Exam 2 Flashcards
Major Sentences
Formed according to rules: generative (rule based)
Sentences that can be broken down into a specific pattern of elements (i.e. clauses and phrases)
Minor Sentences
Irregularly formed sentences, learned by rote.
Fall into certain common functional categories, i.e.:
*Vocatives ("hey look it")
*Responses ("yes," "no," "thank you")
*Interjections
*Exclamations
*Greeting other social formulas
*Sayings, proverbs, etc.Simple Sentence
One clause
Multiple (Complex) Sentence
More than one clause
Clause + linking word + clause
Compound Sentence
A type of multiple/complex sentence
The clauses are linked by coordination (and, or, but).
Each clause could stand on its own (as an independent or main clause)
Complex sentence
Clauses are linked by subordination (because, when, although). One clause (the subordinate clause) is subordinated to the other (the main clause)
Clause
A sequence of elements each expression a particular kind of meaning. There are 5 types of clause elements:
Subject, Verb, Object, Complement, Adverbial
A clause element may be a single word or several words
Subject (S)
The subject usually identifies the theme, agent, or topic of the clause.
It usually appears before the verb in statements and after the verb in questions.
It determines the verbs number and tense.
Verb (V)
The verb expresses a wide range of meanings such as actions, sensations, or states of being.
It is the most obligatory of all the clause elements (cannot be omitted in a clause)
Object (O)
Objects identify who or what has been directly affected by the action of the verb. There are 2 types of objects: Direct Object (DO): typically refers to some person or thing directly affected by the action expressed by the verb. Indirect Object (IO): typically refers to an animate being that is the recipient of the action. In these cases, a direct object is usually present in the clause as well. (The IO precedes the DO in these constructions)
Complement (C)
Complements give further information about another clause element
There are 2 types of complements:
Subject complement: usually follows the subject and verb. The verb must be copular.
Object complement: usually follows a direct object and its meaning relates to that element
Sentence
It is constructed according to a system of rules, known by all that adult mother-tongue speakers of the language (grammatical).
It is a construction which can be used on its own, without people feeling that it is incomplete.
It is the largest construction to which the rules of grammar apply.
There are major (regular) sentences and minor (irregular) sentences.
There are different types of sentences: Statements (declaratives), Questions, Commands, Exclamatives, Echoes
Statements
A statement (declarative) is a sentence whose purpose is primarily to convey information.
Two criteria apply:
The clause contains a subject
The subject precedes the verb
Questions
Questions are sentences which seek information.
There are 3 main types (depending on the kind of reply they expect/how they are constructed):
*Yes/No questions
*Wh-questions
*Alternative questions
Questions may also be declarative in structure but become a question due to tone of voice.
Yes-No Questions
Allow an affirmative or negative reply (yes or no).
The subject follows a verb (auxiliary)
WH-Questions
Allow a reply from a wide range of possibilities.
They begin with a question word, such as what, why, where, or how.
They are open ended.
Alternative Questions
Require a reply which relates to the options given in the sentence.
They always contain the connecting word “or”
(will you travel by train or boat?)
Tag Questions
The interrogative structure is left to the end of the sentence.
(She’s no in, is she?)
Exclamatives
Sentences whose main role is to express the extent to which speakers are impressed or aroused by something.
They often take the form of a single word or short phrase - a minor sentence (gosh!) But exclamations can also have major sentence structure.
Their first element begins with “what” or “how” and is followed by a subject and verb (in that order)
(What a lovely day it is!)
Echo
Echo utterance structure reflects that of the preceding sentence, which it repeats in whole or in part. All types of sentences can be echoed. Echoes are used only in dialogue, and their function is to confirm, question, or clarify what the previous speaker has just said.
Intransitive Verb
A verb that does not require another element. It can be used without an object.
