somersaults Jost not Ned, eventhough Ned appears the noon plats nearest che complement. The meanings of complement vers ike ‘promise ake children many years to miss (Chomsky, 1968: Kesel, 177), D Form and Function Alden qu the meanings of words and contrac they must Mo kearn how each emer sed. Dut ras they donot etn fl Si Knowiige ofthe convention, ey may sign tonronvenona Innings nd soos ern in way ha depecoersly om dat ‘tage Knowing the meaning ofa pcan docs ot oma cr rir shold bd ForcRnpl chosing tema veran peti ‘pres can convey regard sd teapot wth forme thar ae ces wh Etter ening ue vertu np, he eke woud show Knowledge of the dale ment far oases om southern Sera nt it Cae, and other Englnvapesing sin tesco On asing paloma ‘ctu tp spar would mak th ference sv nel often he ee ex and a infor the cond Exh che appropiate to Sitcom drearntances snd dion ade Tele a ier conottion, incur and informality. Some constuction abo ier Seng soc demon. For example when rapier make a ee sy be marked formal bythe omtucion wed the al Heal roy any chance mind henge ae? wets Gl rent ate Open hr gat, wil yon? Teaming te dtc uncon forms csly raed in meaning i ick Cliren ay come op wah pppoe yo che ‘ry For example some Engin rn yk fn othe fet person pronoun tothe nono apy. Mess ce oni open) and anol on he prt eh ch sm Ne tol aid hen th bal win the his paseson and Form tosis ote 20 bbe peas (Budi, 19RD, Evenly. thee den must fre thet ‘nal aaj and sive he poet grommal Usins wh ‘making the subject ofthe verb and me the abject, Or to ke anther rome, when chen wih fase tt hve sot setunly est they fen mar oot by choo te ten That they Snes the ipods with the aca or resend the pk te or Soprsetopton they have maser stcommon oar and ja Ole describing whe they se Song nee py, eae Due rn when yell ome py wa cn ant fst ros by sig athe ter nd yon ete by es aes 1980; Lodge, 1979). * ™ ire ms32h Eve V Cie In short, hldten have to work out dhe conventional meanings ofall he forms they eat. They a not given these already analyzed, nor ate hey presented with any sof rclvane grammatical distinctions prion. Those Ihust be worked out for eich word and eh contraction. Some geammat= {El ptadigms children encounter are much more complex than others, and presumably take longer #0 acquire. In addition, hldeen should encrain Fore alternative hypotheses about the members ofthese parades en route {othe adult sytem (Clark 191). Consteactonal idioms also have conven= tions om ther ase. Consider de circumstances ander which one might use [Mind your hea, Beka! Can you pas the sal, You mt are ome mare (ake, These to have to be lant ‘Children mase learn which forms ate counted a appropriate on dierent ‘ceatons, to diferent addresses, to achieve aifrem ans. They leatly Fealize, from a young. age, that not all addresses shovld recive the same kind of speech, Children a6 young as 2, for example, use stall high pitched voice and very shore sentences i talking to and ealking for dolls 5, tral ain ealking to babe (Sachs & Devin, 197). By age 4, cilden give instscrons om Bow eo ply witha toy Noah's Atkin very ferent form year-olds, ocher year-olds, and adults. Their choices elect the knowl tage they stsume thir address hav, 8 wll she eave status confer= fed by age, Requests 02-year-old, for istance are ypicaly imperative form (ess Pt the lamb her), while those to adules are much Kes diect (Cle, Di think yo cod pat th lamb here?) In efit ce, he yest speaker hu higher tatu, andin the second, lower status, han the adessce (Shite & Goiman, 1973) By age 5 or 50 children ate sensitive not only the age and stats of many sdresaces, but also to how thes ate hnked © power and sex. In rok-playing with puppets, they dilferentate request Forms, for example xing poker ones to the person with