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Suzanne Flynn Suzanne Flynn 7'Professor of Linguistics & Second Language Acquisition Thesis Supervisor

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Suzanne Flynn Suzanne Flynn 7'Professor of Linguistics & Second Language Acquisition Thesis Supervisor Syntax and Discourse in the Acquisition of Adjunct Control by Allison Nicole Adler B.A. Linguistics University of California, San Diego, 2001 SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS AND PHILOSOPHY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN LINGUISTICS AT THE MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY SEPTEMBER 2006 © 2006 Allison Nicole Adler. All rights reserved. The author hereby grants to MIT permission to reproduce and to distribute publicly paper and electronic MASSACHUSMtTS INST E,= copies of this thesis document in whole or in part OF TECHNOLOGY in any medium now known or hereafter created. SSEP 2 6 2006 LIBRARIES / /'-17 /7Z Signature of Author: Department of Linguistics and Philosophy August 31, 2006 Certified by: ( Suzanne Flynn Suzanne Flynn 7'Professor of Linguistics & Second Language Acquisition Thesis Supervisor Accepted by: Irene Heim Professor of Linguistics Chair of the Linguistics Program ARCHIVES Syntax and Discourse in the Acquisition of Adjunct Control by Allison Nicole Adler Submitted to the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy on August 31, 2006 in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of PhD in Linguistics ABSTRACT This dissertation is a study of null subjects in adjunct clauses in English. The goal is twofold: to establish a comprehensive theory of control in adjuncts, and to utilize this theory to understand the adjunct control interpretations of children aged 3-6. The theoretical basis of this work is Landau (2000, 2001), who characterizes the complement control mechanism as a syntactic Agree relation (Chomsky 1995, et seq.). I argue that the same mechanism governs control into low-attaching adjuncts (like before, after, while and without) as well. High-attaching adjuncts and gerund subjects, on the other hand, are subject to discourse-governed control rather than the syntactic Agree relation. I argue that the topic of the sentence is the controller in these cases. This theory makes certain predictions for acquisition. We expect control in verb complements and low-attaching adjuncts to develop at the same age, given that they are governed by the same mechanism. Discourse-governed control, on the other hand, is predicted to develop much later in childhood. However, many researchers have observed that control in some low-attaching adjuncts may be delayed until age 5, beyond the age at which children master complement control. I suggest that the control principles are intact, and that a separate aspect of grammar is responsible for these non-adult interpretations. I argue that adjunct attachment height, which is crucial to determining what type of control will obtain in the adult grammar, must be learned from the input and exhibits gradual development. If the child has failed to embed an adjunct clause at a sufficiently low level (e.g., within the VP), the null subject will fall into the domain of discourse control rather than syntactic control. If these claims are correct, we expect children to show adult-like control in adjuncts, albeit contingent upon the adjunct type. Three experiments were conducted to test these predictions. We find correlations between non-adult control and non-adult pronoun interpretation, both argued to be due to the misattachment of the adjunct clause. Children's interpretations of PRO in misattached adjuncts are also similar to those in true discourse control contexts, as expected. Thesis Supervisor: Suzanne Flynn Title: Professor of Linguistics & Second Language Acquisition Acknowledgements Writing a dissertation is simply not something that one can accomplish alone. Although it is my name that appears on the cover, there are a number of people without whom this dissertation would not exist. I am incredibly grateful for the academic and personal support of my advisor Suzanne Flynn. Without our weekly meetings, both when I was her TA and her student, MIT would have been a much colder place for me. She helped me to define my interests and refine my talents, and to really understand what it is we study when we study the acquisition of language. Her input on both the theoretical and experimental aspects of this thesis were invaluable. She is truly a model of what it means to be a mentor, advisor and teacher. Similarly, I consider myself very lucky to have worked with Andrea Gualmini, under whose guidance I first began to explore the acquisition of control. During his all-too-brief two years at MIT, he went above and beyond the call of duty in helping me design and run experiments, contact daycares, and discuss the theoretical significance of my findings. For all of this, I thank him immensely. I would also like to thank Sabine Iatridou for her copious input on my thesis. She gave me academic advice that was both valuable and practical, even though it sometimes took me a while to accept it. She always encouraged me to reach for a more rigorous level of theoretical understanding