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Functional Categories and Maturation: The FUNCTIONAL CATEGORIES AND MATURATION: THE PREFUNCTIONAL STAGE OF LANGUAGE ACQUISITION Ianthi-Maria Tsimpli Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Ph.D. University College London M ay 1992 l ProQuest Number: 10610950 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10610950 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 For Alexia ABSTRACT The aim of this thesis is to provide a theory of language acquisition within the Principles and Parameters framework of Generative Grammar. In Chapter 1 ,1 outline the syntactic theory I adopt which assumes that functional categories determine crosslinguistic variation in terms of parameterisation. In the model of the grammar presented, the set of functional categories is argued to constitute an independent module in the Language Faculty, the Functional Module. This is also referred to as the UG lexicon on the ground that it consists of categories that belong to the grammar proper. Substantive categories are assumed to be included in the Mental lexicon which is part of an independent module of the mind/brain. One of the underlying criteria which determine the difference between functional and substantive categories is the relation of each of these sets with conceptual entries in the mental lexicon. Both substantive and functional categories are argued to be morphologically realised at an interface level where processes of morphological affixation take place. The theoretical approach to language acquisition defended in this thesis is summarised as follows: Principles of UG (Universal Grammar) are always available throughout the process of language acquisition; the Functional Module is subject to maturation, hence not available at the Prefunctional stage (18-24 months). On the basis of these background assumptions, the predictions of the theory are that Prefunctional grammars are 'possible' grammars in the sense defined by UG and that parameterisation is absent. Accordingly, the theory is tested against acquisition data from a number of languages: English, French, Greek, German, Spanish and Irish. In Chapter 2 1 present an account of inflectional affixation in Prefunctional grammars, the basic claim being that Aspect rather than Tense is encoded in early verbal forms. The presence of Aspect at this stage is argued to be motivated by two reasons. The first is that the process of Aspectual affixation involves a morphological rather than a syntactic derivation. On the assumption that lexical processes take place at the interface level, the presence of Aspectual features is expected. The second reason is that Aspect is an argument of the verb, thus necessarily present in early grammars, by virtue of thematic constraints on representations imposed by UG. In Chapter 3 I discuss Agreement morphology in early verbal forms. The absence of an Agreement projection in the structural representation is argued to give rise to a number of predictions as far as the status of null arguments in Prefunctional grammars is concerned. In particular, the claim put forward is that null subjects and objects are structurally realised as PRO, the underlying motivation being that the availability of this category does not depend on the presence of a functional head in the clause structure. The traditional idea that child grammars are context-bound is formulated in terms of the distinction between discourse- and sentence-oriented languages. Early grammars are thus 3 argued to belong to the former set in that the referential status of null arguments is not syntactically but pragmatically identified. In Chapter 4 the issue of word-order in Prefunctional grammars is addressed. In the absence of functional heads in the clause structure, the order of the subject and the object is argued to be unfixed with respect to the verbal head. Moreover, according to the clause structure suggested previously, it is predicted that certain word-order patterns are not available at this stage. Thus, the VSO order is shown to be missing even in acquisition data from languages where it is available in adult speech, e.g. Irish, Greek and Spanish. The account of word-order in early grammars is thus subsumed under the general claim concerning the absence of functional categories, and, consequently, parameterisation. In Chapter 5, I discuss the interaction of negation and modality at the Prefunctional stage. These two categories are argued to exhibit certain distributional properties in early grammars which are attributed to their underlying semantic compatibility. Thus, distinctions between different categories of modality as well as between modal and non-modal sentences are argued to be expressed in the use of different negative elements in early grammars. The transition from this to the subsequent stage of development is argued to be the result of modal elements and negation emerging as syntactic categories. This account is consistent with the theoretical approach to language acquisition presented in this thesis, whereby transitional stages of development are taken to instantiate the emerging functional structure. 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS One of the most fortunate events in my life was my encounter with linguistics at a stage when I thought that academic work was particularly boring. The person who is mainly responsible for this change is Neil Smith, my supervisor. Neil is unique for many reasons. Throughout this period, he has guided my ideas, showing always the right balance of enthusiasm and caution. He has taught me to avoid narrow-minded approaches and allowed me to develop my ideas while persuading me to abandon the craziest ones. Apart from the intellectual debt I owe him, he has been a great friend who constantly reminded me to put my priorities right. For these, and many other reasons, I thank him. I am also grateful to Jamal Ouhalla and Rita Manzini for the intellectual stimulation they provided me with, in the development of my ideas. Jamal was one of the first to teach me hard core syntax but the first to prevent me from running away from it. He has always encouraged me to continue my research when I was not very optimistic about the outcome. His friendship has enriched both my academic and personal life. My debt to him is obvious throughout this thesis. I have greatly benefitted from discussions with Rita Manzini who has always been helpful and willing to listen to ideas she is not very keen on. She has constantly provided me with challenge and constructive criticism, being excellent at showing me how a logical argument fits together. Many other people have helped directly or indirectly in shaping the final form of this thesis. I would like to thank Misi Brody, Robyn Carston and Wynn Chao for their useful comments and suggestions. I am greatly indebted to Melissa Bowerman and Anna Roussou for providing me with an extensive corpus of their data. I would also like to thank my friends at UCL who have made this period of my life enjoyable and interesting: Georgia Agouraki, Stefanie Anyadi, Anna Roussou, Evangelia Roussou, Villy Rouchota and Armine Tamrazian. I have a particular debt of gratitude to Stefanie Anyadi and Anna Roussou for putting up with me. Special thanks go to my family in London and in Athens for their moral support, encouragement and patience. Finally, to Alexia; her presence sustained me when things were at their blackest. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: THE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 1.1 Introduction 8 1.2. Parameters and Functional categories 10 1.3. Language Acquisition 14 1.3.1. The Continuity hypothesis 15 1.3.2. The Maturation hypothesis 25 1.3.2.1. Maturation of UG Principles 27 1.3.2.1.1. UG-unconstrained Maturation: Felix 27 1.3.2.1.2. UG-constrained (?) Maturation 30 1.3.2.2. An alternative theory of Maturation 32 1.3.2.2.1. Clause structure 38 1.4. Maturation of functional categories vs Continuity revisited 42 Endnotes 48 CHAPTER 2: ASPECT 2.1. Introduction 52 2.2. On the notion of Aspect 53 2.3. Tense or Aspect? 57 2.3.1. Greek 57 2.3.2. German and French 63 2.3.3. English 70 2.3.4. Irish and Spanish 73 2.4. A theory of Aspect 79 Endnotes 90 CHAPTER 3: AGREEMENT AND NULL ARGUMENTS 3.1. Introduction 94 3.2. Agreement 96 3.2.1. Greek 96 3.2.1.1. Null subjects in early Greek 101 6 3.2.2. German 104 3.2.3. Spanish and French 109 3.3. Case 114 3.4. Null arguments 119 3.4.1. Null subjects 119 3.4.2. Null objects 128 Endnotes 138 CHAPTER 4: WORD-ORDER 4.1. Introduction 142 4.2. Subjects and objects 143 4.2.1. Subjects 143 4.2.1.1. French and English 146 4.2.1.2. Greek and Spanish 153 4.2.1.3. Irish 157 4.2.2. Objects 160 4.2.2.1. Greek and Spanish 161 4.2.2.2. English and French 165 4.3. Word-order in early German 168 Endnotes 178 CHAPTER 5: NEGATION AND MODALITY 5.1. Introduction 179 5.2. English 181 5.3. German 188 5.4. French 199 5.5. Greek 202 Endnotes 215 7 CHAPTER ONE THE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 1.1. Introduction The ultimate aim of any adequate theory of language is to account for two basic problems.
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