Isabelle Maillochon

Developmental Changes and Variability in the Early Lexicon: A Study of French Children's Naturalistic Productions.

This paper investigates developmental changes, as well as inter-linguistic and inter-individual variations, in the expansion and composition of French childrens early lexicons. Two studies were conducted using childrens naturalistic productions: a longitudinal study of one child between 1;2 and 2;6, and a cross-sectional study of two groups (12 children each) aged 1;8 and 2;6. Analyses indicate that lexical productivity (measured in types, tokens, and new words) strongly increased with age, whereas lexical diversity showed almost no developmental progression. Nouns and para-lexical elements (including interjections, fillers or formulas) were predominant until 1;8 and decreased over time, while predicates and grammatical words increased. As compared to English, French development was characterized by less frequent nouns, initially more frequent predicates, and a remarkable expansion of grammatical words. Inter-individual variability in lexical productivity, in lexical diversity, and in the proportions of different categories was more marked at 1;8 than at 2;6. Lexical profiles found at 1;8 suggest the existence of more diversified organizational patterns than those captured in the referential-expressive distinction.

Early Acquisition of Verb Grammar and Lexical Development: Evidence from Periphrastic Constructions in French and Austrian German

This paper takes a functionalist approach to the acquisition of verb morphology in French and Austrian German. The development of periphrastic constructions using auxiliaries and modal verbs (compound past, modal constructions and analytic future) was examined in two French and two Austrian children’s spontaneous speech samples from the onset of production until 3;0. Crosslinguistic comparisons showed both similarities and differences in the development of periphrastic constructions (e.g., compound past was the first structure to emerge in French but not in Austrian German, analytic future was the last in both languages), suggesting an interplay between general cognitive and language-specific factors. In the four children, developmental analyses showed precursors, such as bare infinitives and past participles and preverbal fillers, which denote a gradual and continuous acquisition process. They also showed temporal relations between grammaticization and lexical production of verbs, which is an argument for the ‘critical lexical mass’ hypothesis and for interdependencies between lexical and grammatical developments. These analyses support a constructivist and interactive view of language acquisition.

Noun grammaticalization and determiner use in French children's speech: A gradual development with prosodic and lexical influences

This study investigates when and how French-learning children acquire the main grammatical constraint on the noun category, i.e. the obligatory use of a preceding determiner. Spontaneous speech samples coming from the corpora of twenty children in each of three age groups, 1 ; 8, 2 ; 6, 3 ; 3, were transcribed and coded with respect to morphosyntactic, lexical and length properties of nouns. Results indicate that noun grammaticalization is a gradual process which involves early transitional procedures, as well as an increasing diversity in the content and contexts of determiner use. In support of prosodic hypotheses, noun length effects (in favor of monosyllabic nouns) mostly occurred at 1 ; 8. Animacy effects supporting the lexical hypothesis (in favor of inanimate nouns) occurred at 2 ; 6 and 3 ; 3. We suggest that noun grammaticalization is influenced by both prosodic and lexical factors. Prosodic influences predominate in the first steps of the developmental process, while lexical influences emerge in later steps.

A comparative and dynamic approach to the development of determiner use in three children acquiring different languages

The study investigates the development of determiner use in three children acquiring French, Austrian German and Dutch, from the onset of language until age 3;0. Noun constructions (determiner omission, correct bare nouns, filler and determiner uses) in the children and in their inputs are analysed, providing evidence of similarities in developmental shape as well as differences in frequencies and timing. As expected, determiner use was delayed in the Germanic languages as compared to French. Differences between the Austrian and the Dutch child were explained by language properties and by child characteristics. Modelling dynamic input–output relations provided evidence of styles of long-term parental adaptation (accommodation for the French and complementarity for the Dutch and Austrian children).

Prosody and animacy in the development of noun determiner use: A cross- linguistic approach

This study investigates prosodic (noun length) and lexical-semantic (animacy) influences on determiner use in the spontaneous speech of three children acquiring French, Austrian German and Dutch. In support of typological and language-specific hypotheses from the Germanic–Romance contrast, an advantage of monosyllabic nouns and of inanimate nouns for taking a determiner or filler was found in French, but not in Austrian German or Dutch. The authors discuss the possible contributory role of these factors on determiner acquisition from a cross-linguistic perspective, also accounting for more specific differences between Austrian German and Dutch.

L’acquisition des déterminants nominaux en français et en allemand: Une perspective interlangue sur la grammaticalisation des noms

In many languages, noun determiner acquisition is a central aspect of the emergence of grammar in children. The study compares the development of determiners — between one and three years of age — in the spontaneous productions of two children who acquire French and Austrian German, respectively. Starting with the contrast between Romance and Germanic languages and focusing on morphosyntactic factors, it evaluates the impact of typological and language-specific differences on determiner acquisition. We examine the prediction that determiners should emerge earlier in French than in German and classical hypotheses concerning the pre-eminence of definite over indefinite, masculine over feminine, and singular over plural in the light of developmental data.