Cover not available

In:Social Environment and Cognition in Language Development: Studies in honor of Ayhan Aksu-Koç
Edited by F. Nihan Ketrez, Aylin C. Küntay, Şeyda Özçalışkan and Aslı Özyürek
[Trends in Language Acquisition Research 21] 2017
► pp. 3–18

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
authorization required

Chapter 1
Social motivations for linguistic exploration

A diary study

 | University of California, Berkeley
Published online: 18 July 2017
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/tilar.21.01slo
The language-learning child is challenged to determine why there are alternate ways of expressing content, performing speech acts, and directing attention to inner states. Acquisition of syntax is driven by social cognition and by attention to linguistic constructions. This chapter presents an in-depth case study of one English-speaking 3-year-old, focusing on modals, conditionals, hypotheticals, and causal and temporal expressions. Underlying the acquisition of these forms is a concern with normativity – regularities in the social world and the child’s position in that world. Without the linguistic forms, it would be difficult for the child to focus on these issues; without an ability to cognize social interaction, the forms would remain opaque. The co-acquisition of form and function is a dialectical process.
Article outline
  • 1.A diary study
  • 2.Who or what is acquiring language?
  • 3.What is being acquired?
  • 4.Theme: Possible worlds
    • 4.1Forms: Modal auxiliaries
      • 4.1.1Functions: Seeking and modulating permission
      • 4.1.2Functions: Express optative situation
    • 4.2Forms: Conditionals
    • 4.3Forms: Comparatives
    • 4.4Forms: Dialogue
  • 5.Theme: Patterns of adult activity
    • 5.1Forms: Why-questions
  • 6.Theme: Seeking general principles
    • 6.1Forms: Generic statements
    • 6.2Forms: Diverse mini-narratives
  • 7.Theme: The nature of time
    • 7.1Forms: Time units
    • 7.2Forms: Event sequencing
    • 7.3Forms: Retrospective reference
  • 8.Theme: The self in the social world
  • 9.Overarching theme: Seeking to understand normativity
  • 10.Conclusion: Motivations for linguistic complexity
  • Notes
  • References
References (18)
References
Aksu, A. A.. 1978. Aspect and Modality in the Child’s Acquisition of the Turkish Past Tense. PhD dissertation, University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Aksu-Koç, A.. 1988. The Acquisition of Aspect and Modality: The Case of Past Reference in Turkish. Cambridge: CUP.  Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Aksu-Koç, A. A. 1994. Development of linguistic forms: Turkish. In Relating Events in Narrative: A Crosslinguistic Developmental Study, R. A. Berman & D. I. Slobin (eds), 329–385. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Aksu-Koç, A.. 2009. Evidentials: An interface between linguistic and conceptual development. In Crosslinguistic Approaches to the Psychology of Language: Research in the Tradition of Dan Isaac Slobin, J. Guo, E. Lieven, N. Budwig, S. Ervin-Tripp, K. Nakamura, & Ş. Özçalışkan (eds), 531–541. New York NY: Psychology Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Aksu-Koç, A. A. & Slobin, D. I.. 1985. Acquisition of Turkish. In The Crosslinguistic Study of Language Acquisition, Vol. 1: The Data, D. I. Slobin (ed.), 839–878. Hillsdale NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1986. A psychological account of the development and use of evidentials in Turkish. In Evidentiality: The Linguistic Coding of Epistemology, W. Chafe & J. Nichols (eds), 159–167. Norwood NJ: Ablex.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bavin, E. L. & Naigles, L. R.. (eds). 2015. The Cambridge Handbook of Child Language, 2nd edn. Cambridge: CUP.  Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Berman, R. A. & Slobin, D. I.. (eds). 1994. Relating Events in Narrative: A Crosslinguistic Developmental Study. Hillsdale NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bruner, J.. 1983. Child's Talk: Learning to Use Language. New York NY: Norton.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Labov, W.. 1971. On the adequacy of natural languages, 1: The development of tense. Ms, University of Pennsylvania PA.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Slobin, D. I.. 1973. Cognitive prerequisites for the development of grammar. In Studies of Child Language Development, C. A. Ferguson & D. I. Slobin (eds), 175–208. New York NY: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1978. A case study of early language awareness. In The Child's Conception of Language, A. Sinclair, R. Jarvella & W.J.M. Levelt (eds), 45–54. Heidelberg: Springer.  Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1982. Universal and particular in the acquisition of language. In Language Acquisition: The State of the Art, E. Wanner & L. R. Gleitman (eds), 128–172. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1985. Crosslinguistic evidence for the Language-Making Capacity. In The Crosslinguistic Study of Language Acquisition, Vol. 2: Theoretical Issues, D. I. Slobin (ed.), 1157–1256. Hillsdale NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2014a. Before the beginning: The development of tools of the trade. Journal of Child Language 41: 1–17.  Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2014b. From speech with others to speech for self: A case study of “externalized drama.” In Language in Interaction: Studies in Honor of Eve V. Clark [Trends in Language Acquisition Research 12], I. Arnon, M. Casillas, C. Kurumada, & B. Estigarribia (eds), 315–331. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.  Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Slobin, D. I. & Aksu, A. A.. 1982. Tense, aspect and modality in the use of the Turkish evidential. In Tense and Aspect: Between Semantics and Pragmatics, P. J. Hopper (ed.), 185–200. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.  Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tomasello, M.. 1999. The Cultural Origins of Human Cognition. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue