Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T22:10:05.209Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Description and explanation in the acquisition of verb-forms*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Paul Fletcher
Paul Fletcher
Affiliation:
University of Reading
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Research on the learning of verb-forms in English has consistently reported the late acquisition of the PRESENT PERFECT. Explanations for this have been in terms of children's cognitive abilities. Difficulties are presented for such explanations by an apparent discrepancy between American English (AE) and British English (BE) acquisition data. This paper examines in detail the forms included in the PRESENT PERFECT paradigm, and the use of these and related forms by a sample of BE children aged 3; 3. While there is considerable variability across the sample, the results indicate that BE children at this age have not in any sense mastered the present perfect. The implications of this are discussed.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , February 1981 , pp. 93 - 108
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1981

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

[*]

A version of this paper was presented at the conference ‘Beyond Description in Child Language’, organized by the Projektgruppe für Psycholinguistik, Max-Planck Institut, Nijmegen, June 1979. I am particularly grateful to Gordon Wells for permission to use data from his SSRC project, and for comments on the paper. My thanks also to Michael Garman, Gordon Hart and Aithur Hughes for helpful comments on an earlier draft. Address for correspondence: Department of Linguistic Science, University of Reading, Reading RG6 2AA, UK.

References

REFERENCES

Andersen, R. (1978). An implicational model for second language research. LL 28, 221–82.Google Scholar
Antinucci, F. & Miller, R. (1976). How children talk about what happened. JChLang 3. 167–89.Google Scholar
Brown, R. (1973). A first language: the early stages. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, R. N. (1979). Cognitive development and child language. In Fletcher, P. & Garman, M. (eds), Language acquisition: studies in first language development. Cambridge: C.U.P.Google Scholar
Chomsky, N. (1957). Syntactic structures. The Hague: Mouton.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Comrie, B. (1976). Aspect. Cambridge: C.U.P.Google Scholar
Cromer, R. F. (1968). The development of temporal reference during the acquisition of language. PhD. dissertation, Harvard University.Google Scholar
Cromer, R. F. (1974). The development of language and cognition: the cognition hypothesis. In Foss, B. (ed.), New perspectives in child development. Harmondsworth: Penguin.Google Scholar
Fletcher, P. (1979). The development of the verb-phrase. In Fletcher, P. & Garman, M. (eds), Language acquisition: studies in first language development. Cambridge: C.U.P.Google Scholar
Fodor, J. D. & Smith, M. R. (1978). What kind of an exception is ‘have got’? LI 9. 45–65.Google Scholar
Haber, L. (1977). A linguistic definition of language delay: evidence from the acquisition of Aux. Paper presented at the Linguistic Society of America Summer Meeting.Google Scholar
Kuczaj, S. & Daly, M. (1979). The development of hypothetical reference in the speech of young children. JChLang 6. 563–79.Google ScholarPubMed
Leech, G. (1971). Meaning and the English verb. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Leopold, W. (1949). Speech development of a bilingual child: Vol. IV, Diary from age 2. Evanston: Northwestern University Press.Google Scholar
Lyons, J. (1977). Semantics. Vol. II. Cambridge: C.U.P.Google Scholar
Maratsos, M. (1978). New models in linguistics and language acquisition. In Halle, M., Bresnan, J. & Miller, G. (eds), Linguistic theory and psychological reality. Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T.Google Scholar
Maratsos, M. & Kuczaj, S. (1976). Is not n't? A study in syntactic generalisation. PRCLD 12. 157–68.Google Scholar
Nussbaum, N. & Naremore, R. (1975). On the acquisition of present perfect ‘have’ in normal children. L&S 18. 219–26.Google ScholarPubMed
Palmer, F. R. (1974). The English verb. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Quirk, R., Greenbaum, S., Leech, G. N. & Svartvik, J. (1972). A grammar of contemporary English. London: Longrran.Google Scholar
Wells, G. (1974). Project report: language development in pre-school children. JChLang 1. 158–62.Google Scholar
Wells, G. (1975). Language development in pre-school children: transcripts of children aged 39 months. Mimeo, University of Bristol School of Education.Google Scholar
Wells, G. (1979). Learning and using the auxiliary verb in English. In Lee, V. (ed.), Language development. London: Croom Helm.Google Scholar