Early verbs – meaning and argument structure
Reading: Armon-Lotem, S. and R. A. Berman. 2003. The Emergence of Grammar: Early
Verbs and Beyond. Journal of Child Language 30.4: 845-877
Verbs- “lexical items which express activities, changes of state, etc.”
Early Verbs- “verb forms that are the first to appear in speech of children at the oneword stage and in the transition to word-combinations.”
Questions?
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Why are verb acquired later than nouns?
What can we learn from early verbs?
How is verb meaning acquired?
Does the acquisition of verbs follow the same word-meaning constraints as for
nouns?
How does the context influence the acquisition of verbs?
How are the argument structure and selectional restrictions of a verb acquired?
How is the verbal morphology acquired?
What can we learn from early verbs?
LIOR, girl, aged between 1;5 and 1;6, in interaction with her mother
Dr. Sharon Armon-Lotem
Early verbs
Breakdown of 120 Verb Forms by Mood/Tense and Stripped Stem Forms [in percentages]
Stripped
46
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Infinitive
6
Imperative
19
Present
10
Past
Future
15
5
Children have a large repertoire of verbs even before they start combining words,
and these represent a range of predicate types: syntactically, both transitive and
intransitive, and semantically, verbs which express activities, events, and states.
These verbs: 1. Lack overt syntactic marking of argument structure.
2. Fail to make productive use of inflection.
3. Show no ability to use morphological verb-pattern alternation
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Nonetheless, early verbs play an important role in children's early grammar and in the
interface between the development of syntax, morphology, semantics and the lexicon.
How is verb meaning acquired? Syntactic vs. semantic bootstrapping
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How do children acquire words? The acquisition of a morpheme in the lexicon
combines syntactic and semantic information.
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How do children pair concepts with their phonological realization? Nouns can be
acquired by pairing strings of sounds with concepts inferred from the world using
constraints on word learning – whole object, mutual exclusivity (Markman 1994),
e.g., by the naming game.
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Bloom 1994 - nouns are acquired by syntax-semantics mapping.
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How are verbs acquired? Would it be in the same way as nouns?
What is acquired when verbs are acquired? Lexical entries for verbs
Fly, N, two winged insect,
-human, +animate, +count …
Fly, Vi, move through air with wings
(About, away, off, out)
Vt, Control an aircraft, transport in air
craft
[NP] Patient
Want, Vt, desire, wish
[NP] Patient
[to VP]
[NP to VP]
Give, Vbt, transfer possession, hand over,
[NP, PP] Patient, Goal
[NP, NP] Goal, Patient
Donate, Vbt, present as a gift
[NP, PP] Patient, Goal
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Dr. Sharon Armon-Lotem
Early verbs
Gleitman (1994)
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Children infer verb meaning by using the syntactic arguments which appear in the
sentence (subcategorization frames).
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Blind children learn verb meaning without “observing” the situation.
Syntactic bootstrapping (Fisher et al 1994): Structure dependent learning. Syntactic
cueing of word meaning. Children rely on a verb’s syntactic subcategorization frames to
learn its meaning. The learner represents the linguistic input that is to be paired with the
extralinguistic input (perceptual, conceptual & pragmatic), acquired by inspecting
ongoing events, by a parse tree within which previously learned nominals as well as the
novel verb occur.
Semantic bootstrapping (Pinker 1994): Semantic cueing of syntax / word meaning. A
verb’s content is learned from its situation of use. The semantics of at least some verb
forms are acquired without syntax.
Lexical reconciliation (Grimshaw 1994)
Fundamental claim: There is a principled relation between the syntax and the semantics
of a verb.
“The range of syntactic configurations associated with a verb is highly predictable from
its semantics, once parametric syntactic variation is taken into account.”
Mapping of lexical semantic representation onto syntactic representation:
Lexical semantics of a predicate > argument structure
Argument structure + parametric properties of phrase structure > s-structure
Many verb meanings are compatible with most events
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Dr. Sharon Armon-Lotem
Early verbs
1. a.
The boy is ----ing
b.
The boy is ----ing the flowers to the girl
2.
The girl is ----ing the flowers from the boy
There is no situation in which (2a) is true while (2b) is false
2. a.
b.
We killed the dragon
The dragon died
>>> Observation of the world is not enough
>>> Subcategorization frames contain critical information
3. a.
b.
4. a.
b.