Transitive Verb
A verb that requires a direct object. (It requires another element in order for the clause to make sense)
(ex: That farmer’s enjoying….needs an O)
Ditransitive Verb
A verb that requires a direct object and an indirect object or adverbial (put, give)
Adverbial (A)
Adverbials perform several roles in sentence construction. Some add information about an event, some link clauses together, and some add a comment about what is being expressed.
Consists of: noun/noun phrase, adverb/adverb phrase, prepositional phrase, or subordinate clause.
Can be more than one Adverbial in a clause.
Can vary its position within a clause.
Expresses information about: time (when?), location (where?), manner (how?), cause (why?)
Vocative
Refers to a person or persons to whom a sentence is addressed.
Vocatives have two main functions:
They may be used as a call, to gain someone’s attention
(Mike, telephone for you.)
They can be used to address someone, expressing a particular social relationship or personal attitude
(We mustn’t be late, dearest.)
Vocatives are optional elements - they can be added or removed from a sentence without affecting the rest of the construction.
Head Word
Can be used to describe the main verb of a verb phrase, or the main noun of a noun phrase.
Head Noun: Noun, Pronoun (replaces the entire NP), some adjectives (preceded by a determiner)
Lexical (Main) Verb (V)
Verbs with a clearly stateable meaning. These act as main verbs.
(run, jump, look, go, want, think, find…)
Modal Auxiliary Verb (m-aux)
Verbs which express a range of judgments about the likelihood of events. These function only as auxiliary verbs.
These are functor words - don’t have as full of meanings as lexical verbs (contextually derived)
Central modals: will, would, shall, should, may, might, can, could, must
Modal idioms: had better, would rather, gotta, etc.
Marginal modals: dare, need, ought to, used to
Semi-auxilliaries: be about to, be going to, be supposed to
Primary Auxiliary Verb (p-aux)
Primary verbs can function either as main verbs or as auxiliary verbs. There are 3: be, have, do
(ex: They are going, She has seen it, Do they go?)
Regular Past Participle
(-ed)
Regular Present Progressive Participle
(-ing)
Regular Third-Person
(-s) 3s
Auxiliary Verb
Helping verbs assist the main verb in a clause to express several basic grammatical contrasts, such as in person, number, and tense
They may be contracted (-n’t)
Copular Verb
When a form of be is the main verb, it is functioning as a copula
Root (Base) Form
A form with no endings, as listed in a dictionary. (Sometimes called the “infinitive” or “uninflected” form)
Catenative
Chaining verbs (appear to, come to, fail to, get to, happen to, etc)
Negative
“Not” can appear in its full or contracted (-n’t) form.
Its location in the VP depends on the main verb and which auxiliaries are present.
*follows the copula
*precedes other main verbs
*when there is more than one auxiliary verb, it follows the first auxiliary in the sequence
Noun Phrase
The noun phrase is the main construction which can appear as the subject, object, or complement, of a clause. It consists essentially of a noun or noun-like word which acts as the centre, or head, of the phrase.
Determiner
Appears before the noun. This constituent decides what kind of noun is in the phrase - such as definite, indefinite, proper or common. Words such as a, all, and many are determiners.
Predeterminer
Words which can be used before the central determiners in the noun phrase. These can be grouped into a very few types, nearly all of which express notions of quantity.
A small set of words that express quantity more precisely and precede determiners.
*all, both, half
*multipliers: double, three times, etc
*fractions: a quarter, one-third, etc
*such, what (used in exclamations)
Postdeterminers
Words in the noun phrase which follow central determiners, but precede adjectives. There are four main types:
- cardinal numbers: one, two, three…
- Ordinals: first, second, last, next…
- Quantifiers (general non-specific qualities): much, many, (a) few, (a) little, several…
- a set of informal quantifiers consisting of a noun plus ‘of’: lot of, number of, bags of…
Premodifiers
Any words appearing between the post determiner and the head of the noun phrase are said to pre modify the noun. Premodifiers mainly consist of adjectives, but two other categories also commonly occur.