greater power, independoot of ge. Chid-puppets addres plier requests to thers than rormothets (ee ream toe nice, dost 1? vers Fant some ier em) hnutre puppet adress doctor with politer Forms than doctor puppets tse fo nutes oF pins: and stodentpuppets tse politer forms to tacher- puppets than to fellow students (Andersen, 1990. By age seven chikeen resell on their way in fring which forms Have which fonctions and Aiferentating some oftheir wage om the basis of who their adesees are fd what they know. summary, at ehileen add more complex structures to ei reper soins, they often te new rractare to specie Ixia ems. Complement Structures, for example, a fist ate proded with onl or two verbs. Chi= {ron thon add to this repertoire, consiently marking new mate verbs BY ‘allowing . With adverbial clauses, cldeen must learn the meanings of Parculsr conjunctions, when, afr, at, if eawe, and learn ow thei meanings contas, The same hols for rltive clauses where dhey mus, 9 The Lexicon and Syotn339 Aixinguish that, who, and whith, nadton eo leseing the relevant trace fue for cach embedded caascsype- And foreach ote forms a Som Suction lune, dldren most sho ler the Ranctons, Lexning frm, fremings and Funtions takes tne, IN, THE PROCESS OF ACQUISITION Production of language is only pare of whats involved in any language use. Sedat from production alone may give ates based picture of wha goes ‘on daring acquisition. In conversations, we both peak and ten. fe may be tempting, therfore, 10 assume that production and comprehension ate "ymimetrical, and eat both rly on the same repenenations of linguistic feformation in memory. But in ft diferences Between the to processes show up from the fst acquisition and continue to exis for adult spake fn The asymmetry between them, with comprshension lading produce tion, sn fet plays 4 ental role inthe sequntion process itll (eal ‘Bock, Chapter 6, the volume) How ae production and comprehension related in aeuisiton? Compree henson leads production and fers children » crial guide when they come talk For example hldren typically undertand words befor they produce them. Young Inyerolds understand words for upto thre or fur ‘months before they try say them: oder cldren understand compartive enstrucions before they ane them themselves the ca also interpret nova word forms before they are able t produce those same forms to coi words In shor, comprehension surpatscs production, and does 10 in both sfilren and adults (Chek, 1993: Chk & Hecht, 1983). Because of this, ‘elance on production dats alone may’ lead researchers to serouly unde fssimate what didren know Production dst most be supplemented, ‘wherever posible, by comprehension data a6 wel For cildren, the asymmetry between comprehension and production s Important to acquisition ele allows children to work a tir own pace ‘wathout having to depend on sda speakers producing examples of target, fms aust he right moment. The proces seems to work follows, Take the word ap. Children fist setup 4 representation for comprehension, (Crepresenttion, of dhe word form in memory, together with whatever ‘meaning they have attached o it This C-represenaion contains auditory information, the sound sets snd thes ordering, needed for Henne {he word cp. When children next eae this cquence, hey ca recognize shaving been heard before and also acess these meaning fore Without = CCrepresentation for comprchension, they would not know whether they had heard cap before, nor could they wack successive usin ort to Ffine the meaning atached tot. As chidven beat further input of curse they farther’ C-represctation to memory380 eV Cline ‘Once a Foren has been stored for comprehension, children cin also start eying to produc ty But producing 4 word sos rvogozable takes 3 lot ff