He put the book in his room
He wrote the book in his room
He became a doctor
He shot a doctor
>>> Only a few cases of one-to-one mapping from subcategorization frames to meaning
>>> Analysis across sentence types is required for sets of frames
5. a.
b.
6. a.
b.
I know her
I know that she is here
ani makir ota
ani yodea she hi po
>>> Clustering of different senses under a single morpheme varies across languages.
>>> A predictable relationship does not hold
>>> Without knowing about meaning it is not possible to know how to group
subcategorizations together
>>> We need a way to use the two sources of information > Reconciliation
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Dr. Sharon Armon-Lotem
Early verbs
Reconciliation
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Semantic-to-syntactic mapping provide predictive mechanism. Semantics predicts
syntax where UG makes it possible
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The subcategorization structure provided by the syntax serves as a checking
mechanism. Syntax eliminate wrong semantic candidates where possible
Acquiring verbs
Tomasello, M. & A. Kruger, 1992. Joint attention on actions: acquiring verbs in ostensive
and non-ostensive contexts, Journal of Child Language 19, 311-333
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In order to acquire a word it should be mapped onto a referential context.
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How? Joint attention (an ostensive context)
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Can this work for action verbs?
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Can we point to actions? Do we point to actions?
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Adults usually use verbs in non-ostensive context.
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Naturalistic findings - 60% of verbs were used for impending actions. Children
were most responsive to such verbs.
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Experimental procedure with nonce verbs in impending, on going and completed
modes, presented to three groups of children (ages 1;10-2;2). After presenting the
verb to the child, he was tested on both comprehension and production.
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Production - impending context was best. Comprehension - impending and
completed are equally good.
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Verbs are more easily acquired in non-ostensive context (when referring to
impending and completed actions rather than ongoing actions). Why?
5
Dr. Sharon Armon-Lotem
Early verbs
In class exercise - How are the argument structure and selectional restrictions of a
verb acquired?
From: Sharon Armon-Lotem (1997). The minimalist child: Parameters and functional
heads In the acquisition of Hebrew.
Table 1 - The development of argument structure for the verb 'want'
Hagar
Leor
lo roca
lo roce
No arguments
‘Don’t want’ (1;07;02)
‘Dont want’ (1;09;04)
roce (l)e(hitla)besh
roce (leh)o(r)id
Nonfinite verbal
‘Want to dress up’
‘Want to take off’
complement
roce lishon
(1;09;04)
(modal-like use)
‘Want to sleep’ (1;07;22)
roca od
roce musika?
NP complement
‘Want (some)more’
‘Want music’ (1;09;00)
(1;08;01)
roce (et) ze
lo roca yadayim
‘Want this’ (1;09;00)
‘Don’t want hands’
roca aba
‘Want Daddy’ (1;08;04)
ani lo roca
Liori lo roce
NP subject
‘I don’t want’ (1;08;09)
‘Liori doesn’t want’
(1;11;13)
ani lo roca kola
ani roce kariyot
Subject and object
‘I don’t want Kola’
‘I want pillows’
(1;09;21)
(1;10;15)
*ani roca same'ax
roce kan, roce sham
Non-NP
‘I want happy’ (1;10;01)
‘Want here, want there’
complement
(1;09;24)
roce levad
‘Want on my own’
(1;11;13)
ata
roce
le'exol?
hu roce lesaxek
Nonfinite CP
‘You
want
to
eat?’
‘He wants to play
complement +
(1;10;01)
(1;11;00)
Subject
ani roca letayel
‘I want to take a walk’
(1;10;03)
Finite CP
complement
without
complementizer
roca loasim mastik
‘Want chewing chewinggum’ (2;01;24)
Smadar
lo roca
‘Dont want’ (1;08;13)
(ro)ce (li)shon
‘Want to sleep’ (1;08;13)
roca (sa)kin
‘Want a knife’ (1;07;16)
ani roca
‘I want’ (1;11;13)
ani roca et ha-harkava hazoti
‘I want this pazzle’ (2;01;26)
kodem be ze ani roca
‘First I want with this’
(2;00;07)
buba roca (la)shevet (al ha)sapa
‘Doll wants (to) sit (on the)
cauch’ (1;07;07)
ata roce lir'ot?
‘You want to see?’
