Semantic Features in the Acquisition of Mood in European Portuguese

Autor/inn/en	Jesus, Alice; Marques, Rui; Santos, Ana Lúcia
Titel	Semantic Features in the Acquisition of Mood in European Portuguese
Quelle	In: Language Acquisition: A Journal of Developmental Linguistics, 26 (2019) 3, S.302-338 (37 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1048-9223
DOI	10.1080/10489223.2019.1570203
Schlagwörter	Semantics; Portuguese; Verbs; Preschool Children; Language Acquisition; Morphology (Languages); Language Research; Epistemology; Task Analysis; Computational Linguistics; Language Patterns; Linguistic Input; Cognitive Mapping; Learning Processes; Phrase Structure; Grammar; Language Universals; Foreign Countries; Language Tests; Pictorial Stimuli; Portugal + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Semantik; Portugiesischunterricht; Pre-school age; Preschool age; Child; Children; Pre-school education; Preschool education; Vorschulalter; Kind; Kinder; Vorschulkind; Vorschulkinder; Vorschulerziehung; Vorschule; Sprachaneignung; Spracherwerb; Morphology; Morphologie; Sprachforschung; Erkenntnistheorie; Aufgabenanalyse; Linguistics; Computerlinguistik; Sprachmodell; Sprachstruktur; Sprachbildung; Learning process; Lernprozess; Phrasenstruktur; Grammatik; Ausland; Language test; Sprachtest; Fantasieanregung
Abstract	This article focuses on the acquisition of mood in early complement clauses of European Portuguese (EP). Two semantic features are involved in the EP mood system--epistemicity and veridicality. An elicited production task administered to 80 children aged 4 to 9 showed that, even though children use the subjunctive in [-- epistemic] contexts, the selection of a subjunctive complement is especially troublesome under [+ epistemic; -- veridical] predicates. A corpus analysis, meant to characterize the input to which children are exposed, showed that this pattern of mood distribution is not entirely explained by verb frequency or by mood variability in the input. We argue that children go through a stage in which they are not able to map mood morphology to the required sum of features and give priority to epistemicity only. Thus, while in early stages the [+/-- epistemic] contrast influences mood choices, the [+/-- veridic] contrast (particularly in epistemic contexts) does not. Despite that, we provide new evidence that children rely on the relevant semantic features throughout the process of mood acquisition. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01