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Adverbs of Degree : Children , spoken language and written language

Adverbs of Degree : Children , spoken language and written language. Jack Hoeksema Symposium on the Role of Frequency and Function in Language Development. Principle of Contrast.

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Adverbs of Degree : Children , spoken language and written language

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  1. Adverbs of Degree: Children, spoken language and writtenlanguage Jack Hoeksema Symposium on the Role of Frequency and Function in LanguageDevelopment

  2. Principle of Contrast • Speakers assumethateverydifference in formsignals a difference in meaning (Eve V. Clark, ‘The principle of contrast: a constraint on language acquisition.’ In: Brian MacWhinney (ed.), 1987, Mechanisms of language acquisition, 1-33. Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum.)

  3. What is maximally in conflict withthis?

  4. examples • Ik ben een beetje/wat/ietsje/enigszins moe I am a bit/somewhat/a tad/a wee bit tired • Ik ben nogal/vrij/tamelijk moe I amrather/pretty/reasonablytired • Ik ben heel/erg/zeer/ontzettend moe I amvery/extremely/trulytired • Ik ben volkomen/totaal/helemaal nuchter I amtotally/completely/entirely sober

  5. Whysomuchvariation? • Degreelevels: low/mid/high/absolute • Stylisticlevels: lowbrow/highbrow/neutral • Polarity: negativepolarity items, positivepolarity items, neutral items • Syntacticcombinatorics: You are verylovely, I loveyouverymuch/He is verymuch a loner /I don’tlikehimmuch • Semantic/lexicalrestrictions: verypossible / *a bit possible / *ratherpossible / quitepossible • Phonologicalrestrictions: highly intelligent / *highly smart / highlyunlikely / *highly fat (# syllables > 1)

  6. Whynow, and not in 1600? • Emergence of writtenlanguages • And literacy • Withvariouswritingstyles • And a stylisticrequirement to avoidrepitition of words

  7. Dutch high degreeadverbs(written data: Hoeksema 2005; spoken: De Jong 1979)

  8. Most commondegreeadverbs in Dutch Written Spoken

  9. Childes data: Abel and Iris

  10. (een) beetje Abel 2-8-13 150 *GER: en ben je wel een beetje uitgeslapen ? 151 *CHI: ja, ben beetje uitgelapen. 152 *GER: ja . 153 *GER: was je een beetje moe ? 154 *CHI: ja, beetje moe .

  11. Beetje (ctnd) Abel 2-10-00 523 *GER: ik haal deze een beetje uit elkaar, ok ? 524 *CHI: ja, beetje aan mekaar . 526 *GER: nee, uit elkaar juist . 527 *CHI: oh .

  12. heel 2-04-09 ABEL 900 *CHI: Falko heel hard chaatsen . 901 *JEA: hij kan heel hard schaatsen . 902 *CHI: heel schaatsen . 903 *GER: hij kan heel hard schaatsen .

  13. Repeats (ignored in data) Abel 3-0-23 1120 *CHI: hou de toren maar even vast . 1121 *GER: ja, dat doe ik . 1122 *GER: hij staat niet heel erg stevig . 1123 *CHI: hij staat niet erg stevig .

  14. High degreevs absolute ABEL 3-4-1 583 *CHI: ik heb alleen maar xx weg . 584 *CHI: <ik heb> [//] ik ben heel weg . 585 *GER: waar ga je naartoe ? 586 *CHI: ik ga naar Artis . 587 *GER: naarArtis ? 588 *CHI: ja .

  15. Veel vs heel IRIS 3-6-15 448 *CHI: babyrups ət heel groter moet worden . 449 *FLO: ik [/] ik vind (he)t ook wel (ee)n mooie lange babyrups hoor . 450 *CHI: ja .

  16. Abel versus Iris

  17. Adultdegreeadverbs in the Abel/Iris files

  18. Written data vschildlanguage

  19. Children and caretakers Children Caretakers

  20. Conclusions • Childrenaged 2 to 3 by and large stick to the Principle of Contrast • Despitelots of variants in their input • Theylackmidleveladverbs notexplainedbyprinciple of contrast, strictlyspeaking • Midleveladverbsfarlesscommon in child-oriented speech than in adultoriented speech • Choice of degreemodifiersdeterminedbyfrequency in the input

  21. Thanks!

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