Children Learn Causatives Despite Pervasive Ellipsis: Evidence from Turkish
Guanghao You1, Ebru Ger2,3, Moritz M Daum2,4
1Institute for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution (ISLE), University of Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland.
Journal of Child Language
|May 21, 2025
Summary
Children learn causatives despite pervasive argument ellipsis in speech. Reliable argument expression is not crucial for acquiring morphological and lexical causatives in natural language environments.
Area of Science:
- Child language acquisition
- Linguistics
- Developmental psychology
Background:
- Causative constructions are vital for expressing cause-and-effect relationships.
- Previous research suggests argument structure aids causative learning.
- The role of argument expression reliability in causative acquisition remains unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how children acquire morphological and lexical causatives.
- To examine the influence of argument structure and expression reliability on causative learning.
- To test the hypothesis that reliable argument expression is key for causative acquisition.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal study of 7 children aged 8-36 months.
- Analysis of child-directed speech for argument ellipsis patterns.
- Correlation analysis between ellipsis frequency and causative acquisition milestones.
Main Results:
- Ellipsis is prevalent in child-directed speech for both lexical and morphological causatives.
- Pervasive ellipsis did not impede the children's acquisition of causatives.
- No significant correlation found between argument expression reliability and causative learning.
Conclusions:
- Argument structure may not be a primary driver for learning causatives in naturalistic settings.
- Children can acquire causatives even with frequent argument ellipsis.
- Findings challenge the necessity of reliable argument expression for early causative acquisition.
Related Concept Videos
01:22Purposive Learning
95
E. C. Tolman emphasized the purposiveness of behavior — the idea that much of our behavior is goal-directed. For instance, employees who aim for a promotion work diligently to meet their targets. Tolman argued that when classical conditioning and operant conditioning occur, the organism acquires certain expectations. In classical conditioning, a child might fear a dog because they expect it to bite. In operant conditioning, a person might consistently work overtime because they expect a...
95
01:21Cognitive Learning
122
Cognitive learning is based on purposive behavior, incidental learning, and insight learning.
E. C. Tolman's theory of purposive behavior emphasizes that much behavior is goal-directed. He argued that to understand behavior, we must look at the entire sequence of actions leading to a goal. For instance, high school students study hard, not just due to past reinforcement but also to achieve the goal of getting into a good college.
Tolman introduced the idea that behavior is influenced by...
E. C. Tolman's theory of purposive behavior emphasizes that much behavior is goal-directed. He argued that to understand behavior, we must look at the entire sequence of actions leading to a goal. For instance, high school students study hard, not just due to past reinforcement but also to achieve the goal of getting into a good college.
Tolman introduced the idea that behavior is influenced by...
122
01:12Observational Learning
111
Albert Bandura's observational learning, also known as imitation or modeling, occurs when a person observes and imitates another's behavior. It is a quicker process than operant conditioning. A well-known example is the Bobo doll study, where children who saw an adult acting aggressively towards the doll were more likely to act aggressively when left alone, compared to those who observed a nonaggressive adult. Many psychologists view observational learning as a form of latent learning...
111
01:21Causality in Epidemiology
220
Causality or causation is a fundamental concept in epidemiology, vital for understanding the relationships between various factors and health outcomes. Despite its importance, there's no single, universally accepted definition of causality within the discipline. Drawing from a systematic review, causality in epidemiology encompasses several definitions, including production, necessary and sufficient, sufficient-component, counterfactual, and probabilistic models. Each has its strengths and...
220
01:53Cause and Effect
10.8K
While variables are sometimes correlated because one does cause the other, it could also be that some other factor, a confounding variable, is actually causing the systematic movement in our variables of interest. For instance, as sales in ice cream increase, so does the overall rate of crime. Is it possible that indulging in your favorite flavor of ice cream could send you on a crime spree? Or, after committing crime do you think you might decide to treat yourself to a cone?
10.8K
01:22Language Development
292
Children master language quickly and with relative ease, supported by both biological predisposition and reinforcement. B. F. Skinner (1957) proposed that language is learned through reinforcement, while Noam Chomsky (1965) argued that language acquisition mechanisms are biologically determined.
The critical period for language acquisition suggests that the ability to acquire language is at its peak early in life. As people age, this proficiency decreases. Language development begins very...
The critical period for language acquisition suggests that the ability to acquire language is at its peak early in life. As people age, this proficiency decreases. Language development begins very...
292