21.5170, Diss: Psycholing/Syntax: Asproudi: 'Comprehension and Production of...'

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LINGUIST List: Vol-21-5170. Mon Dec 20 2010. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 21.5170, Diss: Psycholing/Syntax: Asproudi: 'Comprehension and Production of...'

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1)
Date: 16-Dec-2010
From: Evangelia Asproudi [evangelia.asproudi at gmail.com]
Subject: Comprehension and Production of Wh-Interrogatives in the L1 Acquisition of Greek
 

	
-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Mon, 20 Dec 2010 11:55:26
From: Evangelia Asproudi [evangelia.asproudi at gmail.com]
Subject: Comprehension and Production of Wh-Interrogatives in the L1 Acquisition of Greek

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Institution: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki 
Program: Department of Linguistics 
Dissertation Status: Completed 
Degree Date: 2010 

Author: Evangelia Asproudi

Dissertation Title: Comprehension and Production of Wh-Interrogatives in the L1
Acquisition of Greek 

Linguistic Field(s): Psycholinguistics
                     Syntax
                     Applied Ling

Dissertation Director(s):
Ianthi Tsimpli

Dissertation Abstract:

The general aim of this dissertation is to investigate the acquisition of
wh-interrogatives in L1 Greek by typically developing children. More concretely,
comprehension and production of wh-interrogatives is examined with respect to
four fundamental questions on children's sensitivity to long-distance movement
constraints, to PF/LF discrepancy reduction, to locality considerations and to
economy-based parsing. All these questions are addressed mainly on the basis of
the following conditions: short-/long-distance extraction, presence or absence
of wh-islands/negation/Discourse-linking, and presence of complementiser 'oti'
vs. 'na'. In order to test the Greek-specific predictions made in relation to
the fundamental questions outlined above, ninety 4-to-7 year-old Greek children
participated in a series of comprehension and production experiments. The
analysis of their results aims at comparisons between question comprehension and
production, as well as between short- and long-distance question production.
These comparisons are drawn both at an intralinguistic and at a crosslinguistic
level, with the ultimate goal of gaining deeper insight into the acquisition of
wh-movement. Overall, the obtained results provide evidence for the availability
of successive cyclicity and for sensitivity to wh- and negative islands, for
convergence of PF and LF representations, for early preference for maximally
local movement and, finally, for the operation of economy-based parsing
principles. On the whole, all the patterns observed point to a UG-compatible
linguistic behaviour and thus attest for a continuity account of language
acquisition. Maturation seems to pertain to children's processing ability and
more prominently at the level of meaning rather than at the level of form.





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