The Acquisition of Focus Constructions in American Sing Language and Língua de Sinais Brasileira
| Number | 1389 |
|---|---|
| Year | 2005 |
| Drawer | 25 |
| Entry Date | 04/02/2008 |
| Authors | Lilloo-Martin, D. & Müller de Quadros, R. |
| Contact | |
| Publication | BUCLD 29 Proceedings, ed. A. Brugos, M.R. Clark-Cotton, and S. Ha, 365-375. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press. |
| url | http://www.haskins.yale.edu/Reprints/HL1389.pdf |
| Abstract | The goal of this study is to use acquisition data from focus constructions in AmericanSign Language (ASL) and Brazilian Sign Language (Língua de Sinais Brasileira, LSB) to evaluate competing analyses of these structures. We show that the timecourse of acquisition provides support for analyses that treat ‘doubling’ and ‘final’ constructions as related, such as our analysis of them involving emphatic focus (Lillo-Martin and Quadros 2004). On the other hand, information focus is acquired separately, and thus should be analyzed as a distinct phenomenon. A side point of our study is the support it provides to claims that children are sensitive to at least some aspects of information structure from an early age (De Cat 2003, 2004). In our study, children appropriately used information focus and emphatic focus constructions before the age of three years. Recent theories have identified differences between at least three kinds of ‘focus’ (see, among others, Erteshik-Shir 1997, Vallduví 1996, and Zubizarreta 1998). The terminology varies greatly across different approaches to focus. We will use the following distinctions, following in general a categorization based |
| Notes |
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