L1. Lecture 5. Early stages in the acquisition of nominal
morphology.
1. Pre- and protomorphology.
1. "Early stages in the morphological development" . We share the main ideas of the
project that 1.1) there is a special premorphological stage in the early development of a
child, during which the language-specific grammar module is not yet formed and a child
uses special extragrammatic operations to denote grammar and lexical distinctions
[Dressler 1994:91-108;
Dressler, Karpf 1994: 99-122];
1.2) that language capacity is innate but concrete language-specific skills are learned by
the child in a special order defined by the grammar mechanism of his own language (see
for example [Tonelli, Dressler, Romano 1995: 3-8]); 1.3) naturalness and productivity of
forms and models are most important features [Dressler 1987: 99-126; Dressler &
Thornton 1996: 2-4] that govern this order [Dressler, Drazyk, Drazyk, DzjubalskaKolaczyk & Jagla 1995-96: 1-21];
1.4) the system of language is to some extent independent from the concrete speaker; it
influences the child in the form of an input and helps the important self- organizational
processes [Karpf 1991: 339-360; Karpf 1992: 7-20] which end with the forming of
normal paradigmatic set of categories by the end of protomorphological stage.
Dressler, Wolfgang U. 1994. Evidence from the first stages of morphology acquisition
for linguistic theory:
extragrammatic morphology and diminutives
//Acta Linguistica Hafniensia. Linguistic Studies in Honour of Jorgen Rischel.
V.27, part 1, 91-108.
Dressler Wolfgang U. & Karpf, Annemarie. 1995. The theoretical relevance of preand protomorphology in language acquisition.//Yearbook of Morphology 1994,
99-124.
A.Karpf. Chaos and order in morphology// Natural Morphology: perspectives for the
nineties (selected papers from the workshop at the Fifth International Morphology
Meeting, Krems, 4-9 July 1992.) Livia Tonelli & W.U.Dressler eds. Unipress
1993. 178 p
2. Nominal morphology: diminutives (derivation), number (inflection based on
quantitative distinctions), case (inflection -abstract).
2.2. Number (Stephany).
Early number distinctions (apple and apple) , more!, distinctions in the adult system,
case or number first, erroneous and correct use, developmental measures.
2.3. Case.
Table 1. Case systems in the given accusative languages
Inflecting
Inflecting
Agglutinating
Constructio
Periphrastic +
Synthetic marking Synthetic
n
Languages
1. Formal
markers
synthetic marking
GER >>
GRE
One inflectional
ending on articles
and nouns
RUS LIT CRO >>
One inflectional
ending on nouns
marking
TUR FIN HUN
Several
inflectional
endings on
nouns
two syllable
markers possible,
the set of
markers allows to
recognize the
case
-
2.Phonologi
cal form of
markers
one syllable, or
even consonant
marking, the set
is restricted
usually vowel or
one syllable
marking, the set of
markers is
3. Fusion
4. Gender
5.
Agreement
within NP
6. Number of
cases
7. Set of
functions
+
+
+
+
+
+
3-4 cases
6-8 cases
core functions
Agent,
Undergoer,
Possess,
Beneficiary
syntagmatic &
paradigmatic
core functions +
additional :
Theme, Instr.,
Addressee etc.
paradigmatic
functional: one
marker for one
function
Addition Deletion
(Change )
short wordforms
(one syllable often)
Change
(Addition Deletion)
longer wordforms
(2 -5 syllable)
Addition Deletion, Change
Inserting
very long
wordforms
exceptional
mostly in
consonants, than
in vowels
++
vowel harmony
8.
Orientation
in
recognizing
9. Operation
to be
learned
10.
Properties
of shape
11. Stem
alternation
12. Complex
hierarchy of
infl. classes
+
more than 8
cases:
core functions +
additional f-s +
local and
marginal f-s
-
2.1. Diminutives: 1) why and to what extent are they frequent in the speech of adults:
cross-linguistic and individual variations; 2) what is the prototypical meaning:
smallness, endearment, childness? 3) what are grammatical consequences (easy
model of paradigm - Kempe (San-Seb.), Olmsted 1994. Why are languages so
different?
Bratus Boris V. (1969) The Formation and Expressive Use of diminutives. Studies in
Modern Russian Language 6. Cambridge University Press.
Cecherini, Marco, Bonifacio; Serena, Zocconi, Elizabetta (1997) Acquisition of
Diminutives in Italian (Sara). Studies in Pre- and Protomorphology, (Hrsg. von
W.U.Dressler ) Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, PhilosophischHistorische Klasse, Sitzungberichte, 644 . Band. Verröffentlichungen der Komission
für Linguistik und Kommunikationsforschungen N 26. pp. 157-163.
Dressler, Wolfgang U., Merlini Barbaresi, L. (1994) Morphopragmatics. Diminutives
and intensifiers in Italian, German, and other languages. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Ebeling, Karen S., Gelman, Susan A. (1990) Flexibility in Semantic Representations:
Children’s Ability to Switch among Different Interpretations of „Big“ and „Little“ . In:
Papers and Reports on Child Language Development, V.29, July 1990 . Department
of Linguistics, Stanford University , Stanford California, pp. 38-46.
Gillis, Steven. (1997) The acquisition of diminutives in Dutch. Studies in Pre- and
Protomorphology, (Hrsg. von W.U.Dressler ) Oesterreichische Akademie der
Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-Historische Klasse, Sitzungberichte, 644 . Band.
Verroeffentlichungen der Komission fuer Linguistik und Kommunikationsforschungen
N 26. pp.165-179.
Jurafsky, Daniel (1996) Universal tendencies in the semantics of the diminutive.
Language, V.72, N 3.pp. 533-578.
Russkaja grammatika. (1980) V. 1. N.Ju. Shvedova (ed.) Moscow, Nauka.
Stephany Ursula (1997) Diminutives in early child Greek. Studies in Pre- and
Protomorphology, (Hrsg. von W.U.Dressler ) Österreichische Akademie der
Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-Historische Klasse, Sitzungberichte, 644 . Band.
Verroeffentlichungen der Komission fuer Linguistik und Kommunikationsforschungen
N 26. pp. 147-156.
Wierzbicka, Anna (1984) Diminutives and depreciatives: Semantic representation for
derivational categories. Quaderni di Semantica 5., pp. 123-130.