Minimalist inquiries into child and adult language acquisition : case studies across Portuguese / edited by Acrisio Pires, Jason Rothman.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Pires, Acrisio.

Rothman, Jason.

Series:

Studies on language acquisition ; 35.

Studies on language acquisition ; 35

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Second language acquisition--Case studies.

Second language acquisition.

Bilingualism--Case studies.

Bilingualism.

Portuguese language--Acquisition--Case studies.

Portuguese language.

Portuguese language--Ability testing--Case studies.

Linguistic change--Case studies.

Linguistic change.

Grammar, Comparative and general--Case studies.

Grammar, Comparative and general.

Minimalist theory (Linguistics).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (362 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berlin ; New York : Mouton de Gruyter, c2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This volume brings together chapters written by specialists in North America, Europe and Brazil. It includes original research about the acquisition (L1, bilingualism) and acquisition/ learning (L2 or L3) of dialects of Brazilian and European Portuguese. In an effort to maximize volume cohesion, the emphasis has been on contributions that present studies exploring both empirical/experimental and theoretical aspects of the acquisition of syntax, and its interfaces with morphology, with semantics/pragmatics, and with language change. Within the generative paradigm alone there are various volumes on the acquisition of other languages, but there are no volumes currently in print focusing on the acquisition of Portuguese. We believe that it is time for such a volume, considering among other factors that Portuguese is the second most widely spoken Romance language (second only to Spanish), and the seventh most widely spoken language in the world. In addition, the significant changes that have taken place between Brazilian and European Portuguese especially since the 19th century make the inquiry into the acquisition of the different dialects a source for very productive insights about the connections between linguistic theory, language acquisition and language change. Finally, having a collection of high quality articles in one place pays homage to the importance for linguistic research of investigations into the acquisition of the Portuguese language.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Foreword

Child and adult language acquisition, linguistic theory and (microparametric) variation

Part 1 - First Language Acquisition

Bootstrapping language acquisition from a minimalist standpoint: On the identification of ϕ-features in Brazilian Portuguese

Clitic omission in the acquisition of European Portuguese: Data from comprehension

Speculations about the acquisition of wh-questions in Brazilian Portuguese

Aspect and the acquisition of null objects in Brazilian Portuguese

Acquisition of Brazilian Portuguese in late childhood: Implications for syntactic theory and language change

Early VP ellipsis: Production and comprehension evidence

Part 2 - Adult and Second Language Acquisition

Informing adult acquisition debates: N-Drop at the initial state of L3 Brazilian Portuguese

Divergence at the syntax-discourse interface: Evidence from the L2 acquisition of contrastive focus in European Portuguese

Competing SLA hypotheses assessed: Comparing heritage and successive Spanish bilinguals of L3 Brazilian Portuguese

Brazilian Portuguese and the recovery of lost clitics through schooling

The acquisition of clitic pronouns in L2 European Portuguese

Subject expression in the non-native acquisition of Brazilian Portuguese

Afterword

Backmatter

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN:

9786612296543

9781282296541

128229654X

9783110215359

3110215357

OCLC:

500808557