1. Parental input and connective acquisition: a growth curve analysis
- Author
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van Veen, R., Evers-Vermeul, J., Sanders, T.J.M., van den Bergh, H., Overkoepelend onderzoeksprogramma UiL-OTS, Sub UiLOTS AIO, LS taalbeheersing van het Nederlands, Instituut voor de Lerarenopleiding (tot 2012), Overkoepelend onderzoeksprogramma UiL-OTS, Sub UiLOTS AIO, and LS taalbeheersing van het Nederlands
- Subjects
Linguistics and Language ,Discourse connectives ,Language acquisition ,Growth curve (statistics) ,Language and Linguistics ,language.human_language ,First language acquisition ,Education ,Developmental psychology ,German ,Taverne ,language ,Psychology ,Preprint - Abstract
In this study, the influence of parental input on the acquisition of discourse connectives was investigated. Three factors were hypothesized to play a role in contributing to the course of language acquisition: first, an increase in age, and hence, an increase in conceptual abilities; second, short-term frequency effects (effects of parental input in the space of one recording); and third, long-term frequency effects (effects of the cumulative parental input over a longer period of time). The authors developed a growth curve analysis and used this to analyze data from a dense longitudinal corpus of a German boy aged 1;11.12—2;11.27. Results show that each factor has a significant effect on the acquisition of the German connectives aber `but,' damit `so that,' und `and,' weil `because,' and wenn `when' and should always be taken into account when studying connective acquisition. Furthermore, growth curve analysis promises to be an innovative tool to study factors influencing the course of language acquisition.
- Published
- 2009