36.1259, Calls: Languages - "The Syntax of Child Language" (Jrnl)

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-36-1259. Thu Apr 17 2025. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 36.1259, Calls: Languages - "The Syntax of Child Language" (Jrnl)

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Date: 13-Apr-2025
From: Peng Zhou [zhoupeng1892 at zju.edu.cn]
Subject: Languages - "The Syntax of Child Language" (Jrnl)


Journal: Languages
Issue: The Syntax of Child Language
Call Deadline: 30-Nov-2025

Call for Papers:
We are organizing a special issue entitled “The syntax of child
language”. Children’s acquisition of syntax is an amazing feat. How
children, exposed to a relatively small sample of language input, come
to acquire the complex structures of their language has been a central
topic both in theoretical linguistics and in psycholinguistics. This
question has been extensively investigated in the past 50 years or so.
However, research findings on children’s acquisition of sentence
structures are sometimes difficult to interpret, because children’s
performance reflects a combination of their syntactic knowledge with
their processing mechanisms through which they produce behaviour.
Therefore, to fully reveal children’s syntactic knowledge, processing
mechanisms need to be carefully examined. In addition, children master
the syntax of their language through exposure and interaction with
caregivers and others but, notably, with no formal instruction. To
fully understand the nature of children’s syntactic development, it is
also essential to explore the nature of children’s linguistic input
and how in principle children can deduce the correct generalizations
about the sentence structures for their language based on their input.
This three-way interaction between children’s innate structural
knowledge, their processing mechanisms and the linguistic input they
receive provides a general framework for understanding children’s
acquisition of syntax.
This special issue aims to bring together research that reflects the
current state of our understanding of this three-way interaction in
children’s acquisition of sentence structures. Submissions are
encouraged to address the following questions.
(1) How much do we know about the nature of children’s linguistic
input?
(2) Given what we know about the nature of children’s linguistic
input, can children deduce the correct generalizations about the
sentence structures of their language?
(3) What are the roles of the processing mechanisms in children’s
deduction of syntactic generalizations?
(4) In what ways does children’s syntactic knowledge exceed the
linguistic evidence available to them?
(5) In what ways can children’s innate structural knowledge make the
input more informative so as to facilitate children’s acquisition of
syntax?
We hope that this special issue will shed light on major developments
in child syntax and can provide the basis for future research in the
field. We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested
authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 200 words
summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the guest
editor (zhoupeng1892 at zju.edu.cn) or to /Languages/ editorial office
(languages at mdpi.com). Abstracts will be reviewed by the guest editor
for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the
special issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer-review.
You can find the information about this issue via the link:
https://www.mdpi.com/journal/languages/special_issues/451TALEYRL.
We look forward to your participation in this project.
Prof. Peng Zhou
Guest Editor

Linguistic Field(s): Language Acquisition
                     Syntax




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