LINGUIST List 14.1667
Thu Jun 12 2003
Diss: Lang Acquisition: Galasso: 'The Acquisition...'
Editor for this issue: Naomi Fox <foxlinguistlist.org>
Directory
joseph.galasso, The Acquisition of Functional Categories
Message 1: The Acquisition of Functional Categories
Date: Thu, 12 Jun 2003 00:33:00 +0000
From: joseph.galasso <joseph.galassocsun.edu>
Subject: The Acquisition of Functional Categories
Institution: University of Essex
Program: Department of Language and Linguistics
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 1999
Author: Joseph A. Galasso
Dissertation Title: The Acquisition of Functional Categories: A Case
Study
Linguistic Field: Language Acquisition
Dissertation Director 1: Andrew Radford
Dissertation Director 2: Harald Clahsen
Dissertation Abstract:
The case study argues in favor of an initial Pre-Functional stage in
the acquisition of English syntax that arises as a result of the
protracted 'maturational-scheduling' of the functional category
IP. This initial stage comes to be described as a Non-INFLectional
stage-1 during which subject-agreement and possessor-agreement go
unmarked. Following Radford & Galasso (1998), the data point to an
interesting and previously unreported symmetry between the general
development of inflective properties: viz., Subject-Verb constructions
on the one hand and Possessive-Noun constructions on the other. Both
show symmetric-chronological development of inflectional markings for
3Present/Sg/ {s} and Possessive {'s} (respectively).