1 The acquisition of reference in two-year-olds a cross-linguistic perspective Margot Rozendaal - University of Amsterdam ELA, 9 December 2005, Lyon

2 Background Reference involves knowledge of morpho-syntax and pragmatics Examples: 1) I saw a woman this morning. She had green hair. 2) - What’s that? - Don’t you know? It’s a beamer.

3 The importance of reference

4 Background (cont’d) Earlier research: either morpho-syntax or pragmatics This research combines insights from the acquisition of both morpho-syntax and pragmatics Literature Forms: e.g. Chiat 1986, Pine and Lieven 1997 Function: e.g. Hickmann 2003

5 Questions and Assumptions 1.Combination of forms and functions? Full or partial Theory of Mind 2.Universal and language-specific influences on the acquisition of form- function combinations? Role of structure of language being acquired Literature e.g. Brown 1973, Hickmann 1983, Schaeffer et.al. 2005

6 Method Languages: Dutch (n=3), English (n=3), French (n=4). Age of children: 2;0 - 3;3, every three months. Reference to persons and objects (NP’s) –Morpho-syntactic form –Pragmatic function –Combination of form and function –Optimal / non-optimal reference (= errors) CHILDES: MacWhinney 2005

7 Indefinite determiner Adult usage: introduction, labeling, non-specific reference, *maintenance, *shift Child language examples: Intro:CHI:Holding a basket (Nina, E, 2;0) Label: INV: Qu' est ce que c’est ? What is this? CHI: Une grenouille (Anne, F, 2;3) A frog Non-specific:CHI: Nog een koekje (Sarah, D, 2;3) Another cookie Literature, e.g. Gundel 1996 Ariel 1996 Hickmann 2003

Definite determiner Adult usage: introduction (mutual knowledge), shift, maintenance, labeling, non-specific reference. Child language examples: Maint: INV: Did Jennifer go on the fire engine? CHI: No can’t goes on the fire engine (Peter, E, 2;6) Shift:MOT: Wat doe je met je handen tegen je oren? What are you doing with your hands against your ears? CHI:Doe op, de hand (Abel, D, 2;3) Put on, the hand Label:CHI: C’est la piscine! (Anne, F, 3;0) That is the swimming pool! Literature Gundel 1996 Ariel 1996 Hickmann 2003

Determiner development Literature Kupisch 2004 Avrutin et al 2004 Lléo et.al 1999

10 Indefinite / Definite Dutch

11 Indefinite / Definite English

12 Indefinite / Definite French

13 Results Determiners Indefinites: labeling and non-specific reference Definites/demonstratives: introduction, maintenance and shift French: definite/demonstrative det. for labeling and non-specific reference English: indefinites used for maintenance and shift Dutch: later acquisition of determiner

14 Personal / Demonstrative Pronouns Adult usage: maintenance, shift, (some) introduction Child language examples: Intro:CHI: mummy, put that back up there (Adam, E, 3;0) Maint:FAT: waar is de piano? where is the piano? CHI: das ə boven (Matthijs, D, 2;6) That one ə (is) upstairs Shift:FAT:Tu la mettes dans la cuiller ? You put it (a bubble) on the spoon? CHI:elle veut pas (Philippe, F, 2;6) she does not want

15 Personal / Demonstrative Dutch

16 Personal / Demonstrative French

17 Personal / Demonstrative English

18 Results Pronouns Personal pronoun: maintenance and shift Demonstrative pronoun: introduction Dutch: demonstrative pronoun also for maintenance and shift unlike English and French

19 Conclusions Universal patterns –Form-function combinations in the direction of adult-like pattern already at 2;0 –Therefore cannot be the case that a full ToM is required Language specific patterns –Structure of language being acquired leads to differences in acquisition of form-function combinations

20 Next steps (Rozendaal, in prep.) Grammatical match versus age match –(Earlier) acquisition of form triggers (earlier) use for function? Use of nouns versus pronouns versus proper names for pragmatic functions Situation types (no mutual / mutual knowledge, physically present) Non-optimal reference (= errors) Analysis of input language

The acquisition of reference in two-year-olds Contact:

22 Literature Ariel, M. (1996). Referring Expressions and the +/- Coreference Distinction. Reference and Referent Accessibility. T. Fretheim, Gundel, J.K. Amsterdam, John Benjamins: Avrutin, S., de Lange, J. (2004). Children don't read newspapers and yet.... A cross-linguistic comparison of child utterances and newspaper headlines. Paper presented at 2nd Lisbon Meeting on Language Acquisition, Lisbon. Brown, R. (1973). A First Language: The early stages. Cambrige, MA, Harvard University Press. Chiat, S. (1986). Personal pronouns. Language Acquisition. P. Fletcher, Garman, M. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press: Gundel, J. K. (1996). Relevance theory meets the givenness hierarchy. Reference and Referent Accessibility. T. Fretheim, Gundel, J.K. Amsterdam, John Benjamins: Hickmann, M. (2003). Children's Discourse; Person, Space and Time across Languages. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Kupisch, T. (2004). On the relation between input frequency and acquisition patterns from a cross-linguistic perspective. Proceedings of GALA. I. J. v. K. S. Baauw, LOT Occasional Series 3.

23 Literature (cont’d) Lléo, C. (2001). The interface of phonology and syntax: The emergence of the article in the early acquisition of Spanish and German. Approaches to Bootstrapping: Phonological, Lexical, Syntactic and Neurophysiological Aspects of Early Language Acquisition. J. Weissenborn, Höhle, B. Amsterdam/Philsdelphia, John Benjamins. MacWhinney, B. (2000). The CHILDES Project: Tools for Analyzing Talk. Hillsdale, N.J.,Lawrence Erlbaum. Pine, J. M. and E. V. M. Lieven (1997). "Slot and Frame Patterns and the Development of the Determiner Category." Applied Psycholinguistics 18(2): Rozendaal (in prep). The acquisition of the morpho-syntax and pragmatics of reference: A cross-linguistic perspective, PhD-thesis, University of Amsterdam Schaeffer, J. and L. Matthewson (2005). "Grammar and Pragmatics in the Acquisition of Article Systems." Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 23(1):