Syntactic-semantic interface in the acquisition of verb morphology

Area of Science:

• Linguistics
• Developmental Psychology
• Language Acquisition

Background:

• The tense-aspect system is crucial for understanding language development.
• Cross-linguistic differences in aspect marking influence acquisition patterns.
• The interplay between syntax and semantics is key in language learning.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the interaction between syntactic and semantic aspects of tense-aspect during child language acquisition.
• To compare the acquisition of tense-aspect in English and Polish, focusing on typological differences.
• To explore the role of deictic relations in the development of a multi-dimensional tense-aspect system.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of CHILDES archives for six English-speaking and six Polish-speaking children.
• Identification of predicates and tracking the emergence of their tense-aspect morphology.
• Comparison of acquisition patterns for specific verbs and predicate types (telic vs. atelic).

Main Results:

• Significant differences observed in tense-aspect acquisition between English and Polish learners.
• English progressive aspect and Polish perfective aspect are acquired as marked forms.
• Typological distinctions in aspect marking impact the developmental trajectory.

Conclusions:

• Children develop a complex, multi-dimensional tense-aspect system.
• Deictic relations are fundamental dimensions in this acquisition process.
• A functional theoretical framework with a strong syntactic-semantic interface effectively explains these findings.