practice, much like any other motor sil. And to produce a Word, {hilren hove ta at up 2 P-represetation, eptescnttion for production ‘This will contain all the arelstory information needed to produce each ‘word, information abou the accuation of sound segments, their sequen Ine within words, and ce elation fo syllable and toss 38 wel 3 0 oighboring words In adtion, when chien ery to say 2 word, they need {ergst co measure ther own effort against. They need Some way to check fon the adequacy oftheir Peepresentation, and hence om bow recognizable ‘heir wterance. Caldren’s pronunciations must eventually match those of ‘other speakers inthe community. ‘One may of achieving thio check ecir own productions agains ada prvloctions of the relevant words. But sl may not be aroun oF even thoy are, ae unlikely to produce the right word jus when ti needed. An sltemurive opcion for children ito make use of their own C-represtnt= tions Although uk cis view, these contain no articulatory informacion thy oferatargct against which to check daldren’s productions. The lose the match between the opt in production andthe Corepresenarion, the beter aligned the to ae By shothang hat tey say again their Corepre sentation, children can detect any mizmtch between thet production an thir comprehension “To do this, children, like ada, ust monitor wha they say (Level, 1983, 1969) That they monitor the form they produce and compte x against the flevant Csepresenation, Ii docs noe match, they em he parts that do nor match snd make another atempe. The general process of $Tignng production with connpechcnson, then, involves the folowing tps (Clark 193) Children crate a C-rpresentation for 3 word oem, x {Children try t create Peepresnttion for = {Children execute the P-represeeation at, monitoring their word form, compare the form Head with their own existing Corepresen- tation for 44 Childsn then conrce the P-spresentation for x “The evidence for this goneral process is extensive. First, children make {epi to their own speech, apontancously fom a very carly age. Their ‘pir typically move them cower othe adult forms. ln ecogniion tasks, ‘llr consistently sje mains oftheir own defective pronunciations In favor of the conventional ale versions. Given ewo forms that they fail Astinguish in prodocron, children nonetheless ably distinguish them in ‘Somprchemion. And once they maser the pronunciation of new segment. ‘hide add only to those Words where war omit previously. The 9 The Lexicon and Symtae 3 findings strongly support the role of C-cprescitatons in the gradual fin= ing of children» productions ‘Once ehlren can adjust eheirP-representtons for forms where there was an inal mismatch, they ean be ssid to hive aligned their production Iwi the rlevane C-epresntation, The asymmetry beewern comprehen ‘on and production is central to ths proces of change that is integral {ceision, Children rely on aleady-stablshed C-represenations when they check on their Ptepresenations. With mismatches they try to ast thar P-representations This adjustment may take longer ith some forms ‘han others, so imcrim repairs may be only partly succosful He with, orstane monitoring, chldren evenly come to produce adie forms. ‘Ths holds for both words and larger constracsone. Such a model ofers 3 rereral means of accounting forthe myriad changes that ake place ding eusion V. CONCLUSION In equston, the lexicon and sya ae irl, Syntax in ile’s languege emerges as part and pare of ther lexcal knowledge, Each word caries witht spctieston ne ony of te msning or meanings) bolo issymtx, the range of comericons in wlich san occu Fors noun bike fore, dhe range consists of occurence in noun phrases, ply preceded bryan ace demonstrative (hehe, ta has) plas an aden (hat me has) 2 quantifier we bay hoe 