Questions and negation Flashcards
Yes/no questions
I-to-C movement (aka subject-auxiliary inversion (SAI)): auxiliary verb (or inserted do) moves from I (inflection) to C (complementizer):
Wh-questions
- I-to-C movement
- Wh-movement: wh-word moves from its base position to specifier of CP (SpecCP):
Stage 1 (telegraphic stage) of questions acquisition
Children have appropriate question intonation (kids know it is a question) but no auxiliary verbs:
Nothing in I : so no I to C movement
(1) Yes/no questions:
e.g. I ride train?
(2) Wh-questions:
e.g. Where kitty?
Is there I-to-C movement at the telegraphic stage ?
No: There is no auxiliary verb in I to move.
Is there wh-movement at the telegraphic stage ?
Yes: The wh-word always appears at the beginning of the sentence.
Stage 2 of questions acquisition
- Children begin to produce auxiliary verbs, but rarely apply I-to-C movement:
(3) Yes-no questions:
a. You can’t fix it?
(4) Wh-questions:
a. What Bobby don’t like?
All auxiliary verbs have negation on them
______ modals and auxiliary verbs come in before their affirmative counterparts (can, do):
Negative (esp. can’t, don’t)
Are can’t/don’t at Stage 2 contracted forms of can/do ?
No, can’t/don’t instead seems to be in a single functional projection : Neg
Stage 3 of questions acquisition
Affirmative modals and auxiliary verbs appear.
* I-to-C movement consistently applies in yes/no questions:
a. Does the kitty stand up?
But there is still no I-to-C movement in wh-questions:
a. What I did yesterday?
Stage 4 of questions acquisition
I-to-C movement consistently applies in both types of questions:
(7) a. Where’s his other eye?
What stages of questions acquisition are sometimes collapsed ?
Stages 3 and 4 : for some children, I-to-C movement consistently applies in both types of questions at the same point in development.
Negation in adult English
Not/n’t follows the first auxiliary verb :
E.g. I am not eating.
If there is no auxiliary verb, do is inserted :
E.g. I do not like this.
Adult-like use of negation requires ___
IP
Auxiliary verb and negation (not/n’t) originate in _______ functional projections
Separate (IP and NegP)
Stage 1in negation acquisition
External negation:
* no or not appears at beginning of sentence:
(3) a. No…wipe finger.
* no/not is under Neg;
* Auxiliaries (can’t, don’t) very rare (i.e., children have NegP before they have IP);
* Subject, if present, is below negation;
* Tree is truncated at NegP : external negation
Stage 2 in negation acquisition
- no, not, can’t, don’t appear sentence-internally (below the subject);
- Affirmative counterparts of can’t and don’t do not appear yet.
(4) a. Dog no bite you.
c. You can’t catch her. - can’t/don’t are in a single functional projection : Neg (not I)
- Tree truncated to IP, but no I
Stage 3 of negation acquisition
More extensive range of contracted auxiliaries (e.g., isn’t, didn’t, won’t);
* Non-contracted negative appears;
* Affirmative auxiliaries and modals occur alongside their negative counterparts
(5) a. He won’t talk.
c. I am not a doctor.
* Auxiliaries/modals/do are in I, while not/n’t are now in Neg
