TY - JOUR
T1 - English-speaking children's comprehension of relative clauses
T2 - Evidence for general-cognitive and language-specific constraints on development
AU - Kidd, Evan
AU - Bavin, Edith L.
PY - 2002
Y1 - 2002
N2 - Children must possess some ability to process input in a meaningful manner to acquire language. The present study reports on data from an experiment investigating 3- to 5-year-old English-speaking children's understanding of restrictive relative clauses manipulated for embeddedness and focus. The results of the study showed that English-speaking children acquire right-branching before center-embedded structures. Comparisons made with data from Portuguese-speaking children suggest general-cognitive, and language-specific constraints on development, and with respect to English, a "clause expansion" approach to processing in development.
AB - Children must possess some ability to process input in a meaningful manner to acquire language. The present study reports on data from an experiment investigating 3- to 5-year-old English-speaking children's understanding of restrictive relative clauses manipulated for embeddedness and focus. The results of the study showed that English-speaking children acquire right-branching before center-embedded structures. Comparisons made with data from Portuguese-speaking children suggest general-cognitive, and language-specific constraints on development, and with respect to English, a "clause expansion" approach to processing in development.
KW - English
KW - Language acquisition
KW - Relative clauses
KW - Syntax
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0037841862&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1023/A:1021265021141
DO - 10.1023/A:1021265021141
M3 - Review article
SN - 0090-6905
VL - 31
SP - 599
EP - 617
JO - Journal of Psycholinguistic Research
JF - Journal of Psycholinguistic Research
IS - 6
ER -