Journal

Volume 2, Issue 2 (July 31, 2001)

6 articles

• Default ne in Child Mandarin Chinese
  by Paul Hagstrom, Joan Chen-Main, Geraldine Legendre, & Liang Tao
  J. CS. 2001, 2(2), 81-118;
  Abstract Transcripts of children acquiring Mandarin Chinese reveal errors in the morphological realization of inchoative aspect. Where an adult would use a sentence-final particle le, children will often either omit it, or substitute a different marker (ne). We analyze the overuse of ne in child Mandarin as ... [Read more].
  Abstract Transcripts of children acquiring Mandarin Chinese reveal errors in the morphological realization of inchoative aspect. Where an adult would use a sentence-final particle le, children will often either omit it, or substitute a different marker (ne). We analyze the overuse of ne in child Mandarin as a retreat to a default form that results from an impoverished syntactic representation.We compare the actual proportions of S-le successes, ne errors, and omission errors across fine-grained developmental stages by estimating the number of inchoative “attempts,” based on the frequency of adult usage of S-le from the same transcripts. We propose an Optimality Theoretic account in which constraints requiring syntactic realization of the features of the intended meaning “float” in the ranking over constraints that require economy of syntactic structure. These partial rankings characterize a set of alternative grammars that the child uses in production. Finally, we compare these results to similar results from the acquisition of French and of Catalan, all of which display a coexistence of competing grammars, retreats to a default form, and constraints requiring economy of structure, despite obvious differences in the morphological richness of the three languages. [Collapse]
• The Role of Parental Input in the Acquisition of Tense-Aspect Morphology
  by Ping Li, Sarah Maher, Erica Newmark, & Jennifer Hurley
  J. CS. 2001, 2(2), 119-143;
  Abstract This study investigates the role of parental input in the acquisition of tense-aspect morphology. We report statistical analyses of the distributions of tense-aspect morphology with different verbs in parental input to children between ages 2;0 to 4;0. A total of 3,505 verb tokens from the English c... [Read more].
  Abstract This study investigates the role of parental input in the acquisition of tense-aspect morphology. We report statistical analyses of the distributions of tense-aspect morphology with different verbs in parental input to children between ages 2;0 to 4;0. A total of 3,505 verb tokens from the English corpora of the CHILDES database were included in our analyses. All the verbs that occur with the tense-aspect morphemes ing, -ed, and –s were classified according to the four lexical aspect categories of Vandeler (1957). The frequency of occurrence of each verb type with each morpheme was computed to identify the distributional properties of tense-aspect morphology with verb semantics in parental speech. The analyses show that there is a strong association between lexical aspect of verbs and grammatical aspect of morphemes in parental aspect, and more important, characteristics of the parental input changes over time, reflecting that the associations become weaker as the child grows older. These characteristics mirror the developmental patterns in children's speech as reported in the literature. Our results provide strong evidence for the argument that the undergeneralization patterns in children's use of tense-aspect morphology stems from children' extraction of prototypical associations in the parental speech. Implications of the results are discussed in terms of probabilistic learning mechanisms that are sensitive to the statistical properties of the input. [Collapse]
• Long-Distance Binding in Psych-Predicates
  by Chungmin Lee
  J. CS. 2001, 2(2), 145-169;
  Abstract This study investigates anti-local, long-distance anaphora, particularly in psych-predicate contexts in terms of logophoricity and de se on one hand and to thematic hierarchy and Topic candidacy hierarchy on the other. We conclude that psych-predicates are mind-logophor triggering constructions. We ... [Read more].
  Abstract This study investigates anti-local, long-distance anaphora, particularly in psych-predicate contexts in terms of logophoricity and de se on one hand and to thematic hierarchy and Topic candidacy hierarchy on the other. We conclude that psych-predicates are mind-logophor triggering constructions. We view different factors and constraints conspire to produce optimal outputs. [Collapse]
• Are Prosodic Units Universally Important to Children in their Early Language Acquisition? Korean children's Detection and Use o
  by Youngon Choi & Reiko Mazuka
  J. CS. 2001, 2(2), 171-193;
  Abstract Do Korean children show similar sensitivity to language-specific prosodic properties as English-learning infants have displayed? The current study investigated whether Korean children between the age of 3 and 5 years could detect prosodic units such as Intonational Phrases (IP) and/or Accentual Phra... [Read more].
  Abstract Do Korean children show similar sensitivity to language-specific prosodic properties as English-learning infants have displayed? The current study investigated whether Korean children between the age of 3 and 5 years could detect prosodic units such as Intonational Phrases (IP) and/or Accentual Phrases (AP) using physical properties associated with the prosodic structure, and whether they could also use these units in processing the speech input. The results of the experiment indicated that children could use the prosodic phrasing patterns to segment the speech as well as to understand meanings, using the relevant prosodic and segmental cues. [Collapse]
• The Effects of Causal Connections on Memory of Discourse
  by Soyoung Suh Kim
  J. CS. 2001, 2(2), 195-209;
  Abstract Suh & Trabasso (1993) has shown that readers integrate sentences through causal inferences at the points predicted by the Causal Network Model(Trabasso, van den Broek, & Suh, 1989). The purpose of the present study is to find out whether the causal connections confirmed by Suh & Trabasso... [Read more].
  Abstract Suh & Trabasso (1993) has shown that readers integrate sentences through causal inferences at the points predicted by the Causal Network Model(Trabasso, van den Broek, & Suh, 1989). The purpose of the present study is to find out whether the causal connections confirmed by Suh & Trabasso remain in a stable representation of a discourse and affect its recall.  For this, subjects read and recalled two versions of stories which were similar in their surface content but very different in their causal network structures. It was found that the subjects' recall was better for the sentences that had more causal connections according to the Causal Network Model. In conclusion, causal integrations that occur during on-line reading remain in a stable representation of a discourse and affect the recall of the discourse later. [Collapse]
• Korean “Standard Sign Language” Is Not a Sign Language
  by Jong Sup Jun
  J. CS. 2001, 2(2), 211-230;
  Abstract In 1991, the department of education of Korea published the official Korean Standard Sign Language (KSDSL; S-K Kim et al. 1991). The biggest problem of KSDSL is that it is not a sign language, but a manually coded spoken Korean. In this paper, I criticize ... [Read more].
  Abstract In 1991, the department of education of Korea published the official Korean Standard Sign Language (KSDSL; S-K Kim et al. 1991). The biggest problem of KSDSL is that it is not a sign language, but a manually coded spoken Korean. In this paper, I criticize both theoretical and practical problems of KSDSL. From a theoretical perspective, KSDSL is founded upon such linguistically untenable assumptions that a natural language cannot have grammar, that a natural language is a language in the ideal world, and that descriptive evaluation of a natural language can be done by non-native language users. From a practical perspective, I point out that deaf children learning KSDSL instead of KSL may have problems in their cognitive development. On top of these problems is a more urgent humanitarian need; i.e. deaf people in Korea have a human right to learn and use their native language, namely Korean Sign Language (KSL), in all areas of life. My claim is that we must replace the current Signed Korean with KSL for the real Korean Standard Sign Language. [Collapse]