<OT> New Posting: ROA-702

[roa at ruccs.rutgers.edu]

ROA 702-0105

Animacy and Child Grammar: an OT account

Heiner Drenhaus <drenhaus at ling.uni-potsdam.de>
Caroline F�ry <fery at rz.uni-potsdam.de>

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=702


Abstract:
 It is a well known fact about German that animacy plays
a role in determining the word order of verbal arguments.
In children�s production, animacy not only affects the
order of the direct and indirect object in non-canonical
double object constructions, but it also has an influence
on the overt dative case marking of the indirect object.
Optimality Theory readily accounts for these data  in using
well-assessed universal constraints, the same surface constraints
as those responsible for the adult grammar. The only difference
between the two lies in the constraint hierarchy, a natural
conclusion if it is assumed that learning a language amounts
to the acquisition of the hierarchy of universal constraints.
In this paper, we focus on a pattern found in child grammar
which is absent in the corresponding adult grammar, and
show that one and the same grammar accounts for both.

Comments: 
Keywords: animacy, word order, language acquisition, syntax
Areas: Language Acquisition, Syntax
Type: Journal Article

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=702