EXAM 2: Syntactic Development

Question 1

Syntax

Answer 1

Word order and sentence structure

Question 2

Structural Ambiguity

Answer 2

When a sentence has the same word order, but 2 different meanings
Contrast to lexical ambiguity
Examples:
I saw someone with a telescope
The girl drew a bunny with a blue crayon

(usually split between instrumental and adjectival)

Question 3

Subject Auxiliary Verb Inversion

Answer 3

Putting the auxiliary verb in the main clause at the front of the sentence creates a Y/N question

I.e. The guy is chasing the dog
Is the guy chasing the dog?

Question 4

WH Questions (Informational Question)

Answer 4

Still inverting subject and auxiliary verb, but using Wh-interrogative words

I.e.
The chef burned the pizza.
What did the chef burn?

i.e.
Sue said mary kissed pat.
Who did sue say kissed pat?

Whatever is left out (circle) is the answer; keep the same word order

Question 5

Trace Constraint

Answer 5

When a trace of the word is left behind in question making. When the trace is in between a sentence, it does not work.

i.e.
Sue said that mary kissed pat.
Who did sue say that kissed pat?

The trace of “mary” is remaining if you keep word order

Question 6

Wanna contraction

Answer 6

I want you to meet the president

The you in between makes it so a combination is not possible with want and to

Question 7

Simple sentences

Answer 7

1 verb, 1 subject
3 types:
Declarative
Interrogative
Imperative

Question 8

Complex sentences

Answer 8

Made up of main clause and subordinate sentence (2 verbs)

4 types:
Nominal (complement)
Coordinate
Adjunct (Adverbial)
Relative (Adjectival)

Question 9

Nominal/Complement clause

Answer 9

Replaces the subject or the object of a sentence

i.e.
I heard John wrote a book
What John wrote was very inspiring.

TIP: If it can be replaced with “it”, then it is a nominal clause (also chunk)

Question 10

Adverbial/Adjunct clause

Answer 10

Describes a verb, a clause that acts like an adverb
If, conditional, tells you time/place

i.e.
I will only go if you buy me stuff
If an SLP ordered a car, she got a rebate

TIP: Chunk, but also take away the clause and figure out what needs more information

Question 11

Relative/adjectival clause

Answer 11

Describes a noun; clause that acts like an adjective
Can either be subject or object

i.e.
The cat that was yellow chased the dog.
The cat chased the dog that was yellow

TIP: Chunk, or erase it and see what needs more information

Question 12

Coordinate clause

Answer 12

two subjects and two verbs connected with but, and and or
2 main clauses, usually independent

i.e.
John wrote a book and Sarah sang a song

Question 13

Order of complex sentence acquisition

Answer 13

1st: Nominal/ Complement (object complement)

2nd: Coordinate clause

3rd: Adverbial/adjunct clause

4th: Relative/Adjectival clause (obj)0

Nominal is EASIEST
Relative is HARDEST

Question 14

1996 Mandel study

Answer 14

Study:
2 month old English learning infants tracked order of words in a 4 word sequence by using Habituation sucking paradigm (HAS)
Women read utterances but flipped the order of the
2 middle words (both grammatical)

Question:
Could infants differentiate word order?

Results:
YES, infants can as young as 2 months old
Occurred without lexical comprehension, sentences started in fragments could not be differentiated
Proved syntactic development emerges very early

Question 15

Knowledge/competence based theory

Answer 15

AKA linguistic theory
Children simply do not have the knowledge of English in order to speak like adults

Question 16

Performance based theory

Answer 16

Young children are limited in info that can be handled at once, they do know, they just have a limit in processing ability which is why they cannot speak like adults

Question 17

1996 Aubry study

Answer 17

Question:
Is omitting subjects because of limits in English knowledge, or limits in ability to access knowledge?

If competence based:
Children below 3 MLU should omit more than children above 3MLU
DISCONFIRMED

If performance based:
Children below 3 MLU omit more when sentences are longer
CONFIRMED

Subject types also did not predict omission, the sentence length was greatest predictor of omission

Question 18

Subject verb agreement

Answer 18

Must agree in plurality and tense between the verb and the subject

Question 19

Non word repetition task

Answer 19

Access phonological memory
Gives 4 lists of nonsense words, each list differs by syllables
more syllables, more difficult

Question 20

1973 Devilliers

Answer 20

Study:
Kids with 1-1.5 MLU asked to act out the “truck pushes the car” and only got it right 1/3 of the time, less than 50%

Claimed that children with only 1 word stage did not know about syntax (early claim)

Question 21

1991 Golinkoff study

Answer 21

Study:
Preferential looking task on 18 months
Where is cookie monster tickling big bird
Where is big bird tickling cookie monster?
Then looked at two screens with those sentences in drawing

Result:
More looked at matching screen with sentence
Proved that infants at 1 word stage can differentiate syntax

Question 22

Syntactic priming

Answer 22

Tendency to repeat types of sentences they use during language production (seen with passive sentences)

3-4 year olds more likely to be primed if the lexical items were familiar (item-based) priming

Question 23

Huttenlocher (2008)

Answer 23

Study:
45 Eng. 22 month and 42 months old gathered
Simple sentence emerge: 18mo
Complex sentence emerge: 26mo

Question:
Are there individual differences in syntactic development (SES)?

Result:
Simple sentence mastery was similar between SES (Low variability)

Complex sentence differences between SES starting 30 months at earliest stage of production
Higher SES, more complex sentences produced

Question 24

Tokens

Answer 24

Total number of words uttered. Does not measure the type, just the number of words uttered