LA - Chapter 6 Part 1: The Development of Syntax and Morphology

What are the 8 inflectional morphemes?

- plural -s - possessive - 3rd person singular (present tense) - past tense -ed - past participle - present participle -ing - comparative degree (-er) - superlative degree (-est)

Inflectional Morpheme #7: comparative degree (-er) 1. He's bigger than she is. 2. The runner is not very fast. 3. Silver is a precious metal.

1. He's bigger than she is.

Inflectional Morpheme #8: superlative degree (-est) 1. He's the biggest dog in the show. 2. The Octoberfest is almost over. 3. Estimated time of arrival is 7:30.

1. He's the biggest dog in the show.

Inflection Morpheme #1: plural -s 1. I have two cats. 2. The cat's really mean. 3. The cat's fur is soft.

1. I have two cats.

Inflectional Morpheme #3: 3rd person singular (present tense) 1. The cat purrs loudly. 2. The cat's really mean. 3. The cat's fur is soft.

1. The cat purrs loudly.

Inflectional Morpheme #4: past tense -ed 1. The boy's exhausted. 2. He exhausted his resources. 3. He has exhausted his resources.

2. He exhausted his resources.

Inflectional Morpheme #6: present participle -ing 1. This class is exciting. 2. The ferret's running. 3. The running ferret scared the children.

2. The ferret's running.

Inflectional Morpheme #5: past participle -ed 1. The boy's exhausted. 2. He exhausted his resources. 3. He has exhausted his resources.

3. He has exhausted his resources.

Inflectional Morpheme #2: possessive 1. I have two cats. 2. The cat's really mean. 3. The cat's fur is soft.

3. The cat's fur is soft.

How many variations does the past tense -ed morpheme have? (think about watched, bagged, petted)

3; /t/, /d/, and /Id/

How many variations does the plural -s morpheme have? (Think about dogs, books, and watches)

3; /z/, /s/, and /Iz/

Out of the 8 inflectional morphemes in English, which are affecting verbs?

3rd person, present tense (-s) past tense (-ed) past participle (-ed) present participle (-ing)

# MLUm = 1 MLUw

5

Around the age of ____, we calculate MLU.

5

In the word unfriendliness, which is the following is NOT a single morpheme? 1. un- 2. -friend- 3. -li- 4. -ness 5. unfriendliness 6. all of the above

5. unfriendliness

English has only ____ inflectional morphemes.

8

Which sentences are correct due to hierarchical (ranking) nature? Why? A.) Jack and Jill ran up the bill. B.) Jack and Jill ran the bill up. C.) Up the bill ran Jack and Jill.

A and B are correct. C isn't correct because we break sentences into logical units, we can switch those units around bit we cannot change what's in the units.

Which sentences are correct due to hierarchical (ranking) nature? Why? A.) Jack and Jill ran up the hill. B.) Jack and Jill ran the hill up. C.) Up the hill ran Jack and Jill.

A and C are correct. B isn't correct because we break sentences into logical units, we can switch those units around bit we cannot change what's in the units.

What sentences are correct? A.) Zach believes Robert to be a gentleman. B.) Zach believes to be a gentleman. C.) Zach tries Robert to be a gentleman. D.) Zach tries to be a gentleman. E.) Zach wants Robert to be a gentleman. F.) Zach wants to be a gentleman.

A, D, E, and F are all correct because the verbs dictates what the word order (syntax) has to be

Is this sentence correct? He ain't got not money.

Correct because of descriptive grammar (the language the child has learned)

____ is determined by the number of meaningful units or morphemes rather than words

MLU

Is age a good measure of syntactic competence? Why or why not?

No, because there is a lot of variation between children in age due to reaching milestones

Is this sentence correct? He's no money got.

No, it's an ill-formed sentence

We are interested in how children learn the language used by adults around them. Which type of grammar is of interest to us?

We usually look at the community's language more than prescriptive grammar.

Is this sentence correct? Me and her want another scoop of ice cream.

Yes (but no if looking at prescriptive grammar)

How do we calculate MLU?

add up all the morphemes and divide by how many utterance there is

Which sentence is correct? - Your dog chased my cat. - My cat chased your dog.

both are correct because word order changing meaning - 1st noun gets to do the action - 2nd noun receives the action

Out of the 8 inflectional morphemes in English, which are affecting adjectives?

comparative degree (-er) and superlative degree (-est)

open-class words, lexical categories; we can create more of these words ex.) nouns, verbs, adj, adverbs

content words

Where are the 2 categories of words?

context and function word

Inflectional or Derivational Morphemes: typically change the meaning & part of speech; prefixes & suffixes that derive new words; can (but don't always) change the part of speech of a word ex.) happy - unhappy - unhappiness - unhappily

derivational morphemes

Un-, -li-, and -ness are examples of...

derivational morphemes

Prescriptive vs. Descriptive Grammar: the rules of the variety of English that people actually hear. - making sure children are using the community's language correctly, there are really no errors

descriptive grammar

closed-class words, functional categories; can't add words ex.) auxiliaries, prepositions, determiners, etc.

function words

There is a predictable progression children follow as they ____ the length of their utterances.

increase

Inflectional or Derivational Morphemes: suffixes that change the form of a word, but don't derive a new word; add "grammatical" information

inflectional morphemes

a good measure of syntactic growth/competence

mean length of utterance

We know that ____ and ____ is not included in syntax.

meaning and truth

MLUm = ____ MLUw = ____

morphemes; words

help make sure words make sense; rules of language

morphology

pieces we add to words to convey additional meanings

morphology

Out of the 8 inflectional morphemes in English, which are the affecting nouns?

plural number (-s) and possessive case (-s)

Prescriptive vs. Descriptive Grammar: the rules for formal, academic English; the rules taught in English class ex.) don't use the word ain't; writing essays

prescriptive grammar

When children add morphemes to their utterances, they are demonstrating ____ ____ and ____.

syntactic knowledge and complexity

rules to sentence building

syntax

the rules of sentence formation; the component of mental grammar that represents speakers' knowledge of the structure of phrases and sentences.

syntax

True or False: As children's sentences get longer, the length is not created by adding new items at random.

true

True or False: Counting morphemes shows development of child.

true

True or False: Morphemes pose particular problems for children with language deficits.

true

True or False: There is a fairly consistent developmental progression in morpheme development, so we know (generally) which ones to expect children to be able to use at various ages.

true

True or False: We know how to create an endless number of novel sentences (and how to combine sentences to create even more complex sentences). We know how to build increasingly complex sentences. Ex.) She's here. I know that she's here. She doesn't think that I know she's here. She's really excited because she doesn't think that I know she's here. etc.

true

True or False: We know the constraints that sentences must adhere to. (changing the verb)

true

True or False: We know the correct word order specified by our language. ex.) In English: Subject + Verb + Object

true

True or False: We understand when and how to use content and function words due to syntax and morphology.

true

a string of words (can be a sentence but doesn't always have to be)

utterance

We know the relationship between ____ and ____ in the sentence. (ex. subject and direct object).

words and phrases

Do children and adults understand the hierarchical (ranking) nature of sentences.

yes