3 combination of thee elses (ce of thse pid hors). Fora th ke want he range of sye onstraction inluds oecieence with a det object noun phrase (nt he ‘pan inital complement, with or without direct objet oon play thes ato wi) and with 3 ots copes oa fon so). And for adjectives like unio or eth, the ange of syntactic conatracions sa inca both ateibuve and predict uses (a the sve rd he ‘nl tee only abe os ns ere fehl lam not only te meanings of words, bu also their syntactic ae, along ‘wither intrnal morpeogil scr the cae of ommplex words, td their phonologeal shape To know» word, cide need to have ‘epic all our kinds of information about ic This representation may be only for comprehension. 24 mow likely for terms ike enh iy soo dil Ory may bn oe pesntaton for romp ow and‘one for production, asthe ese fr the majony of terms In cverydny ws neon of “hetmportance of thelescon tin pars rom the conventional mean ings express, and in pore fom i cle noe combinaons of lene items ted o expres Forder meanings Inthe ter, telecon excrpies thestrctur fa language snd make syns audio nth sone wa thatgave Chirk swords ehemselves make morphological structare and phonological shape ible: When one testo sepazste out any onc af these dimensions, mean ing, syntax, morphology, or phonology, His clear tht lexical acquisition provides the erat fr language aequsioon. Words ae ental. Word form {morphological structure and phonological shape) cmerge early but only in Combination with word eteating, Children donot lar forms just for the ‘Ske ofie They eam words to use them, to convey their own steest and ‘estes, and to respond co those of others. Bat words used singly fer only Timited’ options i this segard, and children soon lean howto combine them to convey more complex meanings In doing this, they add tothe basi lsial meanings the meanings conveyed by specie combinatorial ‘options And in doing so, they lean whch options, which syarzctcsruce ures, go with each lexal item, and add hi information to what they ready know about meaning and form. In shot lexical knowledge and Syntactic knowledge are interdependen, eo dey necessary emerge togeth- {rin the process of acquiring 2 language Acknowledgment Frepanton f his chp wo spp prt byte Caner ore Study of ane Endnotes 1. This rm wos ea om ily pode gis ie ad (by prods smn es ‘fn splices the ops es eon of ental op i chop oe inch) te trode ay of woo, pos base grec bd re ie al [Pama (abject) ns ae Brel. 199 1 Itmore ym ings Eg make we felons ate Sets pn and een cv, safe Au og Sin (0, erm ohne 7 8 Smack 3 4 THT nd ory cen soa depts ooo on ch tm iden ik on test een {rover que ety semper ons ten «Tigra fon oe op a Mn a om 9 The Lexicon and Syitax 330 References ‘og. A. & Skin D1 (5) The suse f Tari aD. in), Toe “aot dy of ng eon Wa pp. SVS Pada Ne aos naan Sn Thi sy Ln Aref 0k ed rad ma: Ys Nn ‘om in Korean wl Eph Jamal Mewoy a Lange, 3), 396508 eve MDs Ex oman epna nce ag mS; Kaa i pa Pa So Bac IO, Lue na NY "Reade Pres ‘Boman LA. (95). The etn cw In ht 8), The sla "Sng psn WL py Mla Ne “ ‘an 97). Why wt po mma ana Spohn iy Dey, 6 ASD. Blom: L197} Ocala tee Te Hae, aon GL eS eh ol dea af ob ‘om, Ls ace J. Ley, Mt Lesnng on complemen contin. mal ‘jek mag 1, 1 ae om Tn E-& Mara: € (95), The word hina Evins bh meyers Bowerman M99). Eay i gong wh lwo ta Gmina ny Pe sc hone nc ei i dn ye ope Ereene sn cm Earn esc aron e anti Smt hemi EG Tap: Ara, Tee on a ca oe Soe Bove yA ga ea tn to i we cc: Bein D's (98) Ch ine word combi, Mogg of he Sy sath Ct tp # Se Nt a eM DS, Bry R'E dh 5M Wests, Mf Bly M99, Con “Sra ith nore aon uname fC a Potent he Sey a a ee ‘riknn U. (999, Nonndvienn ver alec: What bss raion ‘te prego obe Ink V. Can (2), Pen of a Ca age oot opp, eter CAC in 07, nt el hepa pe fa of bm ol Sl eon RA fo me: