University of Manchester, School of Psychological Sciences, Oxford Road, Manchester M139PL, UK.
J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2009 Dec;52(6):1449-70. doi: 10.1044/1092-4388(2009/08-0037).
The question of how and when English-speaking children acquire auxiliaries is the subject of extensive debate. Some researchers posit the existence of innately given Universal Grammar principles to guide acquisition, although some aspects of the auxiliary system must be learned from the input. Others suggest that auxiliaries can be learned without Universal Grammar, citing evidence of piecemeal learning in their support. This study represents a unique attempt to trace the development of auxiliary syntax by using a longitudinal elicitation methodology.
Twelve English-speaking children participated in 3 tasks designed to elicit auxiliary BE in declaratives and yes/no and wh-questions. They completed each task 6 times in total between the ages of 2;10 (years;months) and 3;6.
The children's levels of correct use of 2 forms of BE (is, are) differed according to auxiliary form and sentence structure, and these relations changed over development. An analysis of the children's errors also revealed complex interactions between these factors.
These data are problematic for existing accounts of auxiliary acquisition and highlight the need for researchers working within both generativist and constructivist frameworks to develop more detailed theories of acquisition that directly predict the pattern of acquisition observed.
英语儿童如何以及何时习得助动词是一个广泛争论的问题。一些研究人员假设存在先天的普遍语法原则来指导习得，尽管助动词系统的某些方面必须从输入中学习。另一些人则认为助动词可以在没有普遍语法的情况下习得，他们引用了支持这一观点的零碎学习的证据。本研究采用纵向诱发方法，试图追踪辅助句法的发展，这是一种独特的尝试。
12 名英语儿童参与了 3 项旨在诱发陈述句、肯定/否定句和 wh-疑问句中助动词 BE 的任务。他们在 2 岁 10 个月至 3 岁 6 个月之间总共完成了 6 次每项任务。
儿童对 BE 的两种形式(is, are)的正确使用水平因辅助形式和句子结构而异，这些关系在发展过程中发生了变化。对儿童错误的分析也揭示了这些因素之间的复杂相互作用。
这些数据对现有的助动词习得理论提出了挑战，并强调了在生成论和建构论框架内工作的研究人员需要制定更详细的习得理论，直接预测所观察到的习得模式。
