Abstract
This study investigates possible prosodic explanations for children's variable production of French determiners. Spontaneous production data from two French-speaking children, Tim and Marie (age 1;5-2;5), were analyzed. The results show a clear effect of prosodic restrictions on the children's determiner production, with determiners appearing first with monosyllabic words, next with disyllabic words, and finally with trisyllabic words. The results also show that the individual differences between the two children can be accounted for in terms of differential access to the Prosodic Hierarchy. Prosodic constraints thus provide a framework for understanding the variability in children's early production of French determiners.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Proceedings of the 2nd Conference on Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition North America (GALANA) |
Editors | Alyona Belikova, Luisa Meroni, Mari Umeda |
Place of Publication | Somerville, MA |
Publisher | Cascadilla Proceedings Project |
Pages | 426-436 |
Number of pages | 11 |
ISBN (Print) | 9781574734195 |
Publication status | Published - 2007 |
Externally published | Yes |
Event | Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition North America (2nd : 2006) - Montreal Duration: 17 Aug 2006 → 19 Aug 2006 |
Conference
Conference | Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition North America (2nd : 2006) |
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City | Montreal |
Period | 17/08/06 → 19/08/06 |