Semantics and Morphology of Early Adjectives in First Language Acquisition

2015-09-18
Semantics and Morphology of Early Adjectives in First Language Acquisition
Author: Sabrina Noccetti
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 495
Release: 2015-09-18
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1443883263
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This book is about how toddlers learn their first adjectives, such as, for example, red, big and tasty. Adjectives denote properties and enter child vocabularies later than words for objects (such as apple and tree) and actions (such as eat and run), probably due to lower frequencies in parental speech and greater conceptual complexity. Adjective acquisition has received relatively little attention in child language research. Furthermore, cross-linguistic studies of adjective learning are virtually non-existent. This book represents the first systematic analysis of how children learning typologically different languages acquire adjective form, function and meaning. The cross-linguistic comparisons undertaken in the book provide valuable insights into universal and language-specific aspects of language acquisition. For each of the languages studied in this volume, the development of adjective semantics is studied in tandem with the development of morphology by testing two hypotheses: (a) the acquisition trajectory in the domain of adjectival morphology is determined by the typological properties of the target language; (b) irrespective of the languages being acquired, adjective learning is facilitated by universal conceptual mechanisms such as comparison and contrast.

Explanations in the Study of Child Language Development

1982-02-18
Explanations in the Study of Child Language Development
Author: Martin Atkinson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 308
Release: 1982-02-18
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9780521243025
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Dr Atkinson's work has grown out of a deep satisfaction with the state of theorising in child language development. Critical analysis of superficially attractive theories showed that they had no real explanatory power. Yet no coherent framework had been proposed for evaluating theorising in this area. A central tenet of this volume is that theories of language development should be relatable to some general view of human development and, on this basis, Dr Atkinson presents a number of conditions that any adequate theory of language development should satisfy. The major theories in most areas of language acquisition, in particular work in semantic, syntactic and functional development, are then systematically examined in the light of these conditions and found wanting. In a final chapter, the author relates his work to recent studies in the formal theory of learnability. This scholarly critique should be read by anyone with a serious interest in the study of child language development and will undoubtedly have a singular impact on the field.

Dimensional Adjectives

1987
Dimensional Adjectives
Author: Manfred Bierwisch
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 544
Release: 1987
Genre: Psychology
ISBN:
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The present volume is the result of a project which concentrated on a selected subset of linguistic knowledge with the aim of giving a systematic account of the various aspects of structure and process in this subset and the interpretation of these. The subset that for a number of reasons appeared appropriate to this undertaking centres around the dimensional adjectives of German. That the en terprise ultimately produced a less integrated and complete result than expected is due to several reasons. Some of these are of an intrinsic nature, ever present, and not particularly surprising. Some, however, are related to the character of the project itself and are worth commenting upon, as they reflect specific expe riences and difficulties which we encountered during several years of working on the project. We started from the assumption that the dimensional adjectives constitute a sufficiently rich, but nevertheless limited domain of grammatical and concep tual structure which is fairly well understood and explored in relevant aspects. Consequently we expected that summarizing, integrating, and extending the nu merous results that were available should quickly lead to a more complete picture of the interaction of the components involved. However, even had the premise of this assumption been correct, the conclusion turned out to be wrong fairly early in the project. On closer inspection, the investigations of the phenomena were much less complete, the facts agreed upon less systematic, and the proposed anal yses far less convincing than supposed initially.

A0 – The Lexical Status of Adjectives

2022-11-15
A0 – The Lexical Status of Adjectives
Author: Moreno Mitrović
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Total Pages: 303
Release: 2022-11-15
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 902725754X
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This volume brings together seven eminently original attempts to answer a sorely neglected question: What are adjectives? Although the positioning of adjectives as well as aspects of their semantics have been investigated in depth, their actual status as a lexical category has generally been treated superficially in the linguistic literature. In this volume, the different approaches to the categorial identity of adjectives put forward include their position in the inventory of lexical categories, the elusive noun-adjective link, the functional entourage of adjectives and their relational character, the role of concord and possession – and so on. The contributors bring different viewpoints as well as a variety of language data into the discussion, from Chinese to Indo-European, and on to Niger-Congo languages.

Studies in Language and Cognition

2008-12-18
Studies in Language and Cognition
Author: Mats Andrén
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 530
Release: 2008-12-18
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1443803154
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Using a plethora of concepts, theories and methods, the theoretical and empirical studies described in this volume are united in their approach of treating language not in isolation (e.g. as a “module”), but as both based on structures and processes of cognition, and at the same time as affecting the human mind. The book is organized in 7 parts, corresponding to some of the major fields in language research today: (a) linguistic meta-theory and general issues, (b) lexical meaning, (c) metaphor, (d) grammar, (e) pragmatics, (f) gesture and bodily communication, and (g) historical linguistics. At the same time, the non-modular approach to language adopted by the authors is reflected by the fact that there are no strict boundaries between the parts. Thus, the book is a valuable contribution to the growing interdisciplinary field of Language and Cognition.

The Geometry of Meaning

2017-02-24
The Geometry of Meaning
Author: Peter Gardenfors
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 357
Release: 2017-02-24
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0262533758
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A novel cognitive theory of semantics that proposes that the meanings of words can be described in terms of geometric structures. In The Geometry of Meaning, Peter Gärdenfors proposes a theory of semantics that bridges cognitive science and linguistics and shows how theories of cognitive processes, in particular concept formation, can be exploited in a general semantic model. He argues that our minds organize the information involved in communicative acts in a format that can be modeled in geometric or topological terms—in what he terms conceptual spaces, extending the theory he presented in an earlier book by that name. Many semantic theories consider the meanings of words as relatively stable and independent of the communicative context. Gärdenfors focuses instead on how various forms of communication establish a system of meanings that becomes shared between interlocutors. He argues that these “meetings of mind” depend on the underlying geometric structures, and that these structures facilitate language learning. Turning to lexical semantics, Gärdenfors argues that a unified theory of word meaning can be developed by using conceptual spaces. He shows that the meaning of different word classes can be given a cognitive grounding, and offers semantic analyses of nouns, adjectives, verbs, and prepositions. He also presents models of how the meanings of words are composed to form new meanings and of the basic semantic role of sentences. Finally, he considers the future implications of his theory for robot semantics and the Semantic Web.

Diminutives in English

2012-10-24
Diminutives in English
Author: Klaus P. Schneider
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
Total Pages: 268
Release: 2012-10-24
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 3110929554
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That English has no diminutives is a common myth. The present study shows, however, that English does possess diminutives, and not only analytic but also synthetic diminutive markers. Analytic markers include, first and foremost, little, as well as other adjectives from the same word field, whereas the inventory of synthetic markers comprises suffixes as, for instance, -ie, -ette, -let, -kin, -een, -s, -er, -poo and -pegs. These markers are examined from a grammatical and a pragmatic perspective in an integrative formal-functional framework. The grammatical perspective involves phonological, morphological and semantic features, while the pragmatic perspective involves pragmalinguistic as well as sociopragmatic features on the levels of the speech act and larger interactive units in dialogue. The findings reveal that English diminutive suffixes are, in fact, among the most productive suffixes of the English language. While the suffixes share a number of features, each has developed its own profile, specifically regarding semantic and pragmatic features. In everyday conversation, there is a division of labour between the synthetic and the analytic type of formation concerning the communicative functions of diminutives and their distribution in discourse. The choice of formal device and its function depend crucially on pragmatic factors, notably on the illocution, the interactive status, the realisation strategy, and the politeness value of the utterances in which diminutives are employed, and also on the relationship between the interlocutors.

Language Acquisition

1978
Language Acquisition
Author: Jill G. De Villiers
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 340
Release: 1978
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 9780674509313
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The study of language acquisition has become a center of scientific inquiry into the nature of the human mind. The result is a windfall of new information about language, about learning, and about children themselves. In Language Acquisition Jill and Peter de Villiers provide a lively introduction to this fast-growing field. Their book deals centrally with the way the child acquires the sounds, meanings, and syntax of his language, and the way he learns to use his language to communicate with others. In discussing these issues, the de Villiers provide a clear and insightful treatment of the classic questions about language acquisition: Does the child show a genetic predisposition for speech, or grammar, or semantics which makes him uniquely able to learn human language? What kinds of learning are involved in acquiring language and what kinds of experience with a language are necessary to support such learning? Is there a critical period during the child's development which is optimal for language acquisition? And what kind of psychological disabilities underlie the failure to acquire language?