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dc.contributor.authorWestergaard, Marit
dc.date.accessioned2013-05-03T12:44:39Z
dc.date.available2013-05-03T12:44:39Z
dc.date.issued2009
dc.description.abstractThis paper discusses different approaches to language acquisition in relation to children’s acquisition of word order in wh-questions in English and Norwegian. While generative models assert that children set major word order parameters and thus acquire a rule of subject-auxiliary inversion or generalized verb second (V2) at an early stage, some constructivist work argues that English-speaking children are simply reproducing frequent wh-word + auxiliary combinations in the input. The paper questions both approaches, re-evaluates some previous work, and provides some further data, concluding that the acquisition of wh-questions must be the result of a rule-based process. Based on variation in adult grammars, a cue-based model to language acquisition is presented, according to which children are sensitive to minor cues in the input, called micro-cues. V2 is not considered to be one major parameter, but several smaller-scale cues, which are responsible for children’s lack of syntactic (over-)generalization in the acquisition process.en
dc.identifier.citationJournal of Child Language (2009), vol. 36 (5):1023-1051en
dc.identifier.cristinIDFRIDAID 336361
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0305000909009349
dc.identifier.issn0305-0009
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10037/5142
dc.identifier.urnURN:NBN:no-uit_munin_4854
dc.language.isoengen
dc.publisherCambridge University Pressen
dc.rights.accessRightsopenAccess
dc.subjectVDP::Humanities: 000::Linguistics: 010en
dc.subjectVDP::Humaniora: 000::Språkvitenskapelige fag: 010en
dc.subjectVDP::Humanities: 000::Linguistics: 010::Nordic languages: 018en
dc.subjectVDP::Humaniora: 000::Språkvitenskapelige fag: 010::Nordiske språk: 018en
dc.subjectVDP::Humanities: 000::Linguistics: 010::English language: 020en
dc.subjectVDP::Humaniora: 000::Språkvitenskapelige fag: 010::Engelsk språk: 020en
dc.titleUsage-based vs. Rule-based Learning: The Acquisition of Word Order in Wh-Questions in English and Norwegianen
dc.typeJournal articleen
dc.typeTidsskriftartikkelen
dc.typePeer revieweden


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