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Semantic or grammatical primacy of prepositions? Melita Kovačević University of Zagreb

Semantic or grammatical primacy of prepositions? Melita Kovačević University of Zagreb melita.kovacevic@public.srce.hr. San Servolo, October 29 – 31, 2004, Symbols and Connections.  Conceptual and Grammatical Development . Categorization of the perception into event types

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Semantic or grammatical primacy of prepositions? Melita Kovačević University of Zagreb

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  1. Semantic or grammatical primacy of prepositions? Melita Kovačević University of Zagreb melita.kovacevic@public.srce.hr San Servolo, October 29 – 31, 2004, Symbols and Connections

  2.  Conceptual and Grammatical Development  • Categorization of the perception into event types • Identify lexical and morphological means to encode them • (Tomasello, 2001)

  3. Language Specifity Hypothesis (Bowerman, 1988; Gopnik & Choi, 1995) Emphasizes the child’s production analysis of the form-function patterns of the target language Low appearence of errors Early child language should not clash with target language distinctions.

  4. Spatial Semantic Categories Forms of spatial morphemes differ across languages Meanings are closely simmilar Biological and environmental constraints

  5. INPUT Semantics grammatical marking error INPUT • Options • Semantic primacy first meaning emerges child searches for linguistic device • Grammatical marking is less informative, therefore or Errors omissions Omission of prepositions as functional category word or Simultaneous and equal quality of prepositions and gramm. markers usage

  6. Re: Input • mirroring of input languae into child language in terms of • Quality – type of prepositions • Quantity – token of produced prepositions • Time/age of preposition use

  7. static / dynamic dynamic static + dynamic Semantic value of Croatian prepositions Place Movement U ++L ++A Na ++L ++A Po ++L ++A Iz +G S +G Od +G Iza +G +G Ispod +G +G Iznad +G +G Do +G +G Kraj +G +G Pokraj +G +G Između +G +G Oko +G +G - topological (direct contact with the object) u - in, into na - on, onto po - - topological (‘’leaving’’ the object) iz - from s - from od - from • relation to the object • iza - behind • ispod - under • između - between • yet to be acquired: relation to the object, but differentiate place and movement (A – I) • za - behind • pod - under • među - between

  8. static / dynamic dynamic static + dynamic Semantic value of Croatian prepositions* Place Movement U ++L ++A Na ++L ++A Po++L ++A Iz +G S +G Od +G Iza +G +G Ispod +G +G Iznad +G +G Do +G +G Kraj +G +G Pokraj +G +G Između +G +G Oko+G +G + only semantics of the sentence differentiate two semantic fields Trči iza škole.He is running behind the school. Dotrčao je iza škole.He ran behind the school. ++ semantics of the sentence influences the morphology Trči u školi.He is running in the school. Dotrčao je u školu.He ran into the school. *appeared in child language

  9. Prepositions in child’s language and input - Marina

  10. Prepositions in child’s language and input - Antonija

  11. static / dynamic dynamic static + dynamic Prepositiones in children’s language and input (token) Marina input Antonija input U (s) 80 L 226 L 85 L 187 L U (d) 104 A 134 A 48 A 182 A Na (s) 33 L 158 L 34 L 146 L Na (d) 99 A 144 A 30 A 156 A Po (s) 8 L 72 L 10 L 42 L Po (d) 2 A 5 A 6 A 21 A Od (d) 24 G 87 G 12 G 46 G Iz (d) 3 G 37 G 6 G 22 G S (d) 4 G 13 G Kod (s+d) 22 G 37 G 6 G 36 G Do (s+d) 3 G 8 G Kraj (s+d) 1 G 2 G

  12. Prepositiones in children’s language and input case Marina Marina: A = 205 L = 121 G = 57 input: A = 283 L = 456 G = 184 Antonija Antonija: A = 84 L = 129 G = 24 input: A = 359 L = 375 G = 104 semantics Marina Marina: S/D = 326 D = 31 S+D = 26 input: S/D = 739 D = 137S+D = 47 Antonija Antonija: S/D = 213 D = 18 S+D = 6 input: S/D = 734 D = 68 S+D = 36

  13. s/d d s+d A L G A L G s/d d s+d

  14. static / dynamic dynamic static + dynamic The acquisition of prepositions Marina input Antonija input U (s)1;9 1;5 1;5 1;3 U (d)1;5 1;5 1;5 1;3 Na (s)1;10 1;5 1;10 1;4 Na (d)1;7 1;6 1;5 1;3 Po (s)2;0 1;5 1;10 1;3 Po (d)2;5 2;3 2;11 2;7 Od1;11 1;6 1;9 1;7 Iz2;1 1;8 1;9 1;9 S2;21;8 Kod1;10 1;6 2;1 1;10 Do2;31;8 Kraj2;62;5

  15. Summative results: • High token / low type frequency prepositions designing simple static or movement event occur earlier in production; their rate grows faster • Prepositions designing complex events (relationship of 2 or more objects, preposition designing static and movement events, but reqiring only one case) occur later and have low token frequency).

  16. Semantic value of prepositions in the parental input may dictate the order of the acquisition – indications from teh spontaneous speech sample data • To be further investigated – the type of semantic value may arise from the type of the discourse  • more descriptic discourse  more static prepositions • more imperative discourse  more movement prepositions

  17. Conclusions: • Spatial semantic development is very responsive to the properties of the input language, but also, • Children have autonomous concepts in early lexical develolpment • Children are actively manipulating with input models due to the perceptual sensitivities and conceptual biases • Early spatial words are used in different range of situations than in input language

  18. Options • Re: errors in child production • on both levels equally, semantic and grammatical • more on grammatical level than semantic • prevalence of semantic errors

  19. Errors conditions types of errors *ANT: a <na fesetu> [*] ? *ANT: igo(r) tamo je u pa(r)ki [*] . *ANT: u k(n)inu [*] . (kud taj vlak vozi) • wrong Prep. • wrong Case ending • wrong choice of s/d s/d • wrong Prep. • wrong Case ending d *MAR: iz glave mi je maknuo [//] iz glave . • wrong Prep. • wrong Case ending *ANT: kod tebi [*] je otišla . *ANT: <mojam [: moram] sad> [<] ići u [*] kazenton . (do kazetofona) d+s a. and c. – semantically driven error b. – grammatically driven error

  20. Selected option Simultaneous and equal quality of prepositions and grammatical markers’ usage But, with low appearance of any error

  21. Conclusion • Input language helps on deciding between differences and similarities among referent situations • Insufficiency in the relevant properties (low in saliance or maturationally not available) • Sensitivity to spatial words affected by features or the language input Children produce errors

  22. Frequency • Consistency (vs. polisemy of words’ meaning which frequently misleads a child) • The degree of overlap in the reference • (Non-linguistic) semantic categories are formed in nonlinear interaction with the semantic and grammatical structure of the language a child acquires.

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