Adjectives: in base, comparative, or superlative form (big, bigger, biggest)
Participles: between determiner and noun = adjectival). Present, past
Nouns: compound nouns (country road vs railroad)
Bound Morpheme
Can only appear only together with other morphemes to form a lexeme (word)
Almost exclusively prefixes and suffixes
Noun: plural, possessive (genitive)
Verb: -ing (present participle), -ed (simple past), -en (past participle), 3s (third person singular present tense)
Adverb: -ly
Adjective: -er, -est
Contractions: n’t (negative), ‘cop (contracted copular), ‘aux (contracted auxiliary)
Free Morpheme
Meaning unit that can occur alone
Morpheme
Smallest unit of meaning: indivisible (dog) without violating the meaning or producing meaningless units (do, g). There are two types of morphemes, free and bound.
MLU
Mean Length Utterance: Average number of morphemes per utterance
Preposition
A preposition expresses a relationship of meaning between two parts of a sentence, most often showing how the two parts are related in space or time.
Complex preposition
Contain more than one word: ahead of, apart from, as far as, by means of, in accordance with, on behalf of…
Compound Nouns
Combine two or more words into a single unit. They usually form the plural by adding s to the last element, as in babysitters or gin-and-tonics. In a few cases, it is the first element which takes the ending: this happens especially when a particle is included, as in passers-by and men-of-war. And sometimes there is a choice
Singular Noun
one
Plural Noun
More than one
Personal Pronoun
Personal Pronouns are the main means of identifying speakers, addressees, and others. They refer to the people involved in the act of communication
First person - includes the speaker(s) or writer(s) of the message: I, me, my, mine, myself, we, us, our(s), ourselves
Second person - includes the addressee(s), but excludes the speaker(s) or writer(s): you, your(s), yourself, yourselves
Third Person - refers to ‘third parties’ excluding the speaker(s), writer(s), or addressee(s): he, him, his, one…
Reflexive Pronouns
Always ending in -self or -selves, reflect the meaning of a noun or pronoun elsewhere in the clause: myself, yourself, etc.
Possessive Pronouns
Express ownership and appear in two forms. My, your, his, etc. are used as determiners in the noun phrase
Coordination
Can occur at either phrase or clause level
Coordinated nouns: Mary and I, peanut butter and jelly
Coordinated clauses: Gina is pretty and Rosalie is pretty, too
Common coordinators: and, but, so, or
Subordination Conjunction
Subordination conjunctions
One word: that, because, if, where, when etc
More than one word: as soon as, so that
Subordination Clause
Subordination clause can replace a clause element, postmodify an NP, complement a preposition or adjective, serve as comment on the main clause, express a comparison, report someone else’s speech
Existential Sentences
Sentences that express the general existence of some state of affairs. (There as in “there are”)
Dummy/Empty Form
Child producing speech (not meaningful) that adds phonological structures but adds no meaning. It provides the child with practice adding syllables without having to do work of deciding which word goes first
ex: /wide/ kitty
Apparent Regression
Apparent Regression occurs in inflected forms. (accurate, inaccurate, accurate) First the child uses the correct tense without any awareness of it, then figures out how to apply the past tense rule to all vocal (over regularization), then the child makes the correction once he knows the irregular past tense (using the blocking rule)
Blocking Rule
A child has a list of irregular words in his head and use that to figure out the ending instead of adding an overgeneralized ending.
Suffix
A bound morpheme/word ending
Prefix
A bound morpheme at the beginning of the word
Count Noun
Refer to individual, countable entities, such as books, eggs, and horses
Noncount (mass) Nouns
Refer to an undifferentiated mass or notion, such as butter, music, sand, advice.
Segmentation
Creating a word when a phoneme or syllable is deleted and breaking a word into its parts. Children had difficulties with segmentation and tend to make errors.
Obligatory Contexts
If we fail to use the inflection and it is considered wrong due to the other words in the sentence.
Action (MLU)
In order to be considered fully productive, a child would need to be able to produce a number of different words that fit into the Action slot.
