Grammatical Functions of Verbs in Child Language

• Authors: Baiba Ivulāne
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The article explores the division of grammatical functions of verbs that, according to the author, is the most suitable for the general Latvian language system and illustrates this division with practical examples of language use. Respectively, all verbs are divided into two groups according to their grammatical functions - independent verbs and auxiliary verbs. All groups of verbs used with an auxiliary meaning are explored - auxiliary verbs, copulas and modal verbs. This division of verbs is based on the grammaticalization of the verbs, since, formerly, verbs, now used in auxiliary sense, were used in a substantive meaning and only gradually acquired their auxiliary meaning.The use of auxiliary verbs is a significant indicator of a grammatical system development of a language, therefore it also attracts the attention of child language researchers, as it allows exploring in what order and in what ways children acquire the corresponding meanings and functions of verbs. The aim of this study is to, within limitations, explore the grammatical functions of verbs used in child language and the order of their acquisition, to analyze peculiar constructions that are formed with auxiliary verbs, as well as to detect problems that should be prevented prior to further research. One of the main problems is the limited child language material available for this study. In order to objectively judge about the ways the grammatical system develops in child language, one should first conduct full research on language of several children, as this is the only way to observe the order and ways in which certain forms and constructions emerge in child language.Child language has the same division of grammatical functions of verbs as general language. By studying the acquisition sequence of various grammatical functions in child language, it may be concluded that independent verbs are the first to appear in child language. Children start using auxiliary verbs later - initially they use the verbs with an auxiliary meaning that are the most common in the language of their parents and in the most common constructions. The order of their appearance is as follows: copula būt (to be), modifiers gribēt, varēt (want, can), auxiliary verb būt (to be) (initially present perfect forms of the indicative mood, the rest of the forms emerge significantly later). Constructions with auxiliary verbs that are not characteristic to general language are also common in child language. Such constructions are formed at the beginning stages of auxiliary verb application, before the grammatical function system of verbs is fully understood.

Keywords

EN

auxiliary verb; copula; modal verb; child language

• Publisher: Sciendo
• Journal: Ad verba liberorum
• Year: 2011
• Volume: 3
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 74-87

Dates

published

2011-12-01

online

2012-08-21

Contributors

author

Baiba Ivulāne

• Riga Teacher Training and Educational Management Academy, University of Latvia, Latvia

References

• Ambrazas, V. (2006). Lietuvių kalbos istorinė sintaksė. [Historical Syntax of Lithuanian]. Vilnius: Lietuvių kalbos institutas, 612 p. (in Lithuanian).
• Beitiņa, M. (1964). Lietvārda atkarīgie locījumi izteicējā (ar saitiņu būt). Teikuma uzbūve. [Noun verb dependent bending (the copula be)]. Rakstu krājums. Rīga: LPSR Zinātņu akadēmijas izdevniecība, 7 -50 p. (in Latvian).
• Bergmane, A., Blinkena, A., Grabis, R. & Sokols, E. (eds.) (1962). Mūsdienu latviešu literārās valodas gramatika. II. Sintakse. [Grammar of the modern Latvian literary language]. Rīga: LPSR ZA izdevniecība, 932 p. (in Latvian).
• Brown, R. & Hanlon, C. (2004). Derivational Complexity and Order of Acquisition in Child Speech. In: Lust, B. C. & Foley, C. (eds.) First Language Acquisition: The Essential Readings. Blackwell Publishing, pp. 155-175.
• Brown, R. (2004). The Order of Acquisition. In: Lust, B. C. & Foley, C. (eds.) First Language Acquisition: The Essential Readings. Blackwell Publishing, pp. 274-278.
• Freidenfelds, I. J., Lapāne, D. & Markus, D. (2009). Bērnu valodas vārdnīca. [Dictionary of Child Language]. Rīga: RPIVA Bērnu valodas pētījumu centrs, 91 p. (in Latvian).
• Freimane, I. (1985). Vienkāršs teikums un tā paplašināšana. [A simple sentence and its expansion]. Rīga: LVU, 107 p. (in Latvian).
• Jēdzienu interpretācija bērnu zīmējumos. [Interpretation of the concept of children's drawings]. RPIVA Bērnu valodas pētījumu centra bērnu valodas datubāze. Retrieved October 23, 2011, from
• Kalnača, A. (2005). Gramatizēšanās latviešu valodas sistēmā. [Grammaticalization in the System of Latvian]. In: Vārds un tā pētīšanas aspekti. Rakstu krājums. 9. Liepāja: Liepājas Pedagogijas akadēmija, pp. 125 -131 (in Latvian).
• Kārkliņš, J. (1974). Praktikums mūsdienu latviešu literārās valodas sintaksē. I daļa. Otrs papildināts izdevums. [Practicum on modern Latvian literary language syntax]. Rīga: P. Stučkas LVU redakcijas un izdevniecības daļa, 88 p. (in Latvian).
• Kārkliņš, J. (1976) Infinitīva sintaktiskās potences. Mācību līdzeklis sintaksē. [Potency of infinitive syntactic]. Rīga: P. Stučkas Latvijas Valsts universitāte, 96 p. (in Latvian).
• LU Matemātikas un informātikas institūts. Līdzsvarots mūsdienu latviešu valodas tekstu korpuss. miljons-2.0 from
• Maguire, M. J., Hirsh-Pasek, K. & Golinkoff, R. M. (2006). A Unified Theory of Word Learning: Putting Verb Acquisition in Context. In: Hirsh-Pasek, K. & Golinkoff, R. M. (eds.) Action Meets Word. How Children Learn Verbs (pp. 364-391). Oxford University Press.
• Markus, D. (2003). Bērna valoda: no pirmā kliedziena līdz pasakai. [Child language: From the first scream till fairytale]. Rīga: Rasa, 144 p. (in Latvian).
• Markus, D. (2005). Bērns runā kultūras pasaulē. [Children talks in culture world]. Rīga: Rasa, 160 p. (in Latvian).
• Mīlenbahs, K. (1898). Teikums. [Sentence]. Rīga: Pūcīšu Gederta apgādība, 104 p. (in Latvian).
• Paegle, Dz. (2003). Latviešu literārās valodas morfologija. I daļa. [Morphology of the Latvian literary language]. Rīga: Zinātne, 240 p. (in Latvian).
• Rūķe-Draviņa, V. (1993). Latviešu meitene apgūst savu pirmo valodu. [Latvian girl acquires her first language]. Rīga: Dio Nordik, 112 p. (in Latvian).
• Trask, R. L. (2000). The Dictionary of Historical and Comparative Linguistics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 403 p.
• Valdmanis, J. (1989). Teikums. [Sentence]. In: Ceplītis, L., Rozenbergs, J. & Valdmanis, J. Latviešu valodas sintakse. Rīga: Zvaigzne, pp. 13 -141 (in Latvian).
• VPSV-Skujiņa V. (Ed.) (2007). Valodniecības pamatterminu skaidrojošā vārdnīca. Autoru kolektīvs: Bušs, O., Joma, D., Kalnača, A., Lokmane, I., Markus, D., Pūtele, I. & Skujiņa, V. [Linguistics glossary of key terms]. Rīga: LU Latviešu valodas institūts, 623 p. (in Latvian).

Identifiers

DOI

10.2478/v10196-011-0027-9