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[Lise Menn]

First, what would you consider to be evidence for 'learning the
infinitive' vs. 'learning the indicative'?  It is hard to show that
learning proceeds on such broad fronts - a kid may learn to use the
infinitive in some constructions, may simply use uninflected forms (in a
language with lots of zero-morphemes or allomorphs) in other constructions
 in a way that some people would call 'use of the infinitive', and may use
inflected forms of the verb in other contexts...then there are languages
that have no infinitive (Japanese) or that have many of them (Finnish)
but where they are not used as the citation form of the verb....
Lise Menn

On Fri, 19 Feb 1999, Asma Siddiki wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> I don't know the answer to the following question and would like some help
> please.
>
> Do children learn the
> infinitive later than the indicative, and if so, then why?
>
> references????  - thanks.
>
> Asma
> ************************************************************
> Asma Siddiki		     Dept. of Experimental Psychology
> Oriel College                South Parks Road
> Oxford University            Oxford University
> OX1 4EW                      OX1 3UD
> *************************************************************
>
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