1887

First language acquisition of relativisation in Moroccan Arabic

image of First language acquisition of relativisation in Moroccan Arabic

In this paper, we investigate the acquisition of relativisation in young children exposed to Moroccan Arabic. The aim of the experiment reported is to test the hypothesis by Friedmann, Belletti and Rizzi (2009) according to which children follow a stricter version of Relativised Minimality (RM) in sentence comprehension, to the effect that dependencies in which lexical objects move across lexical subjects are not understood. The work of Belletti, Friedmann, Brunato and Rizzi (2012) further shows that gender mismatch boosts comprehension of similar structures when gender is a criterial feature, as would be the case in Moroccan Arabic. We designed a sentence-picture matching task testing subject and object relativisation, with gender-matched and mismatched subject and object. The experiment was administered to 24 children in the age range of 4 to 5 and a group of adults. The results indicate that, in accordance with the predictions of child RM, the comprehension of subject and object relatives does not differ when subject and object are mismatched in gender; however, object relatives are less well understood when the head of the relative and the intervening subject share the gender feature specification.

  • Affiliations: 1: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

References

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    (2015) Children’s production of relative clauses in Palestinian Arabic: Unique errors and their movement account. Lingua, 156, 40–56. 10.1016/j.lingua.2014.10.007
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  23. Guasti, M. T. , Stavrakaki, S. , & Arosio, F.
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    https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716411000324 [Google Scholar]
  25. Gutiérrez-Mangado, M. J.
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    [Google Scholar]
  34. Ross, J. R.
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    [Google Scholar]
  35. Schriefers, H. , Friederici, A. , & Kühn, K.
    (1995) The processing of locally ambiguous relative clauses in German. Journal of Memory and Language, 34, 499–520. 10.1006/jmla.1995.1023
    https://doi.org/10.1006/jmla.1995.1023 [Google Scholar]
  36. Sheldon, A. L.
    (1974) The acquisition of relative clauses. Indiana University Linguistics Club.
    [Google Scholar]
  37. Shlonsky, Ur
    (1997) Clause structure and word order in Hebrew and Arabic: An essay in comparative Semitic syntax. New York: Oxford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  38. De Villiers, J. , de Villiers, P. , & Hoban, E.
    (1994) The central problem of functional categories in English syntax of oral deaf children. In H. Tager Flusberg . (Ed.), Constraints on language acquisition: Studies of atypical children (pp.9–47). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
    [Google Scholar]

