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NOTES AND DISCUSSION Is regularization determined by semantics, or grammar, or both? Comments on Kim, Marcus, Pinker, Hollander & Coppola (1994)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 1997

YASUHIRO SHIRAI
YASUHIRO SHIRAI
Affiliation:
Cornell University
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Abstract

Kim, Marcus, Pinker, Hollander & Coppola (1994) argue that the preference children and adults show for regular inflection for verbs and nouns with novel meanings (e.g. The batter *flew/flied out to centre field) should be attributed to their grammatically based sensitivity to the derivations of these verbs and nouns. However, it could also be that speakers avoid the use of irregular forms to avoid conveying the conventional meaning associated with the irregular form, such as literally flying to centre field. This paper, in reply to Kim et al. (1994), reinterprets their findings and argues for a semantic/functional account, without resorting to a grammatical account.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 24 , Issue 2 , June 1997 , pp. 495 - 501
Copyright
© 1997 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

I would like to thank Kevin Gregg, Catherine Harris, Foong Ha Yap and two anonymous referees for helpful comments on an earlier version of this manuscript, although they are not responsible for any inadequacies that may remain. Supported by a grant from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Science and Culture (No. 06851070).