(ex: play, hit, run, see…)
Agent (MLU)
In order to be considered fully productive, a child would need to be able to produce a number of different words that fit into the Agent slot. (Someone who performs an action)
(ex: mommy, daddy, baby, doggy…)
Most early subjects are animate, suggesting that the category is semantically defined
Acting Out Experiment
An experiment that looks at how children apply comprehension of word order. Can the child follow instructions (identify the action and the object for the action to be performed upon)
There are two competing forces of children’s comprehension: Knowledge of the world (accumulation of experiences) vs. Knowledge of syntax (word order)
In Acting out, there is a mismatch of syntax/knowledge, “throw doggy,” the children show better comprehension if the stimulus is consisted with their knowledge of the world.
Adjectival
Part of a Noun phrase. Consistts of postdeterminers (cardinals, ordinals, quantifiers) and premodifiers (adjectives, participles, nouns)
Adjectival slot can expand - in theory you can have an infinite number of adjectives.
Adjective
Part of a Noun Phrase. Can exist in base, comparative, or superlative form (big, bigger, biggest).
Words which express some feature or quality of a noun or pronoun.
Attributive Adjectives
Adjectives that precede the head noun in a Noun Phrase
ex: the stupid class, my only regret
Predicate Adjectives
Occur in Adjective Phrase (usually functioning as complement elements) and can be modified by other words (intensifiers)
(ex: He’s really stupid, I’m very sad)
Adverb
Adverbs have 2 main functions:
They can be an adverbial clause element, performing different kinds of role within the clause (modify the verb)
They can premodify a word or phrase, most often an adjective or another adverb
They may also give information about time and place
Animate
Most of children’s early agents/subjects are animate. Having some sort of living quality to them (people. animals, toys). The more clearly animate something is, the more likely the child will put it first in word order.
Article
a, the (Determiner)
Attribute (MLU)
A describing word (yummy, big, sticky, etc)
Auxiliary Inversion/Reversal
Question formation: invert the subject and first auxiliary
Clausal coordination
Both clauses may stand independently from one another. One clause is not controlling the other.
(ex: He’s my friend and I like him)
Cleft Sentence
A way of altering the normal emphasis in a simple sentence is to split the sentence into two clauses, giving each its own verb. The first clause consists of the pronoun ‘it’ (with no meaning) and a form of the verb ‘be’. The second clause begins with a pronoun such as ‘that’ or ‘who’.
(ex: It was John who kicked the ball into the goal)
Close ended question
Yes/No questions
Common Noun
(As opposed to proper nouns) Most do not stand alone (book, egg), most allow plurals (books, eggs), usually used with determiners (a book, the music, some bread). Common nouns can be divided into two types (Count Nouns, Noncount Nouns)
Conjunction
A coordinating conjunction is a linking word (and, or, but). There are also a few pairs of conjunctions (correlatives such as: both…and, (n)either…(n)or)
Contractible Auxiliary
The contracted form of not (n’t) can be attached to almost all auxiliaries (sometimes causing a change in their form) which is not possible with main verbs. (haven’t, isn’t, don’t, can’t, won’t, shouldn’t, wouldn’t, couldn’t). Grammatical morphemes that are based on the sentence structure.
Contractible Copula
The contracted form n’t may be used with copular (linking) verbs which are forms of ‘be’ (isn’t, wasn’t, etc). Grammatical morphemes that are based on the sentence structure.
Contraction
A shortened version of the written and spoken forms of a word, syllable, or word group, created by omission of internal letters.
Coordinator
A linking word that signals coordination (and, or, but.
Dative
Used to indicate the noun to which something is given, as in “George gave Jamie a drink”. (indirect object/recipient?)