in conjunction with my experimental work. I thank her for her patience and guidance with this research. Many other people at MIT and beyond have influenced my intellectual development and the research in this thesis. David Pesetsky's insights and suggestions were always instructive and indispensable. Our meetings for my generals paper became meetings for the dissertation, and I thank him for his time and his ability to see the bigger picture. I wish to thank Ken Wexler for his willingness to meet and discuss my work even when our ideas were at odds with each other. I thank Alec Marantz for always being open and approachable, and amenable to my somewhat non-traditional path through grad school. I also wish to thank Stephen Crain, Kai von Fintel, Danny Fox, Barbara Lust and Tom Roeper for input on this research. It was David Perlmutter's undergraduate elective at UCSD (Sign Language and Its Culture) that set me on the path which eventually led to grad school for linguistics. I thank him for his inspired teaching and for imparting his passion for linguistics to me. This path also indirectly led me to Judy and James Shepard-Kegl and Nicaragua Sign Language Projects, Inc. Although this thesis did not include material from my time in Nicaragua, it certainly shaped my grad school experience. I am so grateful for the chance I had to teach (and learn!) at the Escuelita de Bluefields. I hope I was able to make a difference in the lives of all the deaf students and teachers. Without the children, administrators and parents from the daycares I visited, none of this research would have been possible. For their willingness to participate and generous accommodation, I thank staff and families of the Open Center for Children in Somerville, the Volpe Transportation Center daycare, the Cambridge Ellis School, the Lesley Ellis School, and the daycare at Northeastern University. I also thank Mary Campbell at Magic Years, my own nursery school alma mater in Reseda, California, for allowing me to work with the latest batch of pre-schoolers and facilitating the testing that I ran there. I also owe a huge amount of thanks to the MIT undergraduates, especially Tess Diduch, who helped me conduct a whirlwind of testing during the spring of 2006. I cannot imagine my journey through grad school without the joy of friends and colleagues. The students of MIT linguistics are a diverse and fascinating group. For countless dinners, parties, laughs and occasionally even academic discussions, I wish to especially thank Pranav Anand, Maria Barouni, Teal Bissell Doggett, Jon Gajewski, Valentine Hacquard, Sarah Hulsey, Justin Fitzpatrick, Lance Nathan, Becki Norris, Joey Sabbagh, Andres Pablo Salanova, Raj Singh, Tamina Stevenson, Shoichi Takahashi, Michael Wagner, and Mary Ann Walter. To my fellow dedicated MITWPLers, in particular Seth Cable, Aniko Csirmaz, Ivona Kucerova and Jillian Mills, thanks for doing your best to keep our office running smoothly. Looking back, I hope we can laugh and shake our heads at our MITWPL drama (like those mysterious shipments of bibles and vitamins instead of working papers...!) Last but certainly not least on this list, thanks to my partner Craig Smith, who listened even when it didn't make sense, allowed me to pester him for judgments, and helped me to laugh at all of it. And of course, without his superb cooking, I probably would have subsisted on ramen and trail mix during the dissertation process. Finally, and most importantly, I wish to thank my family. Throughout my life, they have provided unwavering support of my personal and academic ambitions. My mother Gail and father Steve managed to cheer me on throughout college and grad school, despite my decision to not pursue a "real" (medical) doctorate degree. I think by now they are duly impressed with the monumental task of dissertation-writing that I have undertaken. Their support of my endeavors has been unparalleled - from helping me directly with testing to following any lead that might aid me in my job search. I don't have the words to truly express my love and appreciation. Likewise, I am so grateful for my tight-knit network of family, from my sisters to my aunts, uncles, and grandparents, all of whom have encouraged me from across the country and welcomed me home at every opportunity. This dissertation is dedicated to my grandmothers Esther Adler and Naomi Epstein both of whom said I know you can do it! each and every time we spoke. Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction........................................................................................ 13 1.1 Innate and Learned Factors in Language Acquisition........................................ 13 1.2 Control Theory.................................................................................................... 15 1.3 Issues in Acquisition: Control and Adjunct Structure......................................... 18 1.3.1 Previous Research................................................................................... 18 1.3.2 My Account: the Relevance of Adjunct Attachment Height.................. 23 1.4 Overview of Experimental Studies....................................................................
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