A cross-linguistic study of the acquisition of clitic and pronoun production

Spyridoula Varlokosta; Adriana Belletti; João Costa; Naama Friedmann; Anna Gavarró; Kleanthes K. Grohmann; Maria Teresa Guasti; Laurice Tuller; Maria Lobo; Darinka Anđelković; Núria Argemí; Larisa Avram; Sanne Berends; Valentina Brunetto; Hélène Delage; María José Ezeizabarrena; Iris Fattal; Ewa Haman; Angeliek van Hout; Kristine Jensen de López; Napoleon Katsos; Lana Kologranic; Nadezda Krstić; Jelena Kuvac Kraljevic; Aneta Miękisz; Michaela Nerantzini; Clara Queraltó; Zeljana Radic; Sílvia Ruiz; Uli Sauerland; Anca Sevcenco; Magdalena Smoczyńska; Eleni Theodorou; Heather van der Lely; Alma Veenstra; John Weston; Maya Yachini; Kazuko Yatsushiro

A cross-linguistic study of the acquisition of clitic and pronoun production

Spyridoula Varlokosta, Adriana Belletti, João Costa, Naama Friedmann, Anna Gavarró, Kleanthes K. Grohmann, Maria Teresa Guasti, Laurice Tuller, Maria Lobo, Darinka Anđelković, Núria Argemí, Larisa Avram, Sanne Berends, Valentina Brunetto, Hélène Delage, María José Ezeizabarrena, Iris Fattal, Ewa Haman, Angeliek van Hout, Kristine Jensen de LópezNapoleon Katsos, Lana Kologranic, Nadezda Krstić, Jelena Kuvac Kraljevic, Aneta Miękisz, Michaela Nerantzini, Clara Queraltó, Zeljana Radic, Sílvia Ruiz, Uli Sauerland, Anca Sevcenco, Magdalena Smoczyńska, Eleni Theodorou, Heather van der Lely, Alma Veenstra, John Weston, Maya Yachini, Kazuko Yatsushiro

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

55 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This study develops a single elicitation method to test the acquisition of third-person pronominal objects in 5-year-olds for 16 languages. This methodology allows us to compare the acquisition of pronominals in languages that lack object clitics (“pronoun languages”) with languages that employ clitics in the relevant context (“clitic languages”), thus establishing a robust cross-linguistic baseline in the domain of clitic and pronoun production for 5-year-olds. High rates of pronominal production are found in our results, indicating that children have the relevant pragmatic knowledge required to select a pronominal in the discourse setting involved in the experiment as well as the relevant morphosyntactic knowledge involved in the production of pronominals. It is legitimate to conclude from our data that a child who at age 5 is not able to produce any or few pronominals is a child at risk for language impairment. In this way, pronominal production can be taken as a developmental marker, provided that one takes into account certain cross-linguistic differences discussed in the article.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1-26
Number of pages	26
Journal	Language Acquisition
Volume	23
Issue number	1
Publication status	Published - 2 Jan 2016

Cite this

Varlokosta, S., Belletti, A., Costa, J., Friedmann, N., Gavarró, A., Grohmann, K. K., Guasti, M. T., Tuller, L., Lobo, M., Anđelković, D., Argemí, N., Avram, L., Berends, S., Brunetto, V., Delage, H., Ezeizabarrena, M. J., Fattal, I., Haman, E., van Hout, A., ... Yatsushiro, K. (2016). A cross-linguistic study of the acquisition of clitic and pronoun production. Language Acquisition, 23(1), 1-26.

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title = "A cross-linguistic study of the acquisition of clitic and pronoun production",

abstract = "This study develops a single elicitation method to test the acquisition of third-person pronominal objects in 5-year-olds for 16 languages. This methodology allows us to compare the acquisition of pronominals in languages that lack object clitics (“pronoun languages”) with languages that employ clitics in the relevant context (“clitic languages”), thus establishing a robust cross-linguistic baseline in the domain of clitic and pronoun production for 5-year-olds. High rates of pronominal production are found in our results, indicating that children have the relevant pragmatic knowledge required to select a pronominal in the discourse setting involved in the experiment as well as the relevant morphosyntactic knowledge involved in the production of pronominals. It is legitimate to conclude from our data that a child who at age 5 is not able to produce any or few pronominals is a child at risk for language impairment. In this way, pronominal production can be taken as a developmental marker, provided that one takes into account certain cross-linguistic differences discussed in the article.",

author = "Spyridoula Varlokosta and Adriana Belletti and Jo{\~a}o Costa and Naama Friedmann and Anna Gavarr{\'o} and Grohmann, {Kleanthes K.} and Guasti, {Maria Teresa} and Laurice Tuller and Maria Lobo and Darinka An{\d}elkovi{\'c} and N{\'u}ria Argem{\'i} and Larisa Avram and Sanne Berends and Valentina Brunetto and H{\'e}l{\`e}ne Delage and Ezeizabarrena, {Mar{\'i}a Jos{\'e}} and Iris Fattal and Ewa Haman and {van Hout}, Angeliek and {de L{\'o}pez}, {Kristine Jensen} and Napoleon Katsos and Lana Kologranic and Nadezda Krsti{\'c} and Kraljevic, {Jelena Kuvac} and Aneta Mi{\c e}kisz and Michaela Nerantzini and Clara Queralt{\'o} and Zeljana Radic and S{\'i}lvia Ruiz and Uli Sauerland and Anca Sevcenco and Magdalena Smoczy{\'n}ska and Eleni Theodorou and {van der Lely}, Heather and Alma Veenstra and John Weston and Maya Yachini and Kazuko Yatsushiro",

