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Dear Brian,<br>
<br>
As I understand your message, you are ultimately interested in the
comprehension - production lag, and you are approaching the problem
through the singular - plural distinction because of linguistic and
methodological transparency.<br>
<br>
"We are hoping that such information could shed
<br>
further light on the comprehension-production lag during this
<br>
period."<br>
<br>
I might suggest that you can also approach this problem by
investigating temporal and spatial reference with a similar
methodological advantage. Here are three references with one on the
comprehension side of the issue and two on the production side. I have
added a forth reference that places this work in an integrated and
larger context.<br>
<br>
<p class="Level1" style=""><span
style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; color: black;" lang="PL">Weist,
R.M., Atanassova, M., Wysocka, H., & Pawlak,
A. (1999).<span style=""> </span></span><span
style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; color: black;">Spatial and
temporal systems
in child language and thought: A cross-linguistic study.<span
style=""> </span><i style="">First
Language</i>, 19, 267-312.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span
style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Weist,
R. M., Pawlak, A., & Carapella, J. (2004).<span style="">
</span>Syntactic-semantic interface in the acquisition of verb
morphology. <span style=""> </span><i>Journal of Child Language</i>, <span
style="">31</span>, 31 – 60.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p>Internicola,
R. & Weist, R. M. (2003).<span style=""> </span>The
acquisition of simple and complex spatial locatives in
English: A longitudinal
investigation.<span style=""> </span><i>First Language</i>,<u>
</u><span style="">23</span>, 239 -248.<o:p></o:p></span></>
<br>
<br>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span
style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Weist, R. M.
(2002).<span style=""> </span>Space and time in first and
second language acquisition: A tribute to Henning Wode (pp. 79–108).<span
style=""> </span>In P. Burmeister, T. Piske, A. Rohde (Eds.) <i>An
integrated view of language development: Papers in honor of Henning
Wode.</i> <st1:City w:st="on">Trier</st1:City>: Wissenschaftlicher
Verlag <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Trier</st1:City></st1:place>
(WVT).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
Regards,<br>
Dick<br>
<br>
<br>
Brian MacWhinney wrote:<br>
<blockquote cite="midC681F916-9DE0-48BA-92A1-2893D4BD22BC@cmu.edu"
type="cite">Dear Info-CHILDES,
<br>
During class discussion on Monday, one of my students asked
<br>
whether there were any experiments that have told us the age at which
<br>
a child can comprehend the plural marker. We were discussing the
<br>
findings of research in the picture preference task (perhaps with
<br>
reinforcement) that have demonstrated comprehension at perhaps 12
<br>
months. If this paradigm can be used to see if children can
<br>
distinguish "cat" from "dog" early on, has it also been used to see
<br>
if children can distinguish "cat" from "cats?"
<br>
We were particularly interested in information on the plural
<br>
marker, simply because it is so early in production, so semantically
<br>
transparent, and so easily demonstrated pictorially. However,
<br>
evidence for the early learning of other grammatical markers would
<br>
also be interesting. We are hoping that such information could shed
<br>
further light on the comprehension-production lag during this
<br>
period. Can anyone please point us to the relevant reference? Many
<br>
thanks.
<br>
<br>
--Brian MacWhinney, CMU
<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Richard M. Weist
Distinguished Professor
Department of Psychology
SUNY College at Fredonia
W337 Thompson Hall
Fredonia, NY 14063
Phone: 716-673-3896
</pre>
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