29.4808, Diss: Applied Linguistics; Discipline of Linguistics; General Linguistics; Language Acquisition; Linguistic Theories; Syntax: Author: Silvia Sánchez Calderón: ''The Acquisition of English and Spanish Dative Alternation Structures in the Longitudinal Spantaneous Production of Monolingual and Bilingual Children''

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LINGUIST List: Vol-29-4808. Tue Dec 04 2018. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 29.4808, Diss: Applied Linguistics; Discipline of Linguistics; General Linguistics; Language Acquisition; Linguistic Theories; Syntax: Author: Silvia Sánchez Calderón: ''The Acquisition of English and Spanish Dative Alternation Structures in the Longitudinal Spantaneous Production of Monolingual and Bilingual Children''

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Date: Tue, 04 Dec 2018 11:12:57
From: SILVIA SÁNCHEZ CALDERÓN [silvia-sanchez at fyl.uva.es]
Subject: The Acquisition of English and Spanish Dative Alternation Structures in the Longitudinal Spantaneous Production of Monolingual and Bilingual Children

 Institution: Universidad de Valladolid 
Program: Advanced English Studies: Languages and Cultures in Contact
Dissertation Status: Completed 
Degree Date: 2018 

Author: Silvia Sánchez Calderón

Dissertation Title: The Acquisition of English and Spanish Dative Alternation
Structures in the Longitudinal Spantaneous Production of
Monolingual and Bilingual Children 

Linguistic Field(s): Applied Linguistics
                     Discipline of Linguistics
                     General Linguistics
                     Language Acquisition
                     Linguistic Theories
                     Syntax


Dissertation Director(s):
Raquel Fernández Fuertes

Dissertation Abstract:

The ongoing debate in the domain of dative alternation (DA) revolves around
the syntactic derivational relationship (or lack thereof) between
prepositional and double object constructions (DOCs) in English (i.e.
to/for-datives and DOCs) and in Spanish (i.e. a/para-datives and dative-clitic
doubled (DCLD) structures). In English, the debate has centered on the
derivation of DOCs from to/for-datives(e.g. Czepluch 1982; Haspelmath 2006;
Larson 2014, 1990, 1988) or to/for-datives from DOCs instead (e.g. Aoun and Li
1989; Dryer 1986; Koizumi 1994). In Spanish, a/para-datives are analyzed as
the source structure of DCLDs (e.g. Bruhn de Garavito 2000; Demonte 1995,
1994; Kempchinsky 2004). Non-derivational approaches have proposed that DA
constructions stem from two different structures (e.g. Marantz 1993; Mulder
1992 in English; Cuervo 2003a, 2003b in Spanish) or establish a common
underlying configuration (e.g. Snyder and Stromswold 1997; Snyder 2001, 1995).
Yet, prepositional structures are also argued to be subject to additional
syntactic and semantic requirements that double object constructions are not
(e.g. Larson 1990, 1988; Marantz 1984; Snyder and Stromswold 1997).
Semantically, there is also a debate in the literature as to whether the two
DA structures share a similar theta role distribution (Baker 1988) or whether
they denote a semantic difference (e.g. Colleman 2010; Colleman and De Clerk
2011 in English; Demonte 1994; Romero Morales 2008 in Spanish).

Monolingual (L1) and bilingual (2L1) acquisition works on English and Spanish
DA are rather scarce and there is no consensus in the findings reported. While
some L1 English studies (e.g. Bowerman 1990; Campbell and Tomasello 2001) and
2L1 English studies (e.g. Gu 2010) point to the later emergence of
to/for-datives, other L1 English works (e.g. Snyder and Stromswold 1997)
report a similar emergence for English DA structures. In Spanish, only the
study conducted by Torrens and Wexler (2000) reports the early onset of DCLDs
from the initial L1 acquisition stages.

Data analyses show that prepositional and double object constructions emerge
at an approximately similar age in English and in Spanish alike, as analyzed
in the L1 children’s data and in each of the 2L1 English/Spanish children’s
two languages. Biological gender differences are not seen in the two language
groups either. These data point to the syntactic non-derivational relationship
(e.g. Marantz 1993; Mulder 1992; Snyder and Stromswold 1997; Snyder 2001,
1995; in English; Cuervo 2003a, 2003b in Spanish) and to the semantic analogy
(Baker 1988) between DA constructions in English and in Spanish. Although the
two DA constructions mature at a similar age, prepositional structures show a
later onset and a lower incidence through language development when compared
to double object constructions, as equally seen in the L1 and in the 2L1
children’s data in each language. These findings might be related to the
additional properties required in the production of English to/for-datives and
Spanish a/para-datives and/or the role played by adult input in child output.
Similar results appear when comparing across English and Spanish in the case
of the production of both the two L1 groups and the 2L1 children. Thus, as per
the acquisition pattern, the properties that characterize double object and
prepositional constructions indicate a cross-linguistic parallelism in English
and Spanish and the amount of exposure to these constructions could also have
played a similar role in the children’s output across the two languages.



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