Publishing Partner: Cambridge University Press CUP Extra Publisher Login
amazon logo
More Info

New from Cambridge University Press!

ad

From Utterances to Speech Acts

By Mikhail Kissine

"Kissine offers a new theory of speech acts which is philosophically sophisticated and builds on work in cognitive science, formal semantics, and linguistic typology. This highly readable, brilliant essay is a major contribution to the field."

--François Recanati, Institut Jean-Nicod

Write better papers faster with Questia!

Academic Paper


Title: Construction learning as a function of frequency, frequency distribution, and function
Paper URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2009.00896.x
Author: Nick C. Ellis
Institution: University of Michigan
Author: Fernando Gonçalves Ferreira-Junior
Email: click here to access email
Homepage: http://lattes.cnpq.br/4773337313391912
Institution: Instituto Federal de Minas Gerais
Linguistic Field: Language Acquisition
Abstract: This article considers effects of construction frequency, form, function, and prototypicality on second language acquisition (SLA). It investigates these relationships by focusing on naturalistic SLA in the European Science Foundation corpus (Perdue, 1993) of the English verb-argument constructions (VACs): verb locative (VL), verb object locative (VOL), and ditransitive (VOO). Goldberg (2006) argued that Zipfian type/token frequency distributions (Zipf, 1935) in natural language constructions might optimize learning by providing one very high-frequency exemplar that is also prototypical in meaning. This article tests and confirms this proposal for naturalistic English as a second language. We show that VAC type/token distribution in the input is Zipfian and that learners first use the most frequent, prototypical, and generic exemplar (e.g., put in the VOL VAC, give in the VOO ditransitive, etc.). Learning is driven by the frequency and frequency distribution of exemplars within constructions and by the match of their meaning to the construction prototype. © 2009 by The Modern Language Journal.
Type: Individual Paper
Status: Completed
Publication Info: Modern Language Journal. Vol 93 Issue 3.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2009.00896.x


Back
Add a new paper
Return to Academic Papers main page
Return to Directory of Linguists main page