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Rules and construction effects in learning the argument structure of verbs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2003

KATHERINE DEMUTH ,
'MALILLO MACHOBANE  and
FRANCINA MOLOI
KATHERINE DEMUTH
Affiliation:
Brown University
'MALILLO MACHOBANE
Affiliation:
National University of Lesotho
FRANCINA MOLOI
Affiliation:
National University of Lesotho
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Abstract

Theorists of language acquisition have long debated the means by which children learn the argument structure of verbs (e.g. Bowerman, 1974, 1990; Pinker, 1984, 1989; Tomasello, 1992). Central to this controversy has been the possible role of verb semantics, especially in learning which verbs undergo dative-shift alternation in languages like English. The learning problem is somewhat simplified in Bantu double object constructions, where all applicative verbs show the same order of postverbal objects. However, Bantu languages differ as to what that order is, some placing the benefactive argument first, and others placing the animate argument first. Learning the language-specific word-order restrictions on Bantu double object applicative constructions is therefore more akin to setting a parameter (cf. Hyams, 1986). This study examined 100 three- to eight-year-old children's knowledge of word order restrictions in Sesotho double object applicatives. Performance on forced choice elicited production tasks found that four-year-olds showed evidence of rule learning, although eight-year-olds had not yet attained adult levels of performance. Further investigation found lexical construction effects for three-year-olds. These findings suggest that learning the argument structure of verbs, even when lexical semantics is not involved, may be more sensitive to lexical construction effects than previously thought.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 30 , Issue 4 , November 2003 , pp. 797 - 821
Copyright
© 2003 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

Previous versions of this paper have been presented at the 30th African Linguistics Conference at University of Illinois, Urbana, the Conference on Formal Grammar at the University of California at Berkeley, the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, the National University of Lesotho, New York University, and the University of Connecticut at Storrs. We thank those audiences as well as Melissa Bowerman, Glyn Collis, William Heindel, Polly Jacobson, Mark Johnson, Letty Naigles, Julie Sedivy, David Sobel and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments, discussion, and assistance with statistics. We also thank Julia Bulkowski, Steve Canon, Phokwane Mawasha, Litlhare Molemohi, Moliehi Morolong, Lance Nathan, Chris Odato, Hannah Rohde, and Elizabeth Smith for research assistance, and the Institute for Southern African Studies (ISAS) at the National University of Lesotho and the headmistresses and children of the following schools for facilitating the project: Likonyaneng Preschool, Mabitso Pre-school, Ratjomose Pre-school, and Roma Primary School, Montessori International School, Hillsview English Medium Pre-school (Loretta's), the United Church English-medium school, Leseli Community School, and NUL International School. This research has been funded in part by NSF grant SBR-9727897 awarded to the first author. Authors are listed in alphabetical order.