The acquisition of intensifiers : emphatic reflexives in English and German child language / by Insa Gulzow.

Format:

Book

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Gülzow, Insa, 1967-

Series:

Studies on language acquisition ; 22.

Studies on language acquisition, 1861-4248 ; 22

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

German language--Reflexives.

German language.

English language--Reflexives.

English language.

German language--Acquisition.

English language--Acquisition.

German language--Grammar, Comparative--English.

English language--Grammar, Comparative--German.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 279 pages) : illustrations

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berlin ; New York : Mouton de Gruyter, 2006.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Insa Gülzow analyzes the acquisition of intensifiers by children acquiring German or English as their first language. Based on a comparative analysis of intensifiers and related expressions in the two languages, she examines the longitudinal production data of six German-speaking and six English-speaking children with regard to when and in which contexts the intensifiers German selbst/selber and English x-self (myself, yourself, himself, etc.) appear. As intensifiers evoke alternatives to the referent of their focus and relate a central referent to more peripheral alternative referents, they are an important linguistic means to structure the participants of a child's early discourse. By integrating intensifiers into their utterances, children can identify themselves as central. The notion of being included or excluded in a certain state of affairs is relevant for children when interacting with their parents and/or other children. In the course of development, children acquire a number of both linguistic and non-linguistic skills that characterize them as increasingly independent and competent agents. In this process, intensifiers are an important linguistic device with which children can negotiate and comment on their participation in a given event. The three parts of the volume consist first, of a detailed analysis of the intensifiers selbst/selber and x-self and related expressions such as allein and by x-self in the two languages. Special attention is given to the fact that in English, intensifiers and reflexive pronouns are identical expressions while in German they are distinct. Second, previous results of comprehension studies are carefully reviewed in order to relate them to the findings in longitudinal production data. Third, a detailed analysis of the children's early use of intensifiers and related expressions is presented.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Chapter 1 Intensifiers and agent-sensitive expressions

Chapter 2 The expression x-self in acquisition studies

Chapter 3 Intensifiers in German and English production data

Back matter

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Dissertation Freie Universität Berlin 2002.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [265]-274) and index.

ISBN:

9786612194023

9781282194021

128219402X

9783110197655

3110197650

OCLC:

191926193