The Acquisition of Creole Languages: How Children Surpass Their Input

ISBN-13: 9780521199650 / Angielski / Twarda / 2012 / 248 str.

Dany Adone

Opis

How do children acquire a Creole as their first language? This relatively underexplored question is the starting point for this first book of its kind; it also asks how first language acquisition of a Creole differs from that of a non-Creole language. Dany Adone reveals that in the absence of a conventional language model, Creole children acquire language and go beyond the input they receive. This study discusses the role of input, a hotly debated issue in the field of first language acquisition, and provides support for the nativist approach in the debate between nativism and input-based models. The Acquisition of Creole Languages will be essential reading for those in the fields of first language acquisition and Creole studies. Adone takes an interdisciplinary approach, using insights from non-verbal language acquisition, which makes this of great interest to those in the field of sign linguistics.

Recenzje

'Considering the crucial role attributed to children in many models of creole genesis, the acquisition of creoles has not been a topic of extensive research. Dany Adone is one of the few to have taken up this challenge … With its application of rigorous experimental methods, this study is a major contribution to the ontogenetic study of 'classical' creoles. It is rich in data which are made to speak profound theoretical issues. Methodologically, it offers an exemplary model for future studies in the acquisition of contact languages.' Stephen Matthews, Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages  

Spis treści

1. Creole languages; 2. Issues in first language acquisition; 3. Complex Creole syntax; 4. Child Creole data; 5. Pronouns and reflexives; 6. Double-object constructions; 7. Passive constructions; 8. Serial verb constructions; 9. Acquisition without a conventional language model; Appendix A. Experimental materials on pronouns and reflexives; Appendix B. Experimental materials on double-object constructions; Appendix C. Experimental materials on passive constructions; Appendix D. Experimental materials on serial verb constructions.