%0 Journal Article %1 Abbot-Smith2006 %A Abbot-Smith, Kirsten %A Behrens, Heike %D 2006 %I Psychology Press %J Cognitive Science %K acquisition,german,ling832,linguistics,syntax %N 6 %P 995--1026 %R http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15516709cog0000\_61 %T How Known Constructions Influence the Acquisition of Other Constructions: \T\he German Passive and Future Constructions %V 30 %X This article suggests evidence for and reasons why prior acquisition may either facilitate or inhibit acquisition of a new construction. It investigates acquisition of the German passive and future constructions which contain a lexical verb with either the auxiliary sein “to be” or werden “to become”, and are related through these to potential supporting constructions. We predicted that a supported construction should be acquired earlier, faster, and unusually rapidly. An inhibited construction should show an extended depressed usage. We analyzed a dense corpus of a German boy between 2;0 and 5;0. He acquired the sein- before the werden-passive. The former was supported by his prior acquisition of the sein copula, whereas the werden-passive itself supported one werden copula construction. He acquired the werden-future extremely slowly due to the hindrance of a semantically identical construction. These results fit with an emergentist approach in which apparently “sudden” acquisition is still due to gradual learning mechanisms.

@article{Abbot-Smith2006, abstract = {This article suggests evidence for and reasons why prior acquisition may either facilitate or inhibit acquisition of a new construction. It investigates acquisition of the German passive and future constructions which contain a lexical verb with either the auxiliary sein \^{A}“to be\^{A}” or werden \^{A}“to become\^{A}”, and are related through these to potential supporting constructions. We predicted that a supported construction should be acquired earlier, faster, and unusually rapidly. An inhibited construction should show an extended depressed usage. We analyzed a dense corpus of a German boy between 2;0 and 5;0. He acquired the sein- before the werden-passive. The former was supported by his prior acquisition of the sein copula, whereas the werden-passive itself supported one werden copula construction. He acquired the werden-future extremely slowly due to the hindrance of a semantically identical construction. These results fit with an emergentist approach in which apparently \^{A}“sudden\^{A}” acquisition is still due to gradual learning mechanisms.}, added-at = {2011-03-27T17:20:41.000+0200}, author = {Abbot-Smith, Kirsten and Behrens, Heike}, biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/27d05b635d48fce04bf2534c0a90e14c1/yevb0}, doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15516709cog0000\_61}, interhash = {075258ede14d8f36afda042c2858885d}, intrahash = {7d05b635d48fce04bf2534c0a90e14c1}, journal = {Cognitive Science}, keywords = {acquisition,german,ling832,linguistics,syntax}, mendeley-tags = {acquisition,german,ling832,linguistics,syntax}, number = 6, pages = {995--1026}, publisher = {Psychology Press}, timestamp = {2011-03-27T17:20:42.000+0200}, title = {How Known Constructions Influence the Acquisition of Other Constructions: \{T\}he German Passive and Future Constructions}, type = {Journal article}, volume = 30, year = 2006 }