Th ty. Coens, MA; Hara niessm Eve ¥ Clink ecimeme ee geen mn Cae coi oe a cones Withee ent te con teak pa ergata hae Sra Sk ere nnn Ene LiSvhely ehhinea S'S emt St Renan Cine iit taeeraater cece Bs Rane ‘cask EV 1970) On the agin ofthe mein ofS am frm of Vika iro haere cut bi eden no mane a ‘Co, Fechr Coan Lane ii: ii os ge pt ite Sepomeaa) comarca wae thie nme ee MacWhnney (E8) Mehonim of Inge scwciin (pp. 1-33) Hille, NI ‘clk EW. (1989, Om he pragmatics of contr. oma of Chi Lana, 17, 41782 a ag los So ce Ee acai ‘Chute Crp, (1989). On he's as fom hy, ad wth ga marie cot Te ay rar Ee ee oe gcateme sn One 9 The Lexicon and Syme 35 once SP), Sym nd some ain he 9 “Gt tag 21-27 Dey Oe (91 Ones nr teem sn avi 6) Letag ho ch shim td nie apt “fol of Cu Lenape 36-35, ai ms (8 Yay ef nce de aman Moy (19, Seen natn: Ce’ agen of math domi Ps ant pn Cor prom rant Gp rn Bo er rt lg ‘ro {9 ty etl dvlen, Cambee, UK: Camb Univesity Pe. Feauon, © AM. Steommon © (Eh) (092), Spm Tia, pins. Taman DY es ci Ane Tate MT Hon trea cy net pean = Tmo namerule Chad op 38 135-3 ‘GnetrGN Why nun ae ed for rb Lingua ves nu ering SR (6) Lang vip Fo 2. Lange ‘San p01). Hae: rt rar} 100) (968 Pron des oan: Te depen fe moro tn rms free peck os eri fra Cl Lone Got LT il si chide’ bce ma of Moma nd ‘uate 58-1 xm The fet nin em Ai: 3-8 Goren (i). ating ewan cna hype The ce fe out me Gm) 8) Font, nh nage sgn ei In: Baker “ay lg pin fl mp1, Con Cope, Pir 5, Hole M. & Gales R19 Sys an seman he sito cae Jal of Chad ge, ‘rr Hea Cran (3) Reine eins: Kan A), Lane en yc and mf 8-7), Habe NE ot € Gin, Te ergs of ron on eed. FS eh edn diner -78 He ue (979), Ye nd ona: evan f landed of hem ‘Demat Pa ng 197 dng Tigi feo pander of Pininsine Recs, 5-40 Hike THe Mara, € 6 (0), Morden in cle: Aa cami at ‘ping hl ten, 8 21-1096 eg’B (07 The lope al pie. fe 9 CHAE eg, fi dsr unc) Sey, (Tay wad meaning Te efoto te Dg 8a.Eve V. Clark {pomp £(980 The dopant of dle mops Fm rs Ts nd pr Ch ne Dep Snr Ue) 1-18 Ay ithe pst mcd Ch an 7 ue Ny tr, E,& Macuman) (97, Wharsinssae say oo lonkam ew U9 Thr yt compen a “itpon of Satyr Races Chil Dp, eral a1 oa 8 ng Ue. Sy pts he spec a nen a Lys "Ci ) Woks (Es) Pips pe reo Ps Baa Cee {pp a args Edith Une re iA Ay isons ir pe of cag 8 A (098 Chen japon of gamma nd gram eg ‘miata Chi Depa 9, 19 acd, Shi, Oe maw sy depen. IS. A Kacy gens nS me on te Wf mw mon w ie Cag MA: MIT Liter 92) The ge sample atc nT. Moot (Cid ‘tn east img pW 18), Vs Ace Pro Loi pcm fal ha Maca) (1972), Coie ggg inns. Print i actin, (190, Hangar enh he again of morphology a ye fet oh one 397 mucin, 9m Te aon of worpophoslgy Moen th Sy enh Chl Drape tra 1 "T Powa'e E Musk 2), tnt fd gy V3 Cpe Jono 7-785, Now York. ky nao ass et ge 9 Oe ea stat fo DE tery RA yA). jae Ps Dai, (198. A aly onl wed te Metin (ER), Mako of rp pp #119. ae YE Muskrat sn pst ening work Nest TE), Compo el nadine Enel md tes fs ceo (pp. S85. Cg, UK Comore Unseay Pres. eric chsh ecg nny nel depen. Nese (El), Smolen lena et agen (op i-th Conte” UC Cane Une Pre ert ts& Jasnn K'E (9), Rojo te Hl mere A ety "asamp, 27,2222 gy, WE Any TC {in Te sabe of word rie onl Engh, sen mam Ms eS 9 The Lexicon and Syatx 357 batt ee CORE aay ne cnn mates § EO emi line The iin fret te, Combet cea nnn nn ange 9.3 sey aac eommtomtame ameter eed ne sn tte ont “ctu, J. & Devin J. (1976) Young, chlren’s ue of age appropiate speech sles social nic Wo esettee re Tit mon TERISN Hitt elena a aan eget mamta iar anon bes eens sa sans tn 8 Pe Pe are rcerncsemee cat faints nt meentaan pte emeint Fa i SOE i Co ener ea rece es tea amas ee hoes wei Ai eerste Se harp Tete Br prersto preteen eM LRT ie soe SI Sabot aE ean int ce ee eae eee fa Oh may wee renter STR SSPE ENED pace Sarg reas mah ue arrears ii SEES erent vetted “ann Ca oe eS