Understanding Contributors to Input Informativeness for Tense Marking: Overlap among English Typology, Parent-Toddler Interaction Style, and Register

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to better understand the contributors to input informativeness for tense marking, a predictor of child tense marking productivity (Hadley, Rispoli, Fitzgerald and Bahnsen, in press). The contributors explored were parent-toddler interaction style, register, and constraints of English verb typology. Method: The participants were 15 parent-toddler dyads. Language samples were collected when the children were 21 months of age. Verbs in child-directed speech were coded for linguistic form (e.g., imperative, modal, copula, etc.). The communicative function of utterances and the form of questions directed toward children were also coded. Results: Copula was the most frequent verb form rewarding a +Tense grammar while imperatives were the most frequent verb form rewarding a –Tense grammar. Directives, other-focused descriptives and use of reduced questions were the three variables that overlapped most with input informativeness. Conclusions: Understanding how parent-toddler interaction style overlaps with informativeness has implications for family-focused clinical interventions designed to modify characteristics of parents’ child-directed speech.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Speech & Hearing Science

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2011

Author dc:creator

• Fitzgerald, Colleen E.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Hadley, Pamela A.

• morphosyntax
• Grammar
• input informativeness
• tense
• acquisition

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2010 Colleen E. Fitzgerald

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/18389

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/18389