Filler-Gap Dependency Comprehension at 15 Months: The Role of Vocabulary

Autor/inn/en	Perkins, Laurel; Lidz, Jeffrey
Titel	Filler-Gap Dependency Comprehension at 15 Months: The Role of Vocabulary
Quelle	In: Language Acquisition: A Journal of Developmental Linguistics, 27 (2020) 1, S.98-115 (18 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Perkins, Laurel)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1048-9223
DOI	10.1080/10489223.2019.1659274
Schlagwörter	Task Analysis; Language Acquisition; Infants; Infant Behavior; Phrase Structure; Verbs; Vocabulary Development; Heuristics; Prediction; Language Processing; Preferences; Questioning Techniques + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Aufgabenanalyse; Sprachaneignung; Spracherwerb; Infant; Toddler; Toddlers; Kleinkind; Phrasenstruktur; Wortschatzarbeit; Heuristik; Vorhersage; Sprachverarbeitung; Befragungstechnik; Fragetechnik
Abstract	15-month-olds behave as if they comprehend filler-gap dependencies such as "wh"-questions and relative clauses. On one hypothesis, this success does not reflect adult-like representations but rather a "gap-driven" interpretation heuristic based on verb knowledge. Infants who know that "feed" is transitive may notice that a predicted direct object is missing in "Which monkey did the frog feed" __? and then search the display for the animal that got fed. This gap-driven account predicts that 15-month-olds will perform accurately only if they know enough verbs to deploy this interpretation heuristic; therefore, performance should depend on vocabulary. We test this prediction in a preferential looking task and find corroborating evidence: Only 15-month-olds with higher vocabulary behave as if they comprehend wh-questions and relative clauses. This result reproduces the previous finding that 15-month-olds can identify the right answer for wh-questions and relative clauses under certain experimental contexts, and is moreover consistent with the gap-driven heuristic account for this behavior. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01