note = "This research has been financed by Portuguese National Funding through the FCT Funda{\c c}{\~a}o para a Ci{\^e}ncia e Tecnologia as part of the project of the Centro de Lingu{\'i}stica da Universidade Nova de Lisboa – UID/LIN/03213/2013.",

year = "2016",

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journal = "Language Acquisition",

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Varlokosta, S, Belletti, A, Costa, J, Friedmann, N, Gavarró, A, Grohmann, KK, Guasti, MT, Tuller, L, Lobo, M, Anđelković, D, Argemí, N, Avram, L, Berends, S, Brunetto, V, Delage, H, Ezeizabarrena, MJ, Fattal, I, Haman, E, van Hout, A, de López, KJ, Katsos, N, Kologranic, L, Krstić, N, Kraljevic, JK, Miękisz, A, Nerantzini, M, Queraltó, C, Radic, Z, Ruiz, S, Sauerland, U, Sevcenco, A, Smoczyńska, M, Theodorou, E, van der Lely, H, Veenstra, A, Weston, J, Yachini, M & Yatsushiro, K 2016, 'A cross-linguistic study of the acquisition of clitic and pronoun production', Language Acquisition, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 1-26.

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T1 - A cross-linguistic study of the acquisition of clitic and pronoun production

AU - Varlokosta, Spyridoula

AU - Belletti, Adriana

AU - Costa, João

AU - Friedmann, Naama

AU - Gavarró, Anna

AU - Grohmann, Kleanthes K.

AU - Guasti, Maria Teresa

AU - Tuller, Laurice

AU - Lobo, Maria

AU - Anđelković, Darinka

AU - Argemí, Núria

AU - Avram, Larisa

AU - Berends, Sanne

AU - Brunetto, Valentina

AU - Delage, Hélène

AU - Ezeizabarrena, María José

AU - Fattal, Iris

AU - Haman, Ewa

AU - van Hout, Angeliek

AU - de López, Kristine Jensen

AU - Katsos, Napoleon

AU - Kologranic, Lana

AU - Krstić, Nadezda

AU - Kraljevic, Jelena Kuvac

AU - Miękisz, Aneta

AU - Nerantzini, Michaela

AU - Queraltó, Clara

AU - Radic, Zeljana

AU - Ruiz, Sílvia

AU - Sauerland, Uli

AU - Sevcenco, Anca

AU - Smoczyńska, Magdalena

AU - Theodorou, Eleni

AU - van der Lely, Heather

AU - Veenstra, Alma

AU - Weston, John

AU - Yachini, Maya

AU - Yatsushiro, Kazuko

N1 - This research has been financed by Portuguese National Funding through the FCT Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia as part of the project of the Centro de Linguística da Universidade Nova de Lisboa – UID/LIN/03213/2013.

PY - 2016/1/2

Y1 - 2016/1/2

N2 - This study develops a single elicitation method to test the acquisition of third-person pronominal objects in 5-year-olds for 16 languages. This methodology allows us to compare the acquisition of pronominals in languages that lack object clitics (“pronoun languages”) with languages that employ clitics in the relevant context (“clitic languages”), thus establishing a robust cross-linguistic baseline in the domain of clitic and pronoun production for 5-year-olds. High rates of pronominal production are found in our results, indicating that children have the relevant pragmatic knowledge required to select a pronominal in the discourse setting involved in the experiment as well as the relevant morphosyntactic knowledge involved in the production of pronominals. It is legitimate to conclude from our data that a child who at age 5 is not able to produce any or few pronominals is a child at risk for language impairment. In this way, pronominal production can be taken as a developmental marker, provided that one takes into account certain cross-linguistic differences discussed in the article.

AB - This study develops a single elicitation method to test the acquisition of third-person pronominal objects in 5-year-olds for 16 languages. This methodology allows us to compare the acquisition of pronominals in languages that lack object clitics (“pronoun languages”) with languages that employ clitics in the relevant context (“clitic languages”), thus establishing a robust cross-linguistic baseline in the domain of clitic and pronoun production for 5-year-olds. High rates of pronominal production are found in our results, indicating that children have the relevant pragmatic knowledge required to select a pronominal in the discourse setting involved in the experiment as well as the relevant morphosyntactic knowledge involved in the production of pronominals. It is legitimate to conclude from our data that a child who at age 5 is not able to produce any or few pronominals is a child at risk for language impairment. In this way, pronominal production can be taken as a developmental marker, provided that one takes into account certain cross-linguistic differences discussed in the article.

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84959097429

SN - 1048-9223

VL - 23

SP - 1

EP - 26

JO - Language Acquisition

JF - Language Acquisition

IS - 1

ER -

A cross-linguistic study of the acquisition of clitic and pronoun production

Abstract

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