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Universal grammar and the acquisition of semantic knowledge : = An experimental investigation into the acquisition of quantifier negation interaction in English.

Record Type:	Language materials, manuscript : Monograph/item
Title/Author:	Universal grammar and the acquisition of semantic knowledge :/
Reminder of title:	An experimental investigation into the acquisition of quantifier negation interaction in English.
Author:	Musolino, Julien.
Description:	1 online resource (264 pages)
Notes:	Source: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 60-09, Section: A.
Contained By:	Dissertations Abstracts International60-09A.
Subject:	Developmental psychology. -
Online resource:	click for full text (PQDT)
ISBN:	9780599071582

Universal grammar and the acquisition of semantic knowledge : = An experimental investigation into the acquisition of quantifier negation interaction in English.
Musolino, Julien.

Universal grammar and the acquisition of semantic knowledge :An experimental investigation into the acquisition of quantifier negation interaction in English. - 1 online resource (264 pages)

Source: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 60-09, Section: A.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Maryland, College Park, 1998.

Includes bibliographical references

This dissertation explores the way in which English-speaking children acquire the meaning of sentences containing negation and quantified noun phrases (QNPs). This investigation is based on a series of psycholinguistic experiments designed to assess children's comprehension of sentences like 'Every horse didn't jump over the fence' or 'Cookie Monster didn't eat two slices of pizza', among others. The major finding is that children around the age of 5 do not interpret these sentences the way adult speakers of English do. This result raises the following questions (a) How and why do children's interpretations of sentences containing negation and quantified noun phrases differ from those of adults? (b) How do children manage to converge onto the adult system of interpretation? Regarding the first question, it appears that children's non-adult interpretations are nevertheless systematic, i.e. governed by principle. Specifically, children (unlike adults) are found to map overt syntactic relations between QNPs and negation, and their relative semantic interpretation, isomorphically. This, however, is just a descriptive generalization. The observation of isomorphism is treated as an epiphenomenon, derived from the interplay between a universally encoded dichotomy splitting the class of QNPs and learnability constraints. Regarding the second question, I show that children can move from their system of interpretation to the adult system solely on the basis of positive evidence and thus, that the observed difference does not create a learnability problem. In summary, this dissertation uncovers a new area where the linguistic behavior of children and adults diverge: the comprehension of sentences containing negation and quantified noun phrases. The rest of the dissertation can be regarded as a methodological statement, namely that it is not only desirable but also possible to account for the observed difference between children and adults without invoking any differences between the two groups beyond minimal conceptual necessity. To the extent that this goal is achieved, the present investigation emphasizes the role played by the theory of Universal Grammar and language learnability in helping us understand language development and its biological basis.

Electronic reproduction.
Ann Arbor, Mich. :
ProQuest,
2024

Mode of access: World Wide Web

ISBN: 9780599071582Subjects--Topical Terms:

557458
Developmental psychology.
Subjects--Index Terms:

EnglishIndex Terms--Genre/Form:

554714
Electronic books.

Universal grammar and the acquisition of semantic knowledge : = An experimental investigation into the acquisition of quantifier negation interaction in English.
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520 $a This dissertation explores the way in which English-speaking children acquire the meaning of sentences containing negation and quantified noun phrases (QNPs). This investigation is based on a series of psycholinguistic experiments designed to assess children's comprehension of sentences like 'Every horse didn't jump over the fence' or 'Cookie Monster didn't eat two slices of pizza', among others. The major finding is that children around the age of 5 do not interpret these sentences the way adult speakers of English do. This result raises the following questions (a) How and why do children's interpretations of sentences containing negation and quantified noun phrases differ from those of adults? (b) How do children manage to converge onto the adult system of interpretation? Regarding the first question, it appears that children's non-adult interpretations are nevertheless systematic, i.e. governed by principle. Specifically, children (unlike adults) are found to map overt syntactic relations between QNPs and negation, and their relative semantic interpretation, isomorphically. This, however, is just a descriptive generalization. The observation of isomorphism is treated as an epiphenomenon, derived from the interplay between a universally encoded dichotomy splitting the class of QNPs and learnability constraints. Regarding the second question, I show that children can move from their system of interpretation to the adult system solely on the basis of positive evidence and thus, that the observed difference does not create a learnability problem. In summary, this dissertation uncovers a new area where the linguistic behavior of children and adults diverge: the comprehension of sentences containing negation and quantified noun phrases. The rest of the dissertation can be regarded as a methodological statement, namely that it is not only desirable but also possible to account for the observed difference between children and adults without invoking any differences between the two groups beyond minimal conceptual necessity. To the extent that this goal is achieved, the present investigation emphasizes the role played by the theory of Universal Grammar and language learnability in helping us understand language development and its biological basis.
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