References

  1. Adani, F. , Sehm, M. , & Zukowski, A.
    (2013) How do German children and adults deal with their relatives. In S. Stavrakaki , M. Lalioti , and P. Konstantinopolou . (Eds.), Advance of Language Acquisition. (pp.14–22). Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Aoun, J.
    (2000) Resumption and Last Resort. D.E.L.T.A. 16: 13–43. 10.1590/S0102‑44502000000300001
    https://doi.org/10.1590/S0102-44502000000300001 [Google Scholar]
  3. Aoun, J. , Benmamoun, E. , and Choueiri, L.
    (2010) The Grammar of Arabic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Aoun, J. , Choueiri, L. , and Hornstein, N.
    (2001) Resumption, movement, and derivational economy. Linguistic Inquiry32, 371–403. 10.1162/002438901750372504
    https://doi.org/10.1162/002438901750372504 [Google Scholar]
  5. Arosio, F. , Adani, F. , & Guasti, M. T.
    (2009) Grammatical features in the comprehension of Italian relative clauses by children. In J. M. Brucart , A. Gavarró , J. Solà . (Eds.), Merging Features: Computation, Interpretation, and Acquisition (pp.138–155). Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199553266.003.0008
    https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199553266.003.0008 [Google Scholar]
  6. Belletti, A. , Friedmann, N. , Brunato, D. & Rizzi, L.
    (2012) Does gender make a difference? Comparing the effect of gender on children’s comprehension of relative clauses in Hebrew and Italian. Lingua, 122, 1053–1069. 10.1016/j.lingua.2012.02.007
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2012.02.007 [Google Scholar]
  7. Belletti, A. & C. Manetti
    (2019) Topics and passives in Italian-speaking children and adults. Language Acquisition, 26(2), 153–182, 10.1080/10489223.2018.1508465
    https://doi.org/10.1080/10489223.2018.1508465 [Google Scholar]
  8. Botwinik, I. , Bshara, R. , & Armon-Lotem, S.
    (2015) Children’s production of relative clauses in Palestinian Arabic: Unique errors and their movement account. Lingua, 156, 40–56. 10.1016/j.lingua.2014.10.007
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2014.10.007 [Google Scholar]
  9. Brown, H. D.
    (1971) Children’s comprehension of relativized English sentences. Child Development, 42, 1923–1936. 10.2307/1127595
    https://doi.org/10.2307/1127595 [Google Scholar]
  10. Chiu, B. H. -C.
    (1996) The Nature of Relative Clauses in Chinese-Speaking Children. NSC research report, National Taiwan Normal University.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Contemori, C. & Belletti, A.
    (2013) Relatives and passive object relatives in Italian-speaking children and adults: intervention in production and comprehension. Applied Psycholinguistics, 35 (6), 1021–1053. 10.1017/S0142716412000689
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716412000689 [Google Scholar]
  12. Corrêa, L.
    (1995) An alternative assessment of children’s comprehension of relative clauses. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 24, 183–203. 10.1007/BF02145355
    https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02145355 [Google Scholar]
  13. De Vincenzi, M. , Arduino, L. S. , Ciccarelli, L. , & Job, R.
    (1999) Parsing strategies in children’s comprehension of interrogative sentences. In S. Bagnara . (Ed.), Proceedings of ECCS ‘99 – European Conference on Cognitive Science (pp.304–8). Rome: Istituto di Psicologia del CNR.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. El Hadef, I.
    (2019) Un estudi sobre l’adquisició de la darija. BA dissertation, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra.
  15. Elomari, A.
    (1998) The unoptionality of resumptive pronouns. The case of Moroccan Arabic. In Benmamoun, E. . (eds.) Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics: Papers from the Symposium on Arabic Linguistics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/cilt.167.05elo
    https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.167.05elo [Google Scholar]
  16. Ennaji, M. , Makhoukh, A. , Es-Saiydy, H. , Moubtassime, M. & Slaoui, S.
    (2004) A Grammar of Moroccan Arabic, Pars Lettres 25, Fes.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Frauenfelder, U. , Seguí, J. , & Mehler, J.
    (1980) Monitoring around the relative clause. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behaviour, 19, 328–337. 10.1016/S0022‑5371(80)90257‑1
    https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-5371(80)90257-1 [Google Scholar]
  18. Friedmann, N. , Belletti, A. & Rizzi, L.
    (2009) Relativized relatives: types of intervention in the acquisition of A-bar dependencies. Lingua, 119, 67–88. 10.1016/j.lingua.2008.09.002
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2008.09.002 [Google Scholar]
  19. Friedmann, N. , Haddad, M.
    (2014) The comprehension of sentences derived by syntactic movement in Palestinian Arabic speakers with hearing impairment. Applied Psycholinguistics, 35 (3): 473–513. 10.1017/S0142716412000483
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716412000483 [Google Scholar]
  20. Friedmann, N. & Szterman, R.
    (2006) Syntactic movement in orally trained children with hearing impairment. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 11: 177–197.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Friedmann, N. , Szterman, R. , & Haddad-Hanna, M.
    (2010) The comprehension of relative clauses and wh questions in Hebrew and Palestinian Arabic hearing impairment. In A. Castro , J. Costa , M. Lobo , & F. Pratas . (Eds.), Language Acquisition and Development: Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition (pp.157–169). Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Gavarró, A. , Cunill, A. , Muntané, M. , & Reguant, M.
    (2012) The acquisition of Catalan relatives: structure and processing. Revue roumaine de linguistique, 57 (2), 183–201.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Guasti, M. T. , Stavrakaki, S. , & Arosio, F.
    (2008) Number and case in the comprehension of relative causes: evidence from Italian and Greek. In A. Gavarró , M. J. Freitas . (Eds.), Language Acquisition and Development. Proceedings of GALA 2007 (pp.230–240). Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Guasti, M. T. , Branchini, C. & Arosio, F.
    (2012) Interference in the production of Italian subject and object wh-questions. Applied Psycholinguistics, 33, 185–223. 10.1017/S0142716411000324
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716411000324 [Google Scholar]
  25. Gutiérrez-Mangado, M. J.
    (2011) Children’s comprehension of relative clauses in an ergative language: The case of Basque. Language Acquisition18(3). 176–201. 10.1080/10489223.2011.580674
    https://doi.org/10.1080/10489223.2011.580674 [Google Scholar]
  26. Hsiao, F. & Gibson, E.
    (2003) Processing relative clauses in Chinese. Cognition, 90, 3–27. 10.1016/S0010‑0277(03)00124‑0
    https://doi.org/10.1016/S0010-0277(03)00124-0 [Google Scholar]
  27. Hu, S.
    (2014) Intervention effects and the acquisition of relativization and topicalization in Chinese. Doctoral dissertation, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca.
  28. Hu, S. , Guasti, M. & Gavarró, A.
    (2018) Chinese children’s knowledge of topicalization: Experimental evidence from a comprehension study. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 47(6), 1279–1300. 10.1007/s10936‑018‑9575‑6
    https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-018-9575-6 [Google Scholar]
  29. Labelle, M.
    (1990) Predication, wh-movement and the development of relative clauses. Language Acquisition, 1, 95–119. 10.1207/s15327817la0101_4
    https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327817la0101_4 [Google Scholar]
  30. Pérez-Leroux, A. -T.
    (1995) Resumptives in the acquisition of relative clauses. Language Acquisition, 4, 105–138. 10.1080/10489223.1995.9671661
    https://doi.org/10.1080/10489223.1995.9671661 [Google Scholar]
  31. Rizzi, L.
    (1990) Relativized Minimality. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  32. (1997) The fine structure of the left periphery. In: Haegeman, L. (eds) Elements of Grammar. Kluwer International Handbooks of Linguistics. Springer, Dordrecht. 10.1007/978‑94‑011‑5420‑8_7
    https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5420-8_7 [Google Scholar]
  33. (2004) Locality and the left periphery. In A. Belletti . (Ed.), Structure and Beyond (pp.223–251). New York: Oxford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  34. Ross, J. R.
    (1967) Constraints on variables in syntax. Doctoral thesis, MIT.
    [Google Scholar]
  35. Schriefers, H. , Friederici, A. , & Kühn, K.
    (1995) The processing of locally ambiguous relative clauses in German. Journal of Memory and Language, 34, 499–520. 10.1006/jmla.1995.1023
    https://doi.org/10.1006/jmla.1995.1023 [Google Scholar]
  36. Sheldon, A. L.
    (1974) The acquisition of relative clauses. Indiana University Linguistics Club.
    [Google Scholar]
  37. Shlonsky, Ur
    (1997) Clause structure and word order in Hebrew and Arabic: An essay in comparative Semitic syntax. New York: Oxford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  38. De Villiers, J. , de Villiers, P. , & Hoban, E.
    (1994) The central problem of functional categories in English syntax of oral deaf children. In H. Tager Flusberg . (Ed.), Constraints on language acquisition: Studies of atypical children (pp.9–47). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
    [Google Scholar]
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