TY - JOUR
T1 - Not All Children Agree
T2 - Acquisition of Agreement When the Input Is Variable
AU - Miller, Karen
N1 - Funding Information:
Many thanks to Juliana Litts and the students at the Michigan State and Penn State Language Acquisition Labs for recruitment, scheduling, and testing. I would also like to express my gratitude to the teachers at Oakdale Christian Preschool (GRCS), Michigan Head Start, and the MSU Child Development Center for allowing us to work in their schools. Very special thanks to Cristina Schmitt and Alan Munn for their helpful comments throughout the elaboration of this work and also to the journal editors, Cynthia Fisher and Susan Goldin-Meadow, and three anonymous reviewers for their very helpful and insightful comments on the manuscript. This project was funded by the Calvin College Center for Social Research and by funding from Penn State University.
PY - 2012/7
Y1 - 2012/7
N2 - In this paper we investigate the effect of variable input on the acquisition of grammar. More specifically, we examine the acquisition of the third person singular marker -s on the auxiliary do in comprehension and production in two groups of children who are exposed to similar varieties of English but that differ with respect to adult production of agreement on the auxiliary. In the first variety, the input to children for agreement on the auxiliary is consistent as the marker is always produced when there is a third person singular subject. In the second variety, however, there is a variable input for agreement marking on the auxiliary do: within and across speakers, agreement marking is sometimes present (e.g., He doesn't like venison) and sometimes absent (e.g., He don't like venison) with third person singular subjects. In other words, while both groups of children are exposed to an input where the third person singular marker is always present on the main verb (when it agrees with a third person singular subject), the input to the two groups of children differs in the context of agreement on the auxiliary do. The results of the present study show that while the two groups of children differ from each other in their own production of agreement marking on the auxiliary, a finding we attribute to the input type they are exposed to, they do not differ in their (in)ability to associate the marker to a third person singular subject in comprehension.
AB - In this paper we investigate the effect of variable input on the acquisition of grammar. More specifically, we examine the acquisition of the third person singular marker -s on the auxiliary do in comprehension and production in two groups of children who are exposed to similar varieties of English but that differ with respect to adult production of agreement on the auxiliary. In the first variety, the input to children for agreement on the auxiliary is consistent as the marker is always produced when there is a third person singular subject. In the second variety, however, there is a variable input for agreement marking on the auxiliary do: within and across speakers, agreement marking is sometimes present (e.g., He doesn't like venison) and sometimes absent (e.g., He don't like venison) with third person singular subjects. In other words, while both groups of children are exposed to an input where the third person singular marker is always present on the main verb (when it agrees with a third person singular subject), the input to the two groups of children differs in the context of agreement on the auxiliary do. The results of the present study show that while the two groups of children differ from each other in their own production of agreement marking on the auxiliary, a finding we attribute to the input type they are exposed to, they do not differ in their (in)ability to associate the marker to a third person singular subject in comprehension.
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U2 - 10.1080/15475441.2011.601249
DO - 10.1080/15475441.2011.601249
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84861632126
SN - 1547-5441
VL - 8
SP - 255
EP - 277
JO - Language Learning and Development
JF - Language Learning and Development
IS - 3
ER -