Getting verb movement

The historical development of verb placement in English negative sentences runs in exactly the opposite direction from the first-language acquisition of verb placement in Dutch, English, & French. The analysis undertaken is supported by three loci of variation: the status of tense as a content l...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Linguistics 1997, Vol.35 (6), p.1003-1028
Main Authors: BENNIS, HANS, BEUKEMA, FRITS, DEN DIKKEN, MARCEL
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Children
Descriptive studies and applied theories
Language acquisition
Linguistics
Syntax
Verbs
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Summary:The historical development of verb placement in English negative sentences runs in exactly the opposite direction from the first-language acquisition of verb placement in Dutch, English, & French. The analysis undertaken is supported by three loci of variation: the status of tense as a content licenser, the strength of the [+FIN] feature of tense, & the status of negation as a verbal head intervening between tense & verb. In addition to indicating this parallel development, the analysis supports the quantifier status of auxiliaries & provides arguments to dissociate formal from content licensing. It is concluded that the inverse relationship between child language & the diachronic analysis of English can be elegantly accomplished in a theory in which sentence structure is characterized by the presence of functional projections. 49 References. Adapted from the source document
ISSN:0024-3949
1613-396X
DOI:10.1515/ling.1997.35.6.1003