Quantification the Syntactic Interfaces in Language Acquisition

量化语言习得中的句法接口

• 批准号: 0418309
• 负责人: Jeffrey Lidz
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Northwestern University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-09-01 至 2006-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0418309&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Quantification; Syntactic; Interfaces; Language; Acquisition

With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Jeffrey Lidz will conduct three years of developmental linguistic research on the syntax, semantics and use of quantificational expressions (e.g., two birds, every horse) in English and Kannada, a Dravidian language spoken by approximately 40 million people in southern India. The project uses the grammar and acquisition of quantification across diverse languages as a probe into the relative contributions of innate knowledge and linguistic experience in language acquisition. Previous research has shown that children systematically fail to detect both interpretations of ambiguous sentences like "every horse didn't jump over the fence," interpreting them as meaning only that no horses jumped. This observation holds for children learning English and Kannada, despite the many apparent differences between these two languages. This project will examine the syntactic, semantic and pragmatic factors that contribute to this effect, with two aims in mind. First, the project will determine whether children's errors are due their lacking the correct representations of the quantificational expressions or to their abilities to put their knowledge to use. Second, the project will examine the role of experience in leading children towards ultimately understanding such sentences like adults.The research component of the project involves language acquisition experiments with English- and Kannada-speaking children. The project also develops a program of training for graduate and undergraduate students which provides them with the skills required for active involvement in integrated research in theoretical and developmental linguistics. By comparing acquisition in children learning English and Kannada, the project expands the range of data typically used in theoretical linguistics and extends collaborations between American and Indian researchers.

在国家科学基金会的支持下，Jeffrey Lidz 博士将进行为期三年的发展语言学研究，研究英语和卡纳达语（一种约有 4000 万人口的德拉威语言）的语法、语义和量化表达（例如，两只鸟，每匹马）的使用。印度南部的人。该项目利用不同语言的语法和量化习得来探讨先天知识和语言经验在语言习得中的相对贡献。先前的研究表明，孩子们系统地无法检测到对“每匹马都没有跳过栅栏”等模棱两可的句子的两种解释，而将它们解释为仅意味着没有马跳过。尽管这两种语言之间存在许多明显的差异，但这一观察结果适用于学习英语和卡纳达语的儿童。该项目将研究促成这种效果的句法、语义和语用因素，有两个目标。首先，该项目将确定孩子们的错误是否是由于他们缺乏量化表达的正确表示，还是由于他们运用知识的能力。其次，该项目将研究经验在引导儿童最终像成人一样理解此类句子方面的作用。该项目的研究部分涉及对英语和卡纳达语儿童进行语言习得实验。该项目还为研究生和本科生制定了一个培训计划，为他们提供积极参与理论和发展语言学综合研究所需的技能。通过比较学习英语和卡纳达语的儿童的习得情况，该项目扩大了理论语言学中通常使用的数据范围，并扩大了美国和印度研究人员之间的合作。