Demonstrative
This, that, these, those (express a contrast between ‘near’ and ‘distant’)
Dependent Clause
That clause that that has been made to rely grammatically upon another in a multiple clause/subordination sentence. (Similar to subordinate, embedded clauses)
Determiner
Words that precede a noun to convey a range of meanings that are more definite and specific than others (a, the, some, those). These words determine the number and definiteness of the noun phrase
Directive
Sentences which instruct someone to do something. Commands are one use of directive sentences. Commanding, inviting, warning, pleading, advising, requesting, expressing good wishes). The verb is in the basic form, with no endings, and there is usually no subject element present (imperative structure) ‘Be quiet!’ ‘Let me see!’ ‘No not answer!’
Embedded
A clause that is been made to grammatically rely upon another (similar to subordinate or dependent clauses)
Greeting
A minor (such as ‘hi’ or ‘bye’)
Imperative
The structure of directive sentences. The verb is in its basic form, with no endings, and there is usually no subject element present.
Inanimate
Not living. Children are less likely to talk about inanimate objects. Inanimate nouns pattern only with ‘it’ and ‘which’
Independent clause
A clause that can, in principle, stand as a sentence on it’s own
Indirect Speech
Indirect speech gives the words as subsequently reported by someone. It usually takes the form of a subordinate clause introduced by ‘that’.
(ex: ‘Michael said that he was not interested’)
Interjections
Emotional noises that are used as minors in a sentence. (Hey, eh?, tut-tut, ugh, ow, shhh)
Irregular Past
An verb that changed form in past tense (does not follow -ed rule) such as ran, swam, fell, etc.
“let” command
Let’s eat! ‘Let’s’ is treated as a single morpheme. It is addressed to a group. A plural command. For children to use “let” commands they have to be developed enough to understand making a command to the group (tends to come later)
Mis-segmentation
“for Richard Stands” When a child doesn’t know the words he fills in words he does know in the place of words. Child thinks “it’s going” thinks “it’s” is the subject and “going” is the verb.
Over-segmentation
“Ben’s hiccup up” or “here’s another bru” as the incorrect plural of bruise.
Undersegmentation
“Carry you!”
“Look how she standups”
“Say so!” that means you’re mad!”
Past Participle
- ed participle. A form made by adding -ed to the base (often with a spelling change). It has 3 uses:
- To help express a past aspect (He’s kicked the ball)
- To help express the passive voice (You’ll be kicked on the shin)
- To begin a clause (Kicked and bruised, he hobbled off the field)
Phrase
The word phrase normally refers to a group of words which work together as a clause element. (A single noun can also be a phrase by itself)
Postmodification
All words appearing after the head noun within the noun phrase. There are 3 main kinds of postmodification:
- They may be prepositional phrases
- They may be nonfinite clauses
- They might be finite clauses
Pronoun
Words which stand for a noun, a whole noun phrase, or several noun phrases, or which refer directly to some aspect of the situation.
Proper noun
Names of specific people, places, times, occasions, events, publications, etc. Proper nouns can stand alone, do not usually allow a plural, and are not usually used with determiners
Quantifier
A type of determiner, such as all, some, many, few, a lot, and no, (but not numerals or ordinals) that indicates quantity.
Subordination
In subordination, the units that are joined together do not have the same grammatical status, as they do in the case of coordination. One noun phrase can be made subordinate to another by using it as a postmodifier. Subordination is usually signaled by a linking word.
Superlative Adjective
Adjectives with -est/most (the superlative form)
Comparative Adjective
Adjective construction with -er/more is the comparative form.
Telegraphic Speech
Lacking functor words (have to know contextual situation). “Me eat cookie” or “mommy sock”
Uncontractible auxiliary
Grammatical morphemes (n’t + aux) that are not obligated based on the sentence structure.
Uncontractible copula
Grammatical morphemes (n’t + cop) that are not obligated based on the sentence structure.
Experiments with AV matching do show knowledge of word order
When do children comprehend English word order to a level where they can use it to distinguish among very similar statements or commands. Ex: ‘the dog bites the man’ vs ‘the man bites the dog.’ When children are asked to act out these differing sentences using puppets, their tendency is to perform the more commonplace action regardless of what sentence is said to them. In contrast, when they just hear the sentences and are asked to match it to a picture, they perform more accurately. This shows that children appear to comprehend differently depending on the action we ask them to perform.
