Computational cognitive modeling is a tool we can use to evaluate theories of syntactic acquisition. Here, I review several models implementing theories that integrate information from both linguistic and non-linguistic sources to learn different types of syntactic knowledge. Some of these models additionally consider the impact of factors coming…

The acquisition of quantifiers is a central topic in cognitive science. The present study investigated the emergence, frequency, and non-target-like production of the universal quantifiers "all," "every," and "each" in child English from a linguistic perspective, based on the data from longitudinal naturalistic…

Interface Delay is a theory of syntactic development, which attempts to explain an array of constructions that are slow to develop, which are characterized by being sensitive to discourse-pragmatic considerations of the type associated with the natural semantic class of definites. The theory claims that neither syntax itself, nor the…

One of the fundamental questions in the field of language acquisition is a learnability problem, which considers how learners acquire certain aspects of language which are not directly provided in the input or whose referents are not readily observable. This dissertation investigates Japanese children's acquisition of various linguistic phenomena,…

This longitudinal study involving 101 Dutch four- and five-year-olds charts indirect request (IR) and mental state term (MST) understanding and investigates the role that Theory of Mind (ToM) and general linguistic ability (vocabulary, syntax, and spatial language) play in this development. The results showed basic understanding of IR and MST in…

Syntax allows human beings to build an infinite number of new sentences from a finite stock of words. Because toddlers typically utter only one or two words at a time, they have been thought to have no syntax. Using event-related potentials (ERPs), we demonstrated that 2-year-olds do compute syntactic structure when listening to spoken sentences.…

Examined children's ability to draw on functional information to predict the similarity of function across exemplars and to extend new words from an initial exemplar to one of two others. The cognitive difficulties associated with judgments concerning material function are discussed in relation to additional factors that could lead children under…

The normal" six-year old has control of all aspects of his language when he begins attending school. The teacher must expand these skills. (MF)

Tests and confirms hypothesis that a four-stage process exists in the understanding and use of synonyms, antonyms, and tautologies in children ages three to six. The results of this study challenge widely held theories on cognitive development. (45 references) (LET)

Focus is one factor that may account for children's use of single-word utterances after they have acquired the use of multi-word utterances. The possible role that focus may play in children's use of single-word utterances in naturalistic settings, after the acquisition of syntax, was investigated. (SW)

Examination of the effect of two linguistic factors on kindergarten through fourth-grade students' understanding of idioms indicated that the younger subjects better understood syntactically frozen idioms than those presented in various syntactic forms, while older subjects comprehended both kinds. (Author/CB)

Adapted from "Work in Progress" n5, 1972, Department of Linguistics, University of Edinburgh. (DD)

Suggests that the concept of an interactive environment has significant ramifications for re-assessing and/or formulating a contemporary, comprehensive theory of language acquisition. (MH)

Dialogues of sets of socially similar twins are studied. The opinion that twins have slower syntactic development than non-twins is seriously questioned. Dialogues with twins saying the same utterance together, correcting each other, quarreling, playing verbal games, etc. are analyzed in their deep structure. (SCC)

The author calls attention to a basic split between perception and cognition that psychologists or linguists tend to make either explicitly or implicitly. There is some psychological evidence to substantiate, at least for higher developmental levels, the functional importance of this split. The chief problems for psycholinguistics which arise out…