(1;11;13)
rocim ti(f)tax or
‘Want turn on (the) light’
(1;09;11)
roce tavi'i
‘Want bring’ (1;09;11)
roce ani yasim ‘Want I
put’ (1;11;04)
ani roca she nelex lir'ot
‘I want that we go to see’
(1;11;18)
Finite CP
complement with
complementizer
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Dr. Sharon Armon-Lotem
Early verbs
Table 2 - The development of argument structure for the verb 'give'
No Arguments
Frozen dative or
accusative
NP complement
Frozen dative with NP
complement
Two NP complements
Non-frozen dative clitic
with NP complement
Nonfinite CP
complement
NP subject +
Hagar
latet
‘to-give’
(1;07;24)
ten lax
‘give you’ (1;07;03)
Leor
ten lax bakbuk
‘give you a-bottle’
(1;07;17)
(x)a(r)uzim latet le
(H)agari
‘bids to-give to
Hagari’ (1;08;09)
li titni gvina
‘to-me give cheese’
(1;09;06)
tni lo lexem
‘give him bread’
(2;00;03)
tni li la'avor
‘let me to-pass’
(1;11;20)
od ten lo
‘more give him’
(1;09;17)
ten lo
‘give him’ (1;09;04)
aba, titen Dani
‘Daddy, give Dani’
(1;10;22)
natan li srita
‘gave me a-scratch’
(2;05;06)
ten li lir'ot
‘let me to-see’
(2;01;28)
ani roca latet le
Bindi
‘I want to-give to
Bindi.’
(2;01;05)
aba natan li bananot
‘Daddy gave me
bananas’ (2;01;23)
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Smadar
tni
‘give!’
(1;06;20)
tni li
‘give me’ (1;07;02)
sefer tni
‘book give’
(1;06;20)
ten od daf
‘give another page’
(1;07;05)
tni li od daf
‘give me another page’
(1;07;05)
savta Xana lo natna leRotem
smalot
‘Granma Xana not gave to
Rotem dresses’ (2;00;00)
(na)tat li et ha-kaze?
‘you-gave me ACC the-likethis’
(1;11;13)
savta Matilda natna li gam
lishtot ba-mita
‘granma Matilda gave me
also to-drink in-the-bed’
(2;02;10)
savta Xana natna lanu et hasmalot ha-ele
‘granma Xana gave us ACC
the-dresses these’
(2;00;00)
Dr. Sharon Armon-Lotem
Early verbs
Table 3 - The development of argument structure for the verb ‘fall’
No argument
NP subject
VS
Hagar
lipol
‘to-fall’ (1;10;01)
lo nafal
‘not fell’
(1;10;14)
Hagar (na)fal
‘Hagar (fm) fell
(ms)’ (1;07;14)
hagari nafla
‘Hagar (fm) fell
(fm)’ (1;10;17)
(n)afal xaruzim
‘fell (sg) bids’
(1;07;17)
Location
nafal, la-mayim
‘fell, to-thewater’
(1;09;26)
Dative clitic
nafal li
‘fell to-me’
(2;01;13)
nofel lax
‘fell to-you’
(2;02;13)
Shauli nafal me
ha-kise
‘Shauli fell of
the-chair’
(2;01;19)
NP subject
+location
NP subject +
dative clitic
Leor
nafal
‘fell’
(1;09;17)
Lior
(na)fal
‘fell’
(1;05;26)
oto nafal
‘car fell’
(1;11;22)
nafal ha-magevet
‘fell (ms) towel
(fm).
(2;05;15)
(na)fal ze
‘fell this’
(1;07;00)
nafal li
‘fell to-me’
(2;04;22)
nafal li
‘fell to-me’
(1;08;02)
Smadar
(na)fal
‘fell’ (1;06;14)
oy! nafal!
‘oy! fell!’
(1;07;07)
Pigi lala
‘Pigi fell’
(1;06;14)
dubi nafal
‘teddybear fell’
(1;07;07)
hala ze
‘fell this’
(1;07;05)
nafal Kushi
‘fell Kushi’
(1;07;07)
nafal Bamba (me
ha-)kos
‘fell (ms) Bamba
(fm) (of the-)cup’
(1;07;11)
nafal li
‘fell to-me’
(2;01;08)
ze yipol al hashulxan
‘this will-fall on
the-table’
(2;04;22)
hi nafla me haofnoa
‘she fell of thebikes’
(2;05;15)
ze nofel lexa
‘it falls to-you’
(2;02;25)
ze nafal li
‘it fell to-me’
(1;11;13)
nafal li kcat hatush
‘fell to-me a-bit
the-pen’
(2;02;10)
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