Max Planck Child Study Centre, University of Manchester, UK.
Cogn Sci. 2011 Jul;35(5):963-82. doi: 10.1111/j.1551-6709.2011.01175.x. Epub 2011 May 4.
Research using the intermodal preferential looking paradigm (IPLP) has consistently shown that English-learning children aged 2 can associate transitive argument structure with causal events. However, studies using the same methodology investigating 2-year-old children's knowledge of the conjoined agent intransitive and semantic role assignment have reported inconsistent findings. The aim of the present study was to establish at what age English-learning children have verb-general knowledge of both transitive and intransitive argument structure using a new method: the forced-choice pointing paradigm. The results suggest that young 2-year-olds can associate transitive structures with causal (or externally caused) events and can use transitive structure to assign agent and patient roles correctly. However, the children were unable to associate the conjoined agent intransitive with noncausal events until aged 3;4. The results confirm the pattern from previous IPLP studies and indicate that children may develop the ability to comprehend different aspects of argument structure at different ages. The implications for theories of language acquisition and the nature of the language acquisition mechanism are discussed.
使用跨通道优先注视范式（IPLP）的研究一直表明，2 岁的英语学习者可以将及物论元结构与因果事件联系起来。然而，使用相同方法研究 2 岁儿童对并列主语不及物动词和语义角色分配的知识的研究报告结果不一致。本研究的目的是使用新方法：强制选择指向范式，确定英语学习者在什么年龄具有对及物和不及物论元结构的动词一般知识。结果表明，年幼的 2 岁儿童可以将及物结构与因果（或外部引起）事件联系起来，并可以使用及物结构正确地分配施动者和受动者角色。然而，儿童直到 3 岁半才能将并列主语不及物动词与非因果事件联系起来。结果证实了 IPLP 研究的模式，并表明儿童可能在不同年龄发展理解不同方面的论元结构的能力。讨论了对语言习得理论和语言习得机制性质的影响。
