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Is the development of the English progressive in L1 children a U-shaped curve?

Svenbro, Carl-Staffan LU (2019) ENGX64 20182
English Studies
Abstract
This essay is concerned with whether the progressive aspect is overgeneralized by children, using it with stative verbs. The study targets the age interval 1 to 10 years and adults. The matter was investigated in several child corpora and adult corpora. The interval 1 to 5 years was covered by the Brown (1973b) corpus with Eve, Adam and Sarah. Data for the interval 6 to 10 years were obtained from the Carterette and Jones corpus (1974b). Initially, a comprehensive list of verbs used in progressive constructions from the Brown (1973b) corpus was extracted using a pattern-matching algorithm. It recognized textual patterns typical of this aspect. Development and testing of such an algorithm is an additional... (More)
This essay is concerned with whether the progressive aspect is overgeneralized by children, using it with stative verbs. The study targets the age interval 1 to 10 years and adults. The matter was investigated in several child corpora and adult corpora. The interval 1 to 5 years was covered by the Brown (1973b) corpus with Eve, Adam and Sarah. Data for the interval 6 to 10 years were obtained from the Carterette and Jones corpus (1974b). Initially, a comprehensive list of verbs used in progressive constructions from the Brown (1973b) corpus was extracted using a pattern-matching algorithm. It recognized textual patterns typical of this aspect. Development and testing of such an algorithm is an additional objective of this study. The corpus tagging indicators of the child corpora were used to validate the algorithm. After selection of 5 stative verbs from the Brown (1973b) corpus, the two most frequent verbs, have and hurt, were examined more thoroughly. Analysis of the child data indicates that the verb have is not overgeneralized according to the criteria. On the basis of adjusted frequencies, the study finds tentative support for overgeneralization of the verb hurt in the progressive. No indications of other stative verbs being overgeneralized are identified. (Less)
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author
Svenbro, Carl-Staffan LU
supervisor
organization
course
ENGX64 20182
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
progressive aspect, overgeneralization, U-Shaped development, L1, children, stative verbs, child language development, Eve, Adam, Sarah, Brown corpus, Carterette and Jones corpus, pattern-matching algorithm, adjusted frequencies
language
English
id
8967378
date added to LUP
2019-01-22 09:31:05
date last changed
2019-01-22 09:31:05
@misc{8967378,
  abstract     = {{This essay is concerned with whether the progressive aspect is overgeneralized by children, using it with stative verbs. The study targets the age interval 1 to 10 years and adults. The matter was investigated in several child corpora and adult corpora. The interval 1 to 5 years was covered by the Brown (1973b) corpus with [i]Eve[/i], [i]Adam[/i] and [i]Sarah[/i]. Data for the interval 6 to 10 years were obtained from the Carterette and Jones corpus (1974b). Initially, a comprehensive list of verbs used in progressive constructions from the Brown (1973b) corpus was extracted using a [i]pattern-matching algorithm[/i]. It recognized textual patterns typical of this aspect. Development and testing of such an algorithm is an additional objective of this study. The corpus tagging indicators of the child corpora were used to validate the algorithm. After selection of 5 stative verbs from the Brown (1973b) corpus, the two most frequent verbs, [i]have[/i] and [i]hurt[/i], were examined more thoroughly. Analysis of the child data indicates that the verb [i]have[/i] is not overgeneralized according to the criteria. On the basis of adjusted frequencies, the study finds tentative support for overgeneralization of the verb [i]hurt[/i] in the progressive. No indications of other stative verbs being overgeneralized are identified.}},
  author       = {{Svenbro, Carl-Staffan}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Is the development of the English progressive in L1 children a U-shaped curve?}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}