Children use canonical sentence schemas: A crosslinguistic study of word order and inflections

• Published in: Cognition 1982-01, Vol.12 (3), p.229-265
• Main Authors: Slobin, Dan I., Bever, Thomas G.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Child, Preschool; Communication disorders; Cross-Cultural Comparison; Humans; Language Development; Semantics
• ISSN: 0010-0277; 1873-7838
• DOI: 10.1016/0010-0277(82)90033-6

We propose that children construct a canonical sentence schema as a preliminary organizing structure for language behavior. The canonical sentence embodies the typical features of complete clauses in the input language, and serves as a framework for the application of productive and perceptual strategies. The canonical sentence schema offers a functional explanation of word-order and inflectional strategies based on the child's attempts to quickly master basic communication skills in his or her language. The present research explores sensitivity to the canonical sentence form and to word-order and inflectional perceptual strategies for comprehending simple transitive sentences in monolingual children aged 2;0 to 4;4 in four languages: English (ordered, uninflectional), Italian (weakly ordered, weakly inflectional), Serbo-Croatian (weakly ordered, inflectional), Turkish (minimally ordered, inflectional). The results show that children fail to respond systematically to sequences that violate the canonical sentence form of their particular language. They develop distinct word-order and inflectional strategies appropriate to the regularities of their language. The early behavioral emergence of linguistically appropriate canonical sentences and processing strategies suggests a behavioral foundation for linguistic constraints on the surface form of sentences. Les enfants construisent un schéma de phrase canonique comme structure préliminaire pour organiser le comportement langagier. La phrase canonique inclut les traits typiques des clauses dans la langue maternelle et sert de trame aux stratégies de production et de perception. Le schéma de phrase canonique fournit une explication fonctionnelle des stratégies selon l'ordre des mots ou selon les flexions qui s'appuient sur les essais de l'enfant pour acquérir la maîtrise rapide des techniques de communication fondamentales. On étudie, dans la recherche présentée, la sensibilité aux phrases de forme canonique et aux stratégies fondées sur l'ordre des mots ou sur les flexions dans la compréhension de phrases transitives simples. Les sujets sont des enfants monolingues de 2;0 á 4;4 ans. L'étude porte sur 4 langues: l'Anglais (langue á contraintes d'ordre non fléchi), l'Italien (constraintes d'ordre faible, peu de flexions); le Serbo-Croate (contraintes d'ordre faible et flexions); le Turque (contraintes d'ordre minimale et flexions). Les résultats indiquent que les enfants ne répondent pas systématiquement aux séqu