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Diane Frome Loeb Clifton Pye
Lori Zobel Richordson1
Sean Redmond2
University of Kansas
Alternating verbs to indicate or to relinquish cause requires an understanding of semantic and syntactic knowledge. This study evaluated the ability of children with specific language impairment (SLI) to produce the causative alternation in comparison to age peers and to language peers. The children with SLI were proficient in lexically alternating verbs, yet provided fewer passive and periphrastic constructions and more different verbs and adjectival responses. Overgeneralization error data suggest that the semantic systems of some children with SLI were similar to their age comparisons. Individual differences within the SLI group suggested that some children were adept at providing syntactic responses and overgeneralizations, whereas some of the SLI group provided less mature responses of no alternations and no responses. These findings demonstrate a syntactic deficit in the causative alternation for some children with SLI.
KEY WORDS: causative alternation, verb acquisition, verb argument structure, specific language impairment
Verbs play a special role in current theories of language acquisition and a key role in the development of basic sentence patterns (Bowerman, 1996; Pinker, 1989; Tomasello, 1992). Every sentence is built around a verb, and that verb organizes or projects the structure of the sentence. Importantly, each verb comes with its own particular expectations about the number of noun phrases (arguments) with which it will associate. In this paper, we present data about one process of the verb system, the causative alternation, and its production by children with and without SLI.
A review of verb argument structures across a number of languages (Pye, 1991) suggests that there is a fair degree of cross-linguistic similarity in the argument structures assigned to particular verbs. Despite this, cross-linguistic similarity within language variations exist that make the mapping of semantics and syntax less clear. For example, in English, verbs such as shudder and shake are semantically similar, yet have different argument structures. One can shake ajar, adding a causative agent; however, one cannot shudder a jar. As part of the verb acquisition process, children must learn or acquire the syntactic features of verbs (i.e., the verb's argument structure) as well as the semantic features of verbs to produce grammatical sentences. Thus, as children acquire their verb system,...