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http://hdl.handle.net/1903/7345
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| Title: | Language-Specific Constraints on Scope Interpretation in First Language Acquisition |
| Authors: | Goro, Takuya |
| Advisors: | Phillips, Colin |
| Department/Program: | Linguistics |
| Type: | Dissertation |
| Sponsors: | Digital Repository at the University of Maryland
University of Maryland (College Park, Md.) |
| Keywords: | 0290
Language, Linguistics
first language acquisition;learnability;scope;linguistic theory;constraints;Japanese |
| Issue Date: | 7-Aug-2007 |
| Abstract: | This dissertation investigates the acquisition of language-specific constraints on scope interpretation by Japanese preschool children. Several constructions in Japanese do not allow scope interpretations that the corresponding English sentences do allow. First, in Japanese transitive sentences with multiple quantificational arguments, an inverse scope interpretation is disallowed, due to the Rigid Scope Constraint. Second, Japanese logical connectives cannot be interpreted under the scope of local negation, due to their Positive Polarity. Thirdly, in Japanese infinitival complement constructions with implicative matrix verbs like <em>wasureru</em> ("forget") the inverse scope interpretation is required, due to the Anti-Reconstruction Constraint. The main goal of this research is to determine how Japanese children learn these constraints on scope interpretations. To that end, three properties of the acquisition task that have an influence on the learnability of linguistic knowledge are... |
| URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/1903/7345 |
| Appears in Collections: | Linguistics Theses and Dissertations
UM Theses and Dissertations
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| umi-umd-4754.pdf | | 1572Kb | Adobe PDF | 412 | View/Open |
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