‘do’ command
a command introduced by an auxiliary form of do (‘do that,’ ‘don’t go in there!’
acting out experiment
an experiment designed to test children’s comprehension of two-relation utterances (e.g. Action-Object) by having them perform an action with toys. In the experiment, the children are asked to perform both likely (kiss baby) and unlikely (throw doggy) in order to determine whether they are comprehending utterances on the basis of word order or situational knowledge.
alternative question
a question that specifies within it the possible alternative answers (‘is it old or new?’ ‘are you happy or sad?’)
animate
Living
Children usually associate the semantic category of Agent with animate entities
Apparent Regression
Instances in language development when a child appears to be regressing in his mastery of certain language forms. The regression is apparent (not real) and is due to the reorganization of linguistic systems.
Attributive adjective
part of the noun phrase headed by the noun they modify. Happy is the attributive adjective in ‘happy people’
The usage contrasts with predicate adjectives which function as complements (‘the people are happy”
Auxiliary Inversion/reversal
In questions, the movement of the auxiliary verb in a verb phrase so that it precedes the subject (‘are you going to the shore?’)
Blocking Rule
In language acquisition, a child learning to block the application of a grammatical rule in certain instances because the appropriate form is irregular; for example, to form the simple past tense form of run, a child must block ‘runner’ and retrieve the irregular form ‘ran’
Catenative VP
English language verbs which can be followed directly by another verb in either the ‘to’ infinitive or present participle forms. “He deserves to win the cup”
Have the ability to form verb chains
Clausal coordination vs Phrasal coordination
Coordination is the use of a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, so) to link either phrases or clauses.
An example of clausal coordination would be “that’s my dad and that’s my mom.”
An example of phrasal coordination would be “let’s eat some apples and raisins”
Comparative clause
A subordinate clause introduced by a comparative adjective or a comparative phrase such as “as…as”. They commonly omit the main verb because the same verb is contained in the main clause.
“I went as fast as I could (run)”, “he eats faster than I can (eat)”
complex preposition
a group of words that act as a single prepositional unit
“in spite of,” “with respect to,” “except for,” “next to”
count noun
A common noun that can be modified by a numeral and occur in both singular and plural forms, as well as co-occurring with quantificational determiners like every, each, several, etc
Cumulative complexity
A theory by Roger Brown in which cumulative semantic features of a morphological structure are analyzed. The plural indicates the feature of number. The third person regular consists of number and earliness. The uncontractible progressive auxiliary consists of temporal duration, number, and earliness. So going by the cumulative semantic features, the plural should be acquired before the third person regular, which should be acquired before the uncontractible progressive auxiliary.
The more aspects of the word there are to focus on, the later that form will develop in child vocabulary
do-support/insertion
In forming interrogative sentences, English puts the form of do in front of the subject if there is no other auxiliary in the sentence. (Did you sleep well?)
In forming negative sentences, English attaches the negator ‘not’ to the auxiliary ‘do’ if there is no other auxiliary (She doesn’t want to come). Do insertion also occurs in declarative sentences to mark special emphasis (They really did turn up in the end), and in cases of subject-auxiliary inversion when there is no other auxiliary (Not a single note did they miss)
Echo
A special sentence type where the speaker simply repeats all or most of what someone else has said but changes the intonation in order to communicate meaning (A: ‘I broke up with Laura’ B: ‘You broke up with Laura?’)
Emphatic subject
the inclusion of a subject in a command for purposes of emphasis
YOU mind your manners!
JOHN close the door!
Errors in segmentation difficulties
Segmentation difficulties are when children have trouble identifying morphological boundaries in a stream of speech. For example, they may hear what is a plural word but think it is a singular form (they fail to detect the plural suffix).
Or they hear a singular form that they think it is a plural form (Rose - /roz/ could be interpreted as the plural of a noun ro)
Sometimes groups of morphemes are simply mis/identified/interpreted. This happens when the child perceived ‘and the holy ghost’ as ‘in the hole you go’
existence vs. nonexistence
these are semantic themes/notions/relations present in the single-word speech and then the early combinatorial speech of children.
Existence = that
Nonexistence = no, allgone
formula(ic)
formed according to a formula; language forms learned by rote that lack productivity
giant word (unanalyzed whole, formula)
a word combination that a child has learned by rote and that lacks productivity
invariable plural
a noun that is always expressed in the plural (scissors, pants)
irregular third person
a third person singular present tense form that is not formed throughout the addition of /s/ or /z/ to the base of the form of the verb (ex: does rather than dos)
limited scope formula
a partially productive formula for combining words; one term in the semantic or syntactic rule is invariant (ex: “mommy” + Action rather than Agent + Action) seen in early combinatorial speech
linear semantic rule
a rule or recipe that children follow in forming early word combinations
locative
pertaining to locate: as a semantic relation, locative describes word forms that specify where an object is located (here, there, table, floor)
mastery
command of linguistic form; the ability to produce it consistently and correctly
noncount (mass) noun
a common noun that presents entities as an unbounded mass. You must specify a unit of measurement in order to specify a numerical amount of the object. Ex: sand, water
obligatory context
when a morpheme is required to make an equivalent grammatical sentence in adult speech, whether for linguistic or contextual reasons. “man run” might be an obligatory context for the article ‘a’, the auxiliary ‘be’ and the progressive -ing
overregularized
a language learning process in which the regular ways of modifying or connecting words are mistakenly applied to words that require irregular modifications or connections.
Runned, Seened, etc
phonetic substance
the segmental (consonants and vowels) material of a morpheme, free or bound. The more phonetic substance, the more salient, and thus the more likely a child will produce it in speech Thus uncontracted forms (is not) are produced before contracted forms (isn't)
predicate
a predicate is one of the two pain parts of a sentient (the other being the subject which the predicate modifies).
“John is yellow” - John is the subject, yellow is the predicate
presyntactic device
devices that provide an opportunity for the child to learn complex intonational patterns without the load of coding any meaning relation between words spoken (form without content)
prosodic coordination
a linking of two grammatical units using intonation only rather than a linking word such as a conjunction (you sit here, you sit there - with no use of but, and, so, etc, to link to two clauses)
prosody (suprasegmentals)
the rhythm, stress, and intonation of connected speech (as opposed to smaller elements like syllables or words). Prosody may reflect various features of the speaker or utterance; emotional state of the speaker; whether an utterance is a statement, a question, or a command; whether the speaker is being ironic or sarcastic; emphasis, contrast; focus; or other elements of language that may not be encoded by grammar or choice of vocabulary
Q-word
an interrogative word is a function word used for the item interrupted in an information statement. Also called wh-words. They are used in questions where they must appear in utterance-initial position
recurrence
a semantic theme/notion/relation commonly encoded in children’s single word utterances. It is used to indicate or request repetition of an action. Most commonly children say: again, another, more
rejection
a semantic theme/notion/relation commonly encoded in children’s single word utterances. It is used to reject the overtures or requests of someone else. Most commonly children say: no
relative clause
Same as a postmodifying clause. It is a subordinate clause that further describes something or someone mentioned in the main clause.
“The man who was here yesterday is my uncle”
(Who was here yesterday) - describes the man
“I want the car that has power disk brakes”
(has power disk brakes) - describes the car
salience
the relative perceptual prominence of a linguistic or non-linguistic stimulus; certain perceptual features are more likely to draw a child’s attention, which in turn increases the likelihood of him learning language forms associated with those features; used to explain child’s likely acquisition of certain words and grammatical forms
social formula
a type of minor form, typically learned by rote, and customarily used in social situations
(how are you, pleased to meet you, not at all)
