Comparing different accounts of inversion errors in children's non-subject wh-questions: ‘What experimental data can tell us?’

• Published in: Journal of child language Vol. 33; no. 3; pp. 519 - 557
• Main Authors: AMBRIDGE, BEN, ROWLAND, CAROLINE F., THEAKSTON, ANNA L., TOMASELLO, MICHAEL
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.08.2006
• Subjects: Analysis of Variance; Auxiliary Verbs; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child development; Child Language; Child, Preschool; Children; Developmental psychology; Early Childhood Education; Elementary Schools; English; English language; Error Analysis; Error Analysis (Language); Female; Foreign Countries; Form Classes (Languages); Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Language Acquisition; Linguistics; Male; Phrases; Postdoctoral Education; Preschool Children; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Questions; Resistance (Psychology); Sentence Structure; Sentences; Statistical Analysis; Studies; Syntax; United Kingdom; Verbal Behavior; Verbs; Wh Phrases; Word Order; Young Children; United Kingdom; United Kingdom > UK; Germany; Human; Preschool age; Learning; English; Acquisition process; Language; Lexicon; Language development; Error; Syntax; Child
• ISSN: 0305-0009; 1469-7602
• DOI: 10.1017/S0305000906007513

This study investigated different accounts of children's acquisition of non-subject wh-questions. Questions using each of 4 wh-words (what, who, how and why), and 3 auxiliaries (BE, DO and CAN) in 3sg and 3pl form were elicited from 28 children aged 3;6–4;6. Rates of non-inversion error (Who she is hitting?) were found not to differ by wh-word, auxiliary or number alone, but by lexical auxiliary subtype and by wh-word+lexical auxiliary combination. This finding counts against simple rule-based accounts of question acquisition that include no role for the lexical subtype of the auxiliary, and suggests that children may initially acquire wh-word+lexical auxiliary combinations from the input. For DO questions, auxiliary-doubling errors (What does she does like?) were also observed, although previous research has found that such errors are virtually non-existent for positive questions. Possible reasons for this discrepancy are discussed.