A1258690754NzjFG

1
Semantic or grammatical primacy of
prepositions? Melita Kovacevic University of
Zagreb melita.kovacevic_at_public.srce.hr
San Servolo, October 29 31, 2004, Symbols and
Connections
2
? Conceptual and Grammatical Development ?

• Categorization of the perception into event
  types
• Identify lexical and morphological means to
  encode them
• (Tomasello, 2001)

3
Language Specifity Hypothesis (Bowerman, 1988
Gopnik Choi, 1995)
Emphasizes the childs production analysis of the
form-function patterns of the target
language Low appearence of errors Early
child language should not clash with target
language distinctions.
4
Spatial Semantic Categories
Forms of spatial morphemes differ across
languages
Meanings are closely simmilar Biological and
environmental constraints
5
INPUT
Semantics grammatical marking
error
INPUT

• Options
• Semantic primacy first meaning emerges
  child searches for linguistic device
• Grammatical marking is less informative, therefore

Errors omissions
or
Omission of prepositions as functional category
word
or
Simultaneous and equal quality of prepositions
and gramm. markers usage
6
Re Input

• mirroring of input languae into child language
  in terms of
• Quality type of prepositions
• Quantity token of produced prepositions
• Time/age of preposition use

7
Semantic value of Croatian prepositions
Place Movement U L A Na L A Po L A I
z G S G Od G Iza G G Ispod G G Iznad G
G Do G G Kraj G G Pokraj G G Izmedu G G O
ko G G
- topological (direct contact with the
object) u - in, into na - on, onto po -

- topological (leaving the object) iz
- from s - from od - from

• relation to the object
• iza - behind
• ispod - under
• izmedu - between

• yet to be acquired relation to the object, but
  differentiate place and movement (A I)
• za - behind
• pod - under
• medu - between

8
Semantic value of Croatian prepositions
Place Movement U L A Na L A Po L A I
z G S G Od G Iza G G Ispod G G Iznad G
G Do G G Kraj G G Pokraj G G Izmedu G G O
ko G G
only semantics of the sentence differentiate
two semantic fields Trci iza škole.
He is running behind the school.
Dotrcao je iza škole. He ran
behind the school. semantics of the sentence
influences the morphology Trci u školi.
He is running in the school.
Dotrcao je u školu. He ran into
the school.
appeared in child language
9
Prepositions in childs language and input -
Marina
10
Prepositions in childs language and input -
Antonija
11

Prepositiones in childrens language and input
(token)
Marina input Antonija input U
(s) 80 L 226 L 85 L 187 L U (d) 104 A 134 A 48 A 1
82 A Na (s) 33 L 158 L 34 L 146 L Na
(d) 99 A 144 A 30 A 156 A Po (s) 8 L 72 L 10 L 42
L Po (d) 2 A 5 A 6 A 21 A Od (d) 24 G 87 G 12 G 46
G Iz (d) 3 G 37 G 6 G 22 G S (d) 4 G 13 G Kod
(sd) 22 G 37 G 6 G 36 G Do (sd) 3 G 8 G Kr
aj (sd) 1 G 2 G
12
Prepositiones in childrens language and input
case Marina Marina A 205 L 121 G
57 input A 283 L 456 G 184   Antonija An
tonija A 84 L 129 G 24 input A 359 L
375 G 104
semantics Marina Marina S/D 326 D 31
SD 26 input S/D 739 D 137
SD 47   Antonija Antonija S/D 213 D
18 SD 6 input S/D 734 D 68
SD 36
13
s/d
d
sd
A
L
G
s/d
d
A
L
G
sd
14
The acquisition of prepositions
Marina input Antonija input U
(s) 19 15 15 13 U (d) 15 15 15
13 Na (s) 110 15 110 14 Na
(d) 17 16 15 13 Po (s) 20 15 110
13 Po (d) 25 23 211 27 Od 111 16 19
17 Iz 21 18 19 19 S 22 18 Kod 110
16 21 110 Do 23 18 Kraj 26 25
15
Summative results

• High token / low type frequency prepositions
  designing simple static or movement event occur
  earlier in production their rate grows faster

• Prepositions designing complex events
  (relationship of 2 or more objects, preposition
  designing static and movement events, but
  reqiring only one case) occur later and have low
  token frequency).

16

• Semantic value of prepositions in the parental
  input may dictate the order of the acquisition
  indications from teh spontaneous speech sample
  data

• To be further investigated the type of semantic
  value may arise from the type of the discourse ?
• more descriptic discourse ? more static
  prepositions
• more imperative discourse ? more movement
  prepositions

17

• Conclusions
• Spatial semantic development is very responsive
  to the properties of the input language, but
  also,
• Children have autonomous concepts in early
  lexical develolpment
• Children are actively manipulating with input
  models due to the perceptual sensitivities and
  conceptual biases

Early spatial words are used in different range
of situations than in input language
18

• Options
• Re errors in child production
• on both levels equally, semantic and grammatical
• more on grammatical level than semantic
• prevalence of semantic errors

19
Errors
conditions
types of errors
ANT a ltna fesetugt ? ANT igo(r) tamo je u
pa(r)ki . ANT u k(n)inu . (?kud
taj vlak vozi)

1. wrong Prep.
2. wrong Case ending
3. wrong choice of s/d

s/d

1. wrong Prep.
2. wrong Case ending

d
MAR iz glave mi je maknuo // iz glave .

1. wrong Prep.
2. wrong Case ending

ANT kod tebi je otišla . ANT ltmojam
moram sadgt lt ici u kazenton . (do
kazetofona)
ds
a. and c. semantically driven error b.
grammatically driven error
20
Selected option
Simultaneous and equal quality of prepositions
and grammatical markers usage
But,
with low appearance of any error
21
Conclusion

1. Input language helps on deciding between
   differences and similarities among referent
   situations
2. Insufficiency in the relevant properties (low in
   saliance or maturationally not available)
3. Sensitivity to spatial words affected by features
   or the language input

Children produce errors
22

• Frequency
• Consistency (vs. polisemy of words meaning which
  frequently misleads a child)
• The degree of overlap in the reference
• (Non-linguistic) semantic categories are formed
  in nonlinear interaction with the semantic and
  grammatical structure of the language a child
  acquires.