Toddlers’ Verb-Marking Errors Are Predicted by the Relative Frequency of Uninflected Sequences in Well-Formed Child-Directed Speech: A Preregistered Corpus Analysis

IF 3.5 1区文学 Q1 EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH Language Learning Pub Date : 2024-01-08 DOI:10.1111/lang.12626

Hannah Sawyer, Colin Bannard, Julian Pine

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Abstract

Verb-marking errors such as she play football and daddy singing are a hallmark feature of English-speaking children's speech. We investigated the proposal that these errors are input-driven errors of commission arising from the high relative frequency of subject + unmarked verb sequences in well-formed child-directed speech. We tested this proposal via a preregistered corpus analysis and asked at what level the effects occur: Is it the relative frequency of specific subject + unmarked verb sequences in the input that is important, or is it simply that verbs become entrenched, such that their frequency of appearance with any third person singular subject accounts for errors? We found that the best predictor of children's verb-marking errors is the relative frequency of unmarked forms of specific subject + verb sequences. Our results supported the proposal that children's apparent omissions of certain grammatical morphemes are in fact input-driven errors of commission and provided insight into the mechanisms by which this occurs.

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幼儿的动词标记错误是由形式良好的儿童引导性言语中无偏正序列的相对频率预测的：预登记语料库分析

动词标记错误（如 she play football 和 daddy singing）是英语儿童语音的一个标志性特征。我们研究了这样一种提议，即这些错误是输入驱动型委派错误，是由于主语+无标记动词序列在形式良好的儿童引导性语音中出现的相对频率较高而引起的。我们通过预先登记的语料库分析对这一提议进行了检验，并询问了产生影响的程度：是输入中特定主语 + 无标记动词序列的相对频率很重要，还是动词变得根深蒂固，以至于它们与任何第三人称单数主语一起出现的频率会导致错误？我们发现，儿童动词标记错误的最佳预测因素是特定主语 + 动词序列中未标记形式的相对频率。我们的研究结果支持这样的观点，即儿童表面上遗漏某些语法词素实际上是由输入驱动的错误，我们还深入了解了这种错误发生的机制。

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来源期刊

Language Learning Multiple-

CiteScore

9.10

自引率

15.90%

发文量

期刊介绍： Language Learning is a scientific journal dedicated to the understanding of language learning broadly defined. It publishes research articles that systematically apply methods of inquiry from disciplines including psychology, linguistics, cognitive science, educational inquiry, neuroscience, ethnography, sociolinguistics, sociology, and anthropology. It is concerned with fundamental theoretical issues in language learning such as child, second, and foreign language acquisition, language education, bilingualism, literacy, language representation in mind and brain, culture, cognition, pragmatics, and intergroup relations. A subscription includes one or two annual supplements, alternating among a volume from the Language Learning Cognitive Neuroscience Series, the Currents in Language Learning Series or the Language Learning Special Issue Series.