Back to Search Start Over

Postverbal subjects in child Italian: Argument structure, discourse and the definiteness effect.

Postverbal subjects in child Italian: Argument structure, discourse and the definiteness effect.

Authors :
Cairncross, Alex
Dal Pozzo, Lena
Source :
First Language; Jun2022, Vol. 42 Issue 3, p333-360, 28p
Publication Year :
2022

Abstract

While previous work on postverbal subjects in Italian has shown that young children are sensitive to the effects of argument structure and definiteness, little is known about the acquisition of postverbal subjects at the VP-periphery. In response, the present study investigated such subjects under new-information focus by monolingual Italian children (6;1 – 7;4). For this, we employed an elicitation task and a forced-choice task. The results indicated that the children use postverbal subjects at the VP-periphery felicitously, although they do not perform at ceiling. Unexpectedly, the results also suggested possible remnant difficulty with the definiteness effect. However, after comparison with adult data we argue that this is not a developmental issue and instead may suggest that our children were aware that the definiteness effect is not about definiteness per se. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
01427237
Volume :
42
Issue :
3
Database :
Complementary Index
Journal :
First Language
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
156993436